Anger at obstructed reality deflects onto those who merely voice it
Evidence
Repressive intolerance toward a thought not immediately accompanied by instructions for action is founded in fear. Unmanipulated thought and the position that allows nothing to be deduced from this thought must be feared because that which cannot be admitted is perfectly clear: this thought is right. An aged bourgeois mechanism with which the men of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century were very familiar displays itself anew but unchanged: suffering caused by a negative condition - in this case by obstructed reality - turns into anger toward the person who expresses it. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 285
Categorization
- DEFINE: Adorno’s account of why critical analysis gets attacked: the messenger of negation inherits the suffering the situation causes.
- XREF: connects to: Talent is sublimated rage converted into patient observation. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 123; Conspiracy theorists on Twitter express more anger and swearing than science communicators — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 206; Officials’ dismissive responses convert residents’ fear into sustained oppositional anger. (+1 more)