Bearly Newsworthy: Stepping Off the Rage Carousel

You don't have to care about everything – outrage is exhausting and distracting from the real issues, argues The Bear

I am not outraged.

That might be a strange thing to hear in 2025 – especially from someone who writes about politics, power, and public dysfunction – but I am just... not.

Not about Robert Jenrick filming himself clumsily confronting fare dodgers. Not about the breathless reactions that followed. Not even about the deeply predictable "BUT DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT CRIME?" chorus that seems to auto-play the moment anyone dares to suggest the emperor might be looking for a GB News gig.

I watched the video. I visibly winced. I poked fun at it. And then I swiftly moved on.

Because not everything needs to be a national reckoning. Not every cringey PR stunt is a moral test. And frankly, I just do not have the time, the bandwidth, or the blood pressure to manufacture indignation over every performative bit of political cosplay that hits my X feed.

But here’s the thing – taking this approach apparently makes me the problem now. Indifference is not allowed. Irony is dangerous. Context is complicity. If you are not foaming at the mouth over every tube tap-in gone unpaid, you must hate Britain, despise taxpayers, and probably work for the BBC.

That is how the outrage economy works. It doesn’t just feed on anger – it punishes its absence.