Why so angry?
Maybe it’s the uncertain economy, that jerk who cut off your car in city traffic, the inability to log on to ObamaCare, or the constant, mosquito-like nagging of a significant other that has us on edge or lunging for medication.
Or maybe it’s all of the above.
Social observers are calling our mass fixation with minor irritants and major debt the “anger epidemic,’’ a mysterious disease for which no amount of transcendental meditation or any number of good, stiff drinks can overcome. We’re all mini-Alec Baldwins now — walking vessels of rage just looking for a place to melt down.
Chris Brown put a familiar face on the epidemic last month when the singer, on probation for his 2009 beatdown of then-girlfriend Rihanna, was ordered by a judge to cool his heels for three months in an anger-management rehab center. (There is such a thing). This, after he allegedly threw a rock through his own mother’s car window.
Brown had previously checked himself into rehab after his arrest in Washington, DC, for allegedly punching a fan who had tried to take a selfie with him. But he was kicked out of the facility, said the judge, after his mom suggested in a therapy session that Brown just might want to spend a wee bit longer working on his temper.
Are we to blame?
Do we, as a society, encourage diva-like behavior from manic celebs who are rarely locked up or told to chill out? Even Brown’s mom, Joyce Hawkins (twitter handle: “mombreezy,’’) forgave her “ANGEL’’ in a tweet.
Rapper Kanye West threw an epic hissy fit last weekend, interrupting his Yeezus tour in Tampa, Fla., yelling at a technician and stomping to the back of the stage while ranting that the lights and sound levels were off. He resumed the show after things were restored to his exacting specifications.
But while famous folks have bigger stages on which to vent their awesome artistic struggles, the rest of us are not immune. Black Friday shoppers around the country fought like wild animals over post-Thanksgiving bargains. At one Arkansas Walmart, customers punched one another — in a battle over cheap towels.
Even those in the anger biz can be targets. “Some guy sprayed water all over me while riding his bike while I was running,’’ New York psychologist Dr. Robert Udewitz told me. “He was angry.’’
A recent USA Today poll found that 60 percent of Americans report feeling angry or irritable — up sharply from the 50 percent who felt royally peeved just two years ago.
Laura Moss is a “diplomat’’ with the National Anger Management Association, whose business has grown exponentially since courts started sentencing folks like maid-beating supermodel Naomi Campbell to take anger-management courses. Moss blames the 24-hour tyranny of smartphones, advertising and the media for turning us into jealous, alienated wrecks.
Anger “is increasing,’’ said New York psychologist Dr. Melissa Kester, “We live in a city where we’re constantly asking our bodies and our minds to do things that don’t come naturally to us.’’
My blood pressure rises when confronted with constant e-mail pitches from total strangers that begin with, “I hope you are well.’’ Do you really care?
And then there are those two-word, short-attention-span slogans that are springing up like toxic mushrooms. “Enjoy Better,’’ declares Time Warner.
“Think Different,’’ is the ungrammatical signature for Apple. And lest I Think Differently, there is IMAX’s “Think Big,’’ Volkswagen’s “Think Small,’’ Citibank’s “Live Richly’’ (definitely not written for New Yorkers) and Subway’s “Eat Fresh.’’ (Freshly?)
And if you tell me, “It is what it is,’’ things may get ugly.
Spurred by our addiction to the Internet, by long working hours — we’re laboring one month more a year than people did in 1970, with less vacation time, reports Fox 5 News — we’re in trouble.
Or maybe we should simply stop treating anger like a disease.
If a celebrity goes ape, slap him in jail. Same goes for ordinary Joes and Janes who fail to control their inner Lindsay Lohans.
Enough, as they say, is enough.
Riders on track for disaster
One thing we learned after last weekend’s Metro-North crash in The Bronx, in which four were killed and more than 60 hurt, was that the busy commuter train was operated by a single driver. And no one was in place to back him up in case of an emergency.
Engineer William Rockefeller “nodded’’ moments before speeding at 82 mph toward a curve designed for a maximum speed of 30 mph, his own union chief said.
Rockefeller’s lawyer maintains he was in a “daze.’’ Government investigators said the train was equipped with a “dead man’s pedal’’ designed to stop the vehicle if the engineer’s left foot moves off it.
But by the time Rockefeller roused himself and tried to stop the train, it was too late, all parties agree.
Riders have a right to know if they take their lives in their hands when riding the rails.
Tragically hipster
A battle is brewing between rich hipsters — and very rich hipsters.
Annoying urban pioneers who settled in Bushwick, Brooklyn, around 2000, displacing many of the nabe’s working-class residents, are now fighting against an even more affluent influx of interlopers, The Post’s Tara Palmeri reported. Well-off demonstrators have slapped crime-scene tape reading “Occupy’’ — in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street protestors — on CastleBraid, a complex marketed to artists that charges a real-world rent of $3,400 a month for a three-bedroom flat.
Isn’t there enough room in this city for the wealthy and the stinking rich? Apparently not.
Bezos is the drone ranger
Creepy. Massive retailer Amazon is testing unmanned aircraft known as drones to deliver packages to your doorstep.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos showed viewers of “60 Minutes’’ how drones, normally used by the military to lob missiles at enemy combatants in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, can drop a book or a lipstick at your place within 30 minutes of the time it’s ordered. Bezos thinks that, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, drone delivery could be reality by 2015.
I may never leave the house again.
Shameless left
What took so long?
Twenty days after he lobbed vile slurs at former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Martin Bashir, 50, has resigned as a host from TV network MSNBC. Bashir, it pains me to say, fantasized on air about having someone defecate and urinate in Palin’s mouth.
And still, the silence from the leftist women’s movement has been appalling.
Misogyny against Republican women is alive and well.