VOA慢速英语--Why Are Americans so Angry?

Why Are Americans so Angry?

Americans are angry and growing more frustrated¹, but the reasons are mixed.

At shopping day sales, they fight over who gets the biggest television.

At their children’s soccer games, they attack the coach if their team is not winning.

Political candidates use language that insults America’s friends and neighbors.

And in the extreme, some become so angry over issues of religion, politics and power that they commit mass murder on strangers. Or threaten people with religions they do not like.

“I just received a death threat in my own office,” Representative Andrew Carson, a Democrat² from Indiana told CNN Tuesday. “And it is largely (due) to the environment, this toxic³ environment.”

Carson is one of two Muslim-Americans in Congress. He says the death threat came one day after Republican Donald Trump⁴ declared he would ban Muslims from traveling to the U.S., if he is elected president.

But Americans are also angry and divided about continued economic struggles. Also fueling the anger are divisions over such issues as immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion⁵, gun control, police treatment of African-Americans and climate change.

Just in the last week:

Angry demonstrators blocked traffic in Chicago, Illinois to protest the delayed release of a video showing a white police officer shooting down a 17-year-old African-American.

At a town council meeting in a small Indiana town, a fight broke out after a vote to replace the town’s marshal.

The debate over gun control grew even angrier. Supporters of gun control asked why opponents are not even willing to stop terrorists from getting guns. Gun rights supporters responded that some want to take away their rights to own guns.

Robert Thompson is director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. He says no one can argue that Americans have a lot to be angry about.

But it does not mean the anger has reached historic levels, Thompson says.

It used to be that angry Americans had fewer options to express their anger. You could write a letter to your local newspaper, but by the time it was published, you had time to cool off. Those were times before cable television news and the Internet.

Says Thompson: “Now, we all get to show how angry we are. We can go on the Internet and proclaim our anger to the entire world. It is not like we have not been angry before. Settlers to America were angry enough at the British to begin a revolution.”

The reasons people say they are unhappy include: a shrinking middle class, young people worried about debt and job prospects⁶, a growing concern about terrorism and a belief the political system favors the wealthy, according to polls by the Wall Street Journal/NBC and the Pew Research Center.

Despite 62 straight months of job growth, many Americans worry about their ability to meet future costs.

Twenty seven percent of baby boomers expect to run out of savings⁷ before they die, according to a June survey by Northwestern Mutual⁸ Life Insurance Company. Baby boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964.

And Generation Xers – people born between 1965 and 1980 – are also nervous. Thirty seven percent do not “at all feel financially secure,” and 20 percent expect to outlive their savings, the Northwestern Mutual survey found.

Russell Jones is director of the Stress and Coping Lab and a psychology⁹ professor at Virginia Tech University. He said recent terror attacks and mass shootings raise stress levels.

“The increase in trauma¹⁰ we are hearing, watching and reading about and, in some cases, experiencing, is making the anger and stress more prevalent,” Jones says.

He is referring not only to the San Bernardino shootings, but also recent attacks: the Paris terror attacks, which killed 130 people and the shootings at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, which killed three. On Monday, ceremonies will mark the third anniversary of the attack that killed 20 first graders and six educators at a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school.

Mary Niall Mitchell, a history professor at the University of New Orleans, says this is an important time for the United States. There are rapid changes in social norms, for example, legalization of same-sex marriage, a growing immigrant population and continuing protests to pressure police departments and colleges to treat African-Americans fairly.

Some are uncomfortable with those changes, but others do not think change is happening fast enough, she says.

Says Mitchell: “From the historian’s perspective, angry societies are double-edged: anger can result in bigotry¹¹, oppression and violence, but can also be a means of liberation and over time, produce more equitable¹² societies.”

For some, the current climate is becoming too much.

Kat Goldman, a singer-songwriter who lives in Boston, posted on her Facebook page that recent events in America are prompting a return to her native Canada.

“The U.S. truly is the land where dreams are made, and I made some of my own dreams come true while I was here,” Goldman says.

But she cites some reasons to leave: “out-of-control gun violence,” Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslim visitors and “this group of people (terrorists) who want to blow us up.” 

Words in This Story

frustrated – adj. very angry, discouraged, or upset because of being unable to do or complete something

assault – v. the crime of trying or threatening to hurt someone physically¹³

coach – n. a person who teaches and trains an athlete or performer

commit – v. to do something that is illegal or harmful

stranger – n. someone who you have not met before or do not know

toxic – adj. very unpleasant

prevalent – adj. happening often or over a large area

proclaim – v. to declare or announce something

shrinking – adj. to become smaller in amount, size, or value

prospects – n. the possibility that something will happen in the future

psychology – n. the science or study of the mind and behavior

stressed – v. a state of mental tension

trauma – n. a very difficult or unpleasant experience that causes someone to have mental or emotional problems usually for a long time

uncomfortable -- adj. causing a feeling of physical discomfort¹⁴

perspective – n. a way of thinking about and understanding something

bigotry – n. bigoted¹⁵ acts or beliefs

oppression -- n. unjust treatment

equitable – adj. dealing fairly and equally with everyone

1 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

6 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

7 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

8 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

9 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

10 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

11 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。

12 equitable   

adj.公平的；公正的

参考例句：

• This is an equitable solution to the dispute. 这是对该项争议的公正解决。
• Paying a person what he has earned is equitable. 酬其应得,乃公平之事。

13 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

14 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

15 bigoted   

adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• He is so bigoted that it is impossible to argue with him.他固执得不可理喻。
• I'll concede you are not as bigoted as some.我承认你不象有些人那么顽固。