Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone, editor Sherman Smith and reporter Anna Kaminski speak at a Aug. 26, 2024, town hall in Council Grove. (Jessica Tufts for Kansas Reflector)
Where is the outrage?
That was one of the questions posed to Kansas Reflector staff at our Council Grove town hall event Monday night, and it’s a question I found myself thinking about throughout my drive back home that evening and all of Tuesday.
Where is the outrage?
Forget the national political scene for a moment. Let’s focus on Kansas. How is it possible that a state whose populace stood up for abortion rights by a 59%-41% margin has nevertheless elected legislators who pass appalling restrictions on women’s health care? Why do out-of-state groups return each year with an agenda of impoverishing poor Kansans even further? Why do we not yet have Medicaid expansion ? What about legalized cannabis ?
How have we managed to select a state government so openly contemptuous of the people it supposedly serves?
Where is the outrage?
Answering that question takes time and effort. But I want to take a whack at the task today.
The toxic national political dialogue that has enveloped our country for a decade-plus surely bears a giant share of the blame. We have become desensitized to appalling behavior. Not just from former presidents , arrogant legislators and the supposedly disinterested Supreme Court . Expecting the worst doesn’t just brace you against disappointment, but accurately predicts what happens next.
OUTRAGE FUEL - “We don’t want to make a huge mistake. Medicaid expansion is a huge mistake.” — Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins at a Medicaid expansion town hall
- “This bill was not taken lightly. We just want to have more information. Make sure we’re making the right decision for these women.” — State Rep. Brenda Landwehr on abortion survey law
- “Incrementalism means that this bill is one step toward the cannabis industry’s goal to normalize marijuana use at any level.” — KBI Director Tony Mattivi at a medical marijuana hearing
- “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for her governorship,” onetime Senate President Susan Wagle after Gov. Laura Kelly’s first inauguration
In the face of such toxic garbage , outrage only takes you so far.
As editor Sherman Smith put it at the Council Grove event, paying attention to political news is like hearing someone operate a jackhammer outside your window 24 hours a day. You may feel furious at first. You may try to reason with those doing the work or soundproof your home. Eventually, you simply try to survive.
Where is the outrage?
Another reason must surely be the way in which a system that we once protected Americans from extremism now appears to perpetuate that extremism.
The Electoral College , for example, leaves huge chunks of our nation all but disenfranchised every four years. I haven’t written about it before because surely Kansas Reflector readers deserve more than an ersatz civics lesson as the world erupts in flames. But surely the 42% of Kansans who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 have a reason to ask why those votes were tossed into a giant flaming Dumpster.
Yes, I understand the ways in which the Electoral College supposedly protects us from the tyranny of a direct popular vote. Similarly, the Roe-reversing U.S. Supreme Court supposedly protects us from overreach from other government branches. But must we preserve archaic institutions without a single adjustment?
Where is the outrage?
From my perspective as opinion editor, I doubt anyone wants to read, and I don’t want to write, a string of opinion pieces spewing nothing but indignation. Research shows that human beings do not learn that way. They are much more likely to change their opinions, or at least consider alternate perspectives, when they’re having a friendly conversation. Not an angry one.
“When you’re agreeing with people, you’re looking them in the eye. You have a reciprocity. You’re nodding your heads, gesturing, and signaling facial expressions that are congruent, pleasant agreement,” said Joy Hirsch , a professor at Yale School of Medicine. “The exact opposite is true in disagreement. Those social (brain areas) appear not to be operative. What’s operative is a primary frontal lobe process where one is competing, strategizing, pushing forward your agenda.”
I feel outrage, of course, likely too often. And I deploy it when I believe it makes the most sense. That is, when writing
about a free press or other fundamental civil rights.
Come by honestly, outrage serves as an invaluable tool, pushing us to take action and raise our voices in pursuit of justice.
That’s how I try to channel it.
Yet outrage remains, regardless of the circumstances, an emotion. Anyone who has raised a child or worked in an office understands that emotions make us less objective and more likely to stumble in pursuing our goals. Creating lasting change takes persistence, dedication and an absolute willingness to push forward .
Perhaps Americans and Kansans would benefit if they felt more outrage. But I think they would benefit most by working ceaselessly toward the change they claim to want.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here .
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