Page 4 - Division, Intolerance, and Conflict: Can Public Civility Ever Be Restored?

INTRODUCTION

The Anger

Pandemic

Almost everyone has seen the videos: brawls in restaurants,
red-faced citizens screaming at school offi cials, and passen-
gers on airplanes throwing punches at fl ight attendants. It
seems as if one side-effect of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
was a plague of widespread, uncontrollable anger. And that
might be true. Psychology professor Raymond Novaco, who
specializes in anger assessment and treatment, calls the pan-
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demic “a big anger incubator.” Novaco says the isolation, fear,
and uncertainty caused by the pandemic left people feeling
frustrated, anxious, and helpless as the world seemed to spin
out of control. Stressful feelings like these are commonly ex-
pressed in outbursts of anger.
Much of the rage was initially directed at workers required
to enforce government mask mandates. While the mandates
helped slow the spread of COVID-19, those who did not wish
to wear masks screamed in anger at employees in restaurants
and stores. Some workers were physically assaulted when
asking patrons to wear a mask. The problem was particularly
bad for fl ight attendants, who had to deal with unruly passen-
gers upset over mask mandates. Flight attendant Adam Mos-
ley expressed his frustration: “It’s mentally exhausting to have
to police adults over this matter. . . . [But] there is defi nitely a
subset of people that don’t seem to think that any of the rules
apply to them.” 2

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