The Age of Grievance

Frank Bruni can write. He is one of the most lucid authors of his generation and that alone is good reason to read this book. Whether you agree with him or not, it is a pleasant and informative read. It flows with insight.The theme is one of political division defined by grievance, but it goes beyond the typical divide between left and right and speaks to the foundational politics of anger and revenge that fuels both sides of the inevitable debate. We are beyond polarized. Disagreement has disappeared from our discourse. We hate. Nothing short of crushing our opponents will calm us down. Or so we think.As I read, I couldn’t help but think back to my own parents. Now deceased, both were the children of immigrants, both were born in the 1920s, and both served in the US Navy during WWII. I was born in the 1950s and one of the things I remember most vividly about them is that neither believed in institutional politics. To this day, I have no idea which political party either one affiliated with, and not once would they even admit publicly who they voted for in a presidential election, although both believed in civic duty and were sure to vote in all of them.To them, WWII and the Cold War that followed were all about ridding the world of tribal politics. Germany and the USSR were both defined by their institutional political parties. They had fought, in their minds, to free the world of such polarized thinking. The beauty of the US political system, to them, was that our politics was built around individuals, not ideologies. What little they spoke about politicians, they spoke about the person, not their agenda.At one point Bruni speaks of China and muses his astonishment that so many Americans, in years past, already believed that the Chinese economy was bigger than our own, which it’s not. Now retired and living in the Midwest, I lived in China for 14 years working for an American company there. And upon my return I was struck by how laser-focused Americans are on the CCP. The Chinese aren’t. They seldom talk about the Party, but not because they are forbidden to. Their priorities are just elsewhere. As Bruni posed his question it occurred to me that if you asked the question of which economy was bigger to the average Chinese they would simply stare in bewilderment as to why you were asking such an irrelevant question. If forced, I am sure they all would have answered correctly – the US.One of Bruni’s conclusions is that the current culture of anger, grievance, and revenge prevents any meaningful discussion of the real issues we all face. He’s right. We have forgotten the universal truth that all of reality is a duality. There are two sides to everything. The Chinese call it yin and yang, but the concept has long been built into the American worldview, until recently. Sports is a duality that historically defined the American psyche in a balance of the celebration of both victory and sportsmanship. Now there is only one correct side and a side that must be obliterated.While the topics are serious and could result in reader melancholy, Bruni does bring a refreshing humor to the discussion. In discussing West Virginia’s absurd attempt to enable everyone to police illegal voting, for example, he writes: “But I was above all baffled: How do you spot illegal voting? Do you use binoculars, as with bird-watching? ‘Look, sweetheart, there’s an American goldfinch – and there’s a Honduran migrant with a stack of fraudulent ballets in his backpack!’” If we stop laughing, we will surely fail.Bruni is realistic but there is always an underlying optimism of the truly inquisitive mind. I am struggling to remain so. The political strategy used by both sides today is self-reinforcing. As a blogger and writer who often finds myself seeing validity in both sides of every issue, I know firsthand that it is difficult to thread the needle of duality, and if you try, no one will buy your books or read your newsletters. Grievance? I’m sure. Reality is a duality.Bruni closes the book with a call for humility all around. And I couldn’t agree more. Having lived in the corporate world of business for almost fifty years I believe with all my heart that the key and only criterion for leadership of any kind is humility. One building block of that is acceptance of the Buddhist truth that all of life is suffering. I am not a Buddhist, and I don’t mean suffering in the sense of pain or oppression. I mean suffering in the sense of seeing ourselves in the right perspective, the duality of individuality and the need for collective obligation.A timely book, superbly written. I highly recommend it, whichever uniform you wear.

Overall, I found Frank Bruni's new book to be an excellent read. It's a fairly heavy read. I generally read a chapter a day as the subject is fairly heavy and sometimes depressing. But I think the book provides a thoughtful examination of grievance and how it has gotten out of control in the U.S. The book provides more examples of unwarranted grievance on the right side of the political divide than the left, but it provides substantial examples on both sides of the divide. I read some negative reviews claiming a leftist agenda by people who didn't even get past first couple of chapters or who think that we should throw away anything the author may say if they do not feel he has given fair play to their particular grievances. He may provide more examples from the right side of the political divide than the left but that in no way discounts the value and importance of what he is saying in general about the dangers of excessive grievance and what it is doing to our country. And anyone brave enough in this day and age to be critical of ideas like critical race theory or the excessiveness of Black Lives Matter zealots who get people fired for daring to say that all lives matter is clearly not just preaching some leftist agenda. Mr. Bruni's writing examines the nature of grievance and how it can get out of control and become a dehumanizing force, where people stop seeing others as people if they don't buy into their particular grievance 110%. He writes in a compassionate and sometimes humorous manner but always with intelligence and understanding. Further, he does not just criticize but provides thoughtful suggestions on how we can be better. Overall, it is an excellent read. Some people's particular views may cause them to not like certain aspects of what he has to say but that does not detract from the fact that he is still saying something very valuable and true about the current state of affairs. I highly recommend the book.

I purchased this book in order to learn more about the psychological causes of this grievance mindset, which pervades both the left and the right. But in the end, though Mr. Bruni tries to maintain a facade of fair mindedness, it always ends with "it's worse on the right and the right is the real danger in America". Well, with what is happening on the American campuses right now regarding the Gaza War, it doesn't seem so, mister Bruni.Maybe I was a bit naive to expect honesty from a New York Times journalist...