Outrage is Our Drug of Choice
Note: This essay was written by Sushruta529
As Trump’s second term unfolds, the media remains trapped in its favorite cycle: outrage for clicks, tribal cheerleading, and collective amnesia. Every scandal, every policy failure, and every national tragedy gets devoured by the 24-hour news beast, chewed up for engagement, then spat out awaiting the next spectacle. The real problem isn’t just polarization — it’s that we’ve become too distracted to demand accountability.
Inflation keeps rising. The murder of a health insurance CEO hasn’t made a dent in healthcare costs, proving that the industry’s bottom line is quite literally worth dying for. Even major disasters — like the January 29th air catastrophe over the Potomac — fade from public memory in days.
For decades, we’ve swapped meaningful discourse for a never-ending culture war. We don’t fix problems; we brand opponents as communists, bigots, or snowflakes. Meanwhile, corporate overlords and political elites quietly loot the country like a so-called friend stealing your girlfriend — except in this case, they also took your job, your retirement, and your healthcare.
Trump promised to “Make America Great Again,” but what’s actually dragging us down? Spend half an hour watching political media, and you might think it’s trans athletes, the deep state, or democracy itself on the chopping block. In reality, the real culprits are a 40-year decline in education, industry, healthcare affordability, and infrastructure — problems exacerbated by our national addiction to outrage. We’ve turned every issue into must-see TV while ignoring the root causes of our dysfunction.
Let’s go back to the January 29th air disaster. It took less than a month for the country to move on, shifting focus to whether the Super Bowl halftime show was woke propaganda or an earth-shattering cultural moment (spoiler: it was neither). Meanwhile, 67 families are still grieving, and DC’s airspace — long a disaster waiting to happen expanse — remains just as dangerous. The worst part? DMV-area senators warned last year that cramming 10 extra flights into Reagan National’s already congested schedule could push air traffic control to the brink. But Congress passed the bill anyway. Why? Because lawmakers love the convenience of a quick flight from their latest fundraiser to their next rally.
In a rare show of bipartisanship, 88 senators and 387 representatives agreed — right up until their decision ended in tragedy. So, where’s the accountability? Congress holds public hearings on Benghazi, on TikTok, and on Supreme Court justices. If it’s politically explosive, it gets a prime-time slot. But hearings on congressional insider trading? Term limits? Lobbyists writing our laws? Or how a U.S. Army helicopter ended up colliding with a commercial jet near the Capitol? Crickets.
And why would politicians police themselves — when we don’t even bother to complain or are willing subscribers to hourly outrage?
Sure, people say elections are the ultimate term limits. But when winning public office in entire states comes down to whether you’re Team Donkey or Team Elephant, the whole system feels more like a rigged game in a zoo enclosure than a democracy.
Until we stop treating politics like reality TV and start treating it like the future of our country, the cycle of outrage will continue — just with a different headline.