F**K Off! Why is everybody so angry?

Wearing a Yankee hat in Boston used to be no big deal. I went to college up there in the 70s and spent tons of time in Fenway. I’d sit in the bleachers wearing my dad’s old Yankee cap and nobody said a word. Nobody chanted _____ sucks either. Last time I drove though Boston, people honked and cursed at me because I had NY plates.

Where is the anger coming from? The Internet has given folks cover to unleash their inner demons, and now we’re sinking under a crush of negativity, but is it really the Internet causing all this?

According to the Pew Research Center, only 52 percent of Democrats held a “very unfavorable” view of Republicans. But guess what? 52% of Republicans intensely dislike Democrats. We’re going nowhere fast in America. But are politics the source of our anger?

Are we angry because of a deep flaw in our electoral system? The endless culture wars? Rush Limbaugh? Newt Gingrich? The ending of Game of Thrones? Or are we angry because we like to be angry? It’s certainly a lot easier to be angry. There’s not much critical thinking involved.

One key is the rise of conspiracy theories. Especially with rightists, conspiracy has always found fertile ground. At the end of World War Two, the right convinced themselves FDR sold out Eastern Europe to Stalin in a secret deal. Joe McCarthy saw a commie…