Originally published on Substack Feb. 6, 2026. Shared here for broader access.

A lot of Americans are angry right now.

And before anyone rushes to tone-police that sentence, let me say this plainly: much of that anger is justified.

People are watching a steady stream of images, videos, and headlines that feel intentionally designed to provoke, insult, and divide. Threats of violence. Racially dehumanizing imagery. Outside agitators stirring conflict in local communities. Rhetoric from powerful platforms that sounds less like leadership and more like gasoline on an already smoldering fire.

If you’re feeling outraged, unsettled, or exhausted by it all, you’re not weak — you’re paying attention.

This week alone offered a grim snapshot of where we are.

In Minnesota, we saw an extremist arrested after calling online for the killing of ICE agents. At the same time, we’ve watched provocateurs descend on local restaurants and neighborhoods — harassing workers, vandalizing permitted property, deliberately escalating confrontations while cameras roll — all for the express purpose of posting the reaction online and “monetizing” clicks.

Rage bait, plain and simple.

Zoom out nationally, and the pattern continues. Divisive rhetoric at what was once a broadly unifying National Prayer Breakfast. And then, late yesterday, a video shared from the President’s own account depicting former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as monkeys — a dehumanizing, racist trope that rightly shocked and angered people across the country.

None of this is abstract.
None of it is harmless.
And none of it should be shrugged off.

But here’s the hard truth we have to confront if we’re going to be honest with ourselves:

Every single one of these moments is engineered for reaction.

Different ideologies.
Different aesthetics.
Same tactic.

Provoke.
Film.
Post.
Watch the outrage spread.
Monetize the chaos.
Move on.

The people doing this are not trying to persuade you. They are not trying to build anything. They are not even trying to “win” in any lasting sense.

They are trying to pull you into a reflexive state — where anger overrides judgment, where tribal identity replaces discernment, where “us vs. them” becomes the only lens through which we see one another.

And when we react exactly as expected, they succeed.

This is where the conversation usually breaks down, because calling for restraint gets misheard as minimizing harm or excusing bad behavior. (I get accused of both regularly.) It isn’t.

Anger can be righteous. Scripture even acknowledges that:

“In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
— Ephesians 4:26–27 (NIV)

The problem isn’t anger.

The problem is unexamined, weaponized anger that is steered, amplified, and exploited by people who benefit from a divided country.

At that point, anger stops being a moral signal and starts becoming a weapon. And once that happens, it no longer points us toward solutions — it locks us into camps.

My friend John Wood Jr., National Ambassador with Braver Angels, puts it more clearly than anyone I know:

“Toxic polarization is the one problem that ensures all other problems won’t get solved.”

That’s what we’re actually up against.

Not just bad actors on the far left or far right.
Not just offensive videos or reckless rhetoric.

But a culture so steeped in us vs. them thinking that every provocation feels like a summons to battle.

The Bible warns us about this too:

“Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.”
— Proverbs 13:10

And:

“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”
— Proverbs 14:12

Some reactions feel righteous in the moment. They feel cathartic. They feel justified.

But they still lead us somewhere — and we’d better be honest about where that road goes.

This is where Courageous Citizenship comes in.

Courageous Citizenship is not about silence. It’s not about passivity. And it’s definitely not about pretending everything is fine.

It’s about acting instead of reacting.

It’s about refusing to let the loudest, angriest voices hijack our agency. It’s about choosing discipline over impulse, principle over performance, and responsibility over rage.

As a Minnesotan, this isn’t theoretical for me. These are my communities. These are my neighbors. These are small businesses and workers who didn’t sign up to become props in someone else’s viral content strategy.

I’m angry about that. I should be.

But I’m also unwilling to let that anger be turned into something destructive — something that hardens me against people I’ve never met or convinces me that my fellow citizens are my enemies.

This is what I know for sure:

Reaction is not resistance.
Escalation is not strength.
And chaos is not justice.

Calm is not capitulation.
Restraint is not weakness.
And refusing the bait is not surrender — it’s wisdom.

If we want a country capable of solving real problems, we cannot keep rewarding the behavior that guarantees we won’t.

That means learning to pause when we’re provoked. To breathe when we’re insulted. To act with intention when everything in the moment screams “react.”

That’s not easy.

But it is necessary.

The future of this country will not be decided by the people who scream the loudest or provoke the hardest — it will be shaped by ordinary citizens who choose courage over outrage and responsibility over reflex.

That work starts with us.

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