Ranting: An Instrument of Change

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Rants

By Kurt von Behrmann

                Rants are constructive. When situations reach a pressure point so intense that articulating the problem in sharp tones becomes a release valve, a good rant has a special place in the world.  Factoring the world as it is, I amazed that outrage doesn’t express itself more often.  

There is something in the American psych that prefers to accept the status quo without complaint.  No matter how intense, until things reach total collapse, until situations become impossible, only then do the rants in full epic swing begin.  Considering the state of so many things, it seems odd protests have not been more frequent or more intense. 

Accepting problems without question has benefits.  Protesting and ranting require energy. Complacency only demands silence. Rants and protests puts your voice on the front lines.  Once you put forth an opinion, you are at risk for ridicule.  Removed from the safety of anonymity, putting on a good rant brings you attention.  It places you center circle at the meeting place between accepted notions and iconoclastic myth shattering.  Remaining silent offers security.  Remaining silent also prolongs beneficial change.  Prolonged apathy turns into immobility.   Eventually nothing changes for the better for all. 

 

 For a select minority, silence is the gateway to literally getting away with murder.  Keep demanding what you will and moving ahead without compliant from anyone and silence becomes a credit card with no limit.  Lack of disturbers of the make believe peace always means someone is taking too large a cut of the pubic pie.  Until someone says no, everyone has to do with smaller and smaller slices.  In time someone gets the whole pie and everyone else is left with crumbs.  Look at the banking scandals that ruined our economy and you start to see how the whole thing works.  Minus a huge crowd of ranters, the whole ugly mess was cleaned up  by the very people hurt the most.

Ranting, just like any form of communication can be abused.  To rant simply to rant without reason is just noise.  To rant about the inconsequential is a rant wasted.  In the high stakes game of ranting, you need to select a topic that merits a worthy response.  Choices on what to rant about are critical.  Choose wisely before starting an epic rant.