Anger also tends to make the risks of confrontation appear more tolerable, and can curtail thoughtful reflection. Anger tends to arouse prosecutorial mindsets and aggressiveness toward the uninvolved, especially if they superficially resemble the perpetrator or misbehave in some way themselves. In effect, American fury over 9/11 led to a collective public urge to “kick the dog,” or what social psychologists call displaced aggression. Everybody’s viewing all the bad guys in a big bucket.” Questioned about the song’s popularity, despite the absence of any evidence linking Iraq to anti-American terrorism, a radio DJ explained that “the audience is so wrapped up in the emotion of what it’s about, I don’t think they’re nitpicking at this point. Well, after 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right! Some say this country's just out looking for a fight It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.” By casting the “war on terror” as an epic good-versus-evil struggle, he channeled -and reinforced-desires for righteous punishment, not just for U.S. He reassured Americans that “ur grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. residents after the attacks.”īut the nation’s pulse was more perceptively captured by a September 14 Time editorial, “ The Case for Rage and Retribution,” which foretold “a unified, unifying, Pearl Harbor sort of purple American fury-a ruthless indignation that doesn't leak away in a week or two.” Moreover, Bush’s rhetoric fanned American outrage more than fear. Once the attacks had “shattered America’s sense of invulnerability and unparalleled might,” political scientist Shana Gadarian has contended, “the media’s emphasis on threatening information and evocative imagery, increased the public’s probability of supporting the hawkish policies advocated by political leaders, principally the president.” Media scholars similarly blamed Bush’s rhetoric, claiming that it “highlighted fear, perhaps the most widely shared sentiment by U.S. “Facing clear evidence of peril,” Bush argued, “we cannot wait for the final proof-the smoking gun-that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." Understandably, experts traced public acceptance of Bush’s case to the terror sown by September 11th. To be sure, Bush exploited post-9/11 security concerns when he began pitching an invasion to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime.
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