America's mood disorder

IS THE aggravation we feel toward the lady in the quiet restaurant who loudly yacks about the details of her latest dermatology appointment into her cellphone related to our dismay at a culture that awards fame and fortune to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton?

Is the powerless outrage we feel when on hold for 20 minutes waiting for service from some big company and a recorded voice tells us, "We care about you" connected to our distaste for the transparent phoniness of political campaigns?

The ties that bind many Americans today are the dislikes we hold in common.

Many Americans have become allergic to the prevailing culture in America. We encounter toxins and irritants on two fronts: the large cultural institutions of public life - politics, the news media, Hollywood, and Wall Street - and through everyday encounters when we are out in public - buying groceries from surly clerks or bumping into hostile iPod zombies on the sidewalk.

We are mad as hell, sure, but we keep on taking it. Right on the chin.

Our litany of complaints, big and small, reflects an enduring social mood disorder. On the collective level, our distrust in politics and government has prevented us from solving solvable problems. On the private level, the toxicity of pop culture, the hyperactive communicating that new technology lures us into, and the stunning disappearance of basic manners has made it more difficult to savor everyday life and get happy.

America is disappointed in itself. What is stunning is how long this has been true and how long we have had our heads in the sand.

After Vietnam and Watergate, the respect and confidence Americans felt in the major institutions of public life - and their leaders - plummeted: the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, the press, corporations, medicine, and even the clergy. In the 40 years since, trust and confidence have simply not recovered.

Our disenchantment is not limited to government, and it is not the kind of griping people always do. Parents are wary of the entertainment Hollywood produces in a way that was unheard of a generation or two ago. We have not always been convinced, as we are now, that there is pervasive cheating in business. Fifty years ago, most Americans did not believe traditional news organizations were tabloid, sensational, and not credible.

Culture, in our own estimation, has become an echo chamber for the worst in us. It doesn't reflect the higher values we have as families and individuals; it preys on the lower ones. And in turn, our own behavior and manners - as parents, neighbors, colleagues, citizens and consumers - too often disappoint us.

Two trends stand out and help us understand what is unique about our times. First, we are as mobile as any society has ever been.

Usually, humans leave family and neighborhood only when forced out by Vikings, famine, or plague. Though wandering is part of the American story, the last few generations have uprooted themselves perpetually, by choice. This is not just geographic: We have also become unmoored from the traditions and inherited values of our communities. Now we are discovering that living away from close family, lifelong friendships, and intergenerational relationships can make us cranky and isolated.

Second, the revolution in communications technology at the turn of this century has amplified everything. The proliferation of gadgets brings more media into our lives, and that means more things to buy, more marketing, more junk culture, more noise, and more busy-ness. It takes us away from direct personal contact, from the more challenging forms of art and entertainment. It speeds life up.

We are finding it difficult to impose standards on ourselves, leaving us with a well deserved lack of collective self-esteem. "National pride, the philosopher Richard Rorty wrote, "is to countries what self-respect is to individuals; a necessary condition of self-improvement."

Presidential elections are about national self-improvement. This election is a good opportunity to consider how we as a society and as individuals can earn our respect back.

Dick Meyer is author of "Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium" and the editorial director of Digital Media at National Public Radio.