Are Grievances Running Our Nation and Is Political Forgiveness Our Way Out?

A Message to You

A rising tide of grievance has inspired a new catch phrase: “grievance politics” or “grievance culture.” In his book, “The Age of Grievance,” Frank Bruni says the trend is rooted in a pessimism and self obsession that “blows our concerns out of proportion.” The antidote, he says, is humility and curiosity to look beyond the caricature of the other and acknowledge their complexity. This month’s newsletter is a deep dive into how we as a country got to this high tide of grievance, how humility can pull us back to a place of listening and mutual trust, and where a political forgiveness mindset can lead to all sides being heard.

What Can You Do?

Are there places where you could be more humble, more open to interesting ideas from all sides? Try bringing mindfulness to people in your life you could approach with more curiosity and humility.

Are Grievances Running Our Nation and Is Political Forgiveness Our Way Out?

On January 6, 2021, a date that will go down as one of the darkest in American history, a routine certification of presidential election results turned into a bloodbath of grievance. What happened at the US Capitol was not just the result of one election and the defeat of then-President Donald Trump, it was the culmination of years of adding kindling to the bonfire. On January 6, the words and actions of one man, encouraging his mob of supporters to believe him, resulted in an insurrection against the United States Congress at the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Americans are deeply divided over why the insurrection happened, most assuming the split reflects bitter partisan politics. Although we may think that the insurrection was about the Big Lie or that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, what motivated the rioters that day was the notion that the United States is for white people whose power must be protected at all costs. The slogan, “Stop the steal,” was not only referring to the belief in a rigged election, it was also referring to the sense of status being stolen, the resentment that Black people and other minority groups were using race to gain unfair advantage. It is a metaphor for what some people are feeling is happening in our country: their status is being stolen and they feel threatened. White grievance, according to Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, was the primary motivation for January 6. According to Pape, “There is a clear racial cleavage that you see in our data and that is what is also captured in the ‘great replacement theory.” Racial resentment was a crucial factor among white Americans who supported the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.?

Not all grievances are created equal. The protests over the killing of George Floyd and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests are examples of grievances that need to be heard and dealt with. Genuine grievances stemming from personal experiences are grievances that need to be listened to. The grievances at the heart of the protests that have erupted in hundreds of US cities need to be heard and addressed if the country is to move on from its tragic history of racism and violence.

A large majority of US citizens are beginning to accept the long history of racism, and the legacy of racist ideas and structures left behind, according to Simon Clark, writing for the Center for American Progress. “The recent protests and public reaction to George Floyd’s murder are a testament to many individuals’ deep commitment to renewing the founding ideals of the republic. But there is another, more dangerous, side to this debate—one that seeks to rehabilitate toxic political notions of racial superiority, stokes fear of immigrants and minorities to inflame grievances for political ends, and attempts to build a notion of an embattled white majority which has to defend its power by any means necessary.”?

Violence and, in particular, political violence seems to be feeding into a cacophony of grievances, loudly broadcast through our airwaves and any other form of conceivable communication. Racism and political violence fueled by grievances touch every aspect of our personal and political lives, creating a great division and polarizing our country. How do we heal this?

We need to understand the nature of racial resentment. If we only focus on “racism” it runs the risk of continued polarization and makes healing more difficult. Using anger and violence to intimidate shuts down communication; people will not listen to one another, rendering any healing process or reconciliation impossible. Everyone needs to be treated with respect, to feel safe, to have their voices heard and feelings worked out, in order for a change of mindset to occur. This is the premise of any political forgiveness process, for people to feel safe and be heard, to share deeply about themselves and to deeply hear one another.?

READ MORE

Sources

American Myths Are Made of White Grievance—and the January 6 Big Lie is Just the Latest, Anthony Conwright, Jan.–Feb. 2023 issue, Mother Jones.)?

How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics, Simon Clark, Center for American Progress

From My Desk

ARTICLE: Grievance Stories: Remaining a Victim

Do you have a grievance story? How would you know? Fred Luskin, author of the book, Forgive for Good, defines a grievance story as repeating the same story of being wronged to three different people. The situation you are recounting is “renting too much space in your mind,” he says. In this article, Dr. David Hanscom addresses physical pain—but his principles can be directly applied to mental and emotional grievances.

VIDEO: Arlie Hochschild on Grievance Culture

Liberal sociologist Arlie Hochschild spent five years studying blue-collar Republicans in rural areas and listening to their deep stories of genuine grievances around economic loss. When Donald Trump swept through, promising to bring back manufacturing and coal jobs, it was like “lightening in a jar,” according to one audience member. In this interview Hochschild explains how that discontent became mobilized by Donald Trump.

BOOK: The Age of Grievance

Over the nearly 250 years of this nation’s existence, grievance has been “the engine of morally urgent change,” according to author Frank Bruni. But what happens when the tone becomes extreme and all sorts of grievances — from authentic to invented — are wielded like a sport in the blame game, a zero-sum game? “There’s a potentially devastating erosion of the civility, common ground, and compromise necessary for our democracy to survive.”

ARTICLE: The Most Important Thing I Teach My Students Isn’t on the Syllabus

“While grievance blows our concerns out of proportion, humility puts them in perspective. While grievance reduces the people with whom we disagree to caricature, humility acknowledges that they’re every bit as complex as we are.” When Frank Bruni demanded his students approach their studies with care for grammar, nuance and every voice being heard, he realized one trait underlying everything: humility. That’s also one singular trait that can serve as antidote to the growing grievance culture in the US, he says in this New York Times article.?

Deeper Moment

The Virtues of Humility

Humility is a quality that is invariably found in the wise person who has acquired many qualities, for, they say, it’s when the tree is loaded with fruit that the branches bend to the ground, whereas the proud person is like the tree whose bare branches point up to the sky.

Humility is a component of altruism, since the humble person is naturally concerned about others and attentive to their well-being. Social psychology studies, on the other hand, have shown that those who overestimate themselves show a tendency to aggression that is greater than average. A link has also been highlighted between humility and the ability to forgive, whereas people who think they’re superior judge the faults of others more harshly and regard them as less forgivable.

To read more, go to The Virtues Of Humility by Matthieu Ricard