The ability to manipulate the emotions of an audience is one of the most powerful rhetorical tools available. In the hands of political figures, that audience expands to the whole population of a country, and in some cases, even larger than that. Political and social leaders have drawn on the emotions of their followers for hundreds of years. They do this because it is an easy and effective way to sway their audience to support them. Whether that be for an election, social cause, or the passing of a new law. Emotions such as fear and anger are not only the most effective but also the most taken advantage of. Negative emotions signal to the brain that there is a problem in dire need of fixing. Upset calls a person to action, making it far more useful to political candidates and advocates. Sure, joy and hope are nice and all, but they don’t inspire change.
What is anger?
There are multiple ways to define anger. Aristotle described it as the desire for revenge triggered by insult. J. Elsner added that it stems from something getting in the way of achieving a goal. Others have determined that anger is the response to a violation of moral ideals or social norms.
The way anger influences a person’s decision making ability can be reflected with Valance theory. This is the idea that the initial reaction to a candidate, idea, movement, party, etc., influences the entirety of the deliberation process. According to Valence theory, people make political choices based on their initial gut reaction instead of weighing the pros and cons. The way anger works as a persuasive tool is very similar.
Anger and decision making
The effect that anger has on social and political judgment makes it a favorite persuasive device for political figures. An angry audience doesn’t think deeply about the information at hand. Anger causes people to blindly follow those feeding them this enraging information. It makes people closed-minded and encourages them to fall back on old habits and surface level information.
“The present research indicates that angry people are significantly more likely to rely
Negative affect and social judgment: The differential impact of anger and sadness
on simple cues in reacting to social stimuli. Their judgments of accused miscreants were more
affected by social stereotypes, and their level of agreement with unpopular positions was guided
more by the apparent credibility of the person advocating the position”
To someone that desperately needs your vote or voice in favor of a cause, an angry person that won’t think critically about the ideas presented is very valuable. Angering an audience without providing them with proper information and reasoning proves to be less work for a much higher reward.
Walking the line between action and violence
Another politically powerful effect of anger is its ability to widen divides between groups. Getting an angry audience to point the finger at a political rival or group of people whose values seem to challenge your position mobilizes them into action against the competition. Fostering disdain for groups causes followers to do the dirty work for them. Low blows and rumors can run wild among an audience blinded by rage that they may not even fully understand. Unfortunately, this rage can snowball into more and more aggressive behavior if left unchecked. Some political and social figures may even encourage such behavior.
Eric Greitens released an ad in 2022 while running for U.S. Senate. It consisted of him storming into a home with soldiers, wielding multiple firearms. Looking into the camera he says, “Join the MAGA crew. Get a RINO hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”
The RINO he is referring to stands for Republican in name only. A term used to describe conservatives that are not supportive of Donald Trump. This not-so-subtle, violent rhetoric came at a time when Trump-weary Republicans were receiving death threats from members of their own party. Vicious words like this from political figures fan the flames even further.
“When more of it happens, candidates such as Greitens will pretend they had nothing to do with it. They will say their ugly, violent rhetoric was just figurative — even as they wink and nod to their supporters. They’ll claim to be shocked and ask how they could possibly have known anyone would take them seriously.”
Paul Waldman
The persuasiveness of fear
Other than anger, fear is often looked at as a persuasive tool. The idea of politics and fear brings to mind the infamous “Daisy” ad used in Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential campaign.
The ad struck so much fear in its viewers that it only ran once, yet out of the many Johnson ads that ran in 1964, this is the one we tend to remember.
Like anger, fear inspires political action, but in a different way. Anger encourages people to fall back on old habits and closes the mind to new information. Fear often causes people to seek out more information on the topic at hand.
A study was done on the 2015 and 2017 French National elections on the effects of fear and anger on voting habits for the far right party, the Front National. It was found that fearful, conservative voters were less loyal to the Front National party while angry, conservative voters were more loyal.
Anger isn’t all bad
Anger is a natural emotion. Experiencing the entire emotional spectrum is an integral aspect of what it means to be human. Getting angry from information delivered to you in a political context doesn’t inherently mean you are being tricked or played. Rage and fear are rational reactions to much of what is going on in the world right now. Seeing the images coming out of Gaza, hearing the news of another public shooting, and feeling the devastation of a natural disaster are all things that should call you to action. Emotions like anger, sadness, and fear are your body’s way of telling you that something needs to be done. While it is important to be aware of how it is used as a political tool, it is also important to be aware of the ways it is meant to help you create change.
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