Anger and Logic

I passed out flyers on Friday before the election so as not to waste unused campaign materials. They cost the campaign $329.00 and I worked hard to raise the money.

The flyer was written two months ago when I was still working up the steam to campaign and it reflected my passion perfectly at the time. In fact I had toned it down after a day of thought. Originally I was going to begin it “I’m pissed off.” Instead I opted for the less crude salutation “I’m angry.” Even that seemed a little strong on the final Friday before the election. Still, even with a couple typos I hated to waste them. I got another 500 passed out that day.

The following day one showed up at my doorstep with a note on it. It was signed and I appreciated the feedback even though it was critical. It said:

“Harry, As a person who wants to support you, I was very turned off by this. You are asking people to use their head and be angry. Anger and logic are in different parts of the brain so that is difficult to achieve. My advice is to have a diverse group of friends read your material and then listen to what they say. This reads like an angry first draft.”

I have no way of knowing if this person ultimately voted for me. Her advice was very good but I’m terrible at asking people to help me. Other than my now infamous “volunteer” I did this campaign myself. Claudia hates politics and I did my best to hide the campaign from her. The piece was almost a first draft as the note writer suggests. But I’ve attempted to rush a lot of thoughts out here on the blog and I needed a flyer after the September primary to begin asking for lawnsign locations. I only printed up 3,000 thinking I could print more to correct mistakes. Sadly the first batch cost more than I expected and I never ran out of them. No money for corrections.

I disagree with the writer although I can appreciate her concern. Anger and logic may be in different parts of the brain but they are both in the brain. Like all mental functions we humans must juggle them at all times and they are always interacting. I look at anger like this. The difference between a rocket and a bomb is slight but critical. Both are explosives. A rocket however, is controlled just as anger must be.

Anger, like other strong emotions drives people. It is neither good or ill in and of itself. It is simply a strong reaction which may or may not be justified and which may be destructive and counterproductive unless controled. Logic may reside elsewhere in the brain but it is one of the intellectual forces which can turn anger to good or ill purpose. Everything else about my flyer suggests I’ve put a lot of thought, logic, into my campaign. Certainly I have more history with the Duluth Schools than any other candidate including Rosie. I think that anger or not this flyer demonstrates my use of logic. As noted in the preceding post I used that logic to win passage of the second levy question.

This is clearly a case where I have put my anger at over crowded classes, and the negative consequences of the Red Plan to a positive use. This is so much more useful than a fatalistic and cynical giving up.

Again I’ll concede that bits of this flyer sound like a first draft. But my first drafts are so superior to the final crowd approved banalities of my rivals for the School Board I can live with this. Besides, I labored much longer over the pieces I sent to be published in the newspapers, even the infamous tract about “gangrene” spreading through western Duluth. Our successful second levy, that I credit myself with passing, will be like a shot of antibiotics to make the gangrene retreat. That is of anger being used for good purpose.

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