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On Indignation
Corrosive, mad and frequently fatal, indignation is a great destructive force in human affairs, and just as often a wellspring of mirth and merriment. Don Watson traces this seemingly ineradicable emotion in a journey that takes us, via his forebears, Flaubert and The Sopranos, from the Old Testament to Donald Trump.
Trump's pitch had less to do with offering voters money and security than with offering them vengeance. He exploited the anger we feel when we are slighted or taken for granted, turning the politics of a sophisticated democracy into something more like a blood feud. He promised to restore dignity, slay enemies, re-make the world according to old rites and customs. He stirred indignation into tribal rage and rode it into the White House.
It was a scam, of course, but wherever there is indignation, stupidity and lies abound.
'Indignation is both seductive and contagious, and transforms society and politics. Don Watson's essay is penetrating, astringent, witty and disturbing. It must be read, carefully.'BARRY JONES
Trump's pitch had less to do with offering voters money and security than with offering them vengeance. He exploited the anger we feel when we are slighted or taken for granted, turning the politics of a sophisticated democracy into something more like a blood feud. He promised to restore dignity, slay enemies, re-make the world according to old rites and customs. He stirred indignation into tribal rage and rode it into the White House.
It was a scam, of course, but wherever there is indignation, stupidity and lies abound.
'Indignation is both seductive and contagious, and transforms society and politics. Don Watson's essay is penetrating, astringent, witty and disturbing. It must be read, carefully.'BARRY JONES
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First published October 6, 2008
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About the author
Don Watson
74 books67 followersWatson grew up on a farm in Gippsland, took his undergraduate degree at La Trobe University and a Ph.D at Monash University and was for ten years an academic historian. He wrote three books on Australian history before turning his hand to TV and the stage. For several years he combined writing political satire for the actor Max Gillies with political speeches for the former Premier of Victoria, John Cain.
In 1992 he became Prime Minister Paul Keating's speech-writer and adviser and his best-selling account of those years, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart': Paul Keating Prime Minister, won both the The Age Book of the Year and non-fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award and the Australian Literary Studies Association's Book of the Year.
In addition to regular books, articles and essays, in recent years he has also written feature films, including The Man Who Sued God, starring Billy Connolly and Judy Davis. His 2001 Quarterly Essay Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America won the inaugural Alfred Deakin Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Death Sentence, his book about the decay of public language, was also a best seller and won the Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year. Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words was published in 2004 and continued to encourage readers to renounce what he perceives to be meaningless corporate and government jargon that is spreading throughout Australia and embrace meaningful, precise language. More recently Watson contributed the preface to a selection of Mark Twain's writings, The Wayward Tourist.
His latest book, American Journeys is a narrative of modern America from Watson's travels in the United States following Hurricane Katrina. It was published by Knopf in 2008 and won both the The Age Book of the Year non-fiction and Book of the Year awards.[4]. It also won the 2008 Walkley Award for the best non-fiction book.
In 1992 he became Prime Minister Paul Keating's speech-writer and adviser and his best-selling account of those years, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart': Paul Keating Prime Minister, won both the The Age Book of the Year and non-fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award and the Australian Literary Studies Association's Book of the Year.
In addition to regular books, articles and essays, in recent years he has also written feature films, including The Man Who Sued God, starring Billy Connolly and Judy Davis. His 2001 Quarterly Essay Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America won the inaugural Alfred Deakin Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Death Sentence, his book about the decay of public language, was also a best seller and won the Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year. Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words was published in 2004 and continued to encourage readers to renounce what he perceives to be meaningless corporate and government jargon that is spreading throughout Australia and embrace meaningful, precise language. More recently Watson contributed the preface to a selection of Mark Twain's writings, The Wayward Tourist.
His latest book, American Journeys is a narrative of modern America from Watson's travels in the United States following Hurricane Katrina. It was published by Knopf in 2008 and won both the The Age Book of the Year non-fiction and Book of the Year awards.[4]. It also won the 2008 Walkley Award for the best non-fiction book.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 27, 2019
Only 83 pages, in the series of little books on big themes from Melbourne University Press. I’m always in awe of writers who can take the reader on a journey linking seemingly insignificant family incidents with history and bigger issues while keeping us entertained and enthralled along the way.
Recommended for anyone who has ever caught themselves in an embarrassing display of huffy indignation ( and who hasn’t?) Also recommended to those who are interested in how idiots like Trump, G Dubbya before him, and Australia’s cuckoo in the nest Scott Morrison have used faked righteous indignation to whip up division and win positions of undeserved power. A terrific read.
Recommended for anyone who has ever caught themselves in an embarrassing display of huffy indignation ( and who hasn’t?) Also recommended to those who are interested in how idiots like Trump, G Dubbya before him, and Australia’s cuckoo in the nest Scott Morrison have used faked righteous indignation to whip up division and win positions of undeserved power. A terrific read.
February 17, 2021
I'd never thought much about "indignation" as a state of mind, or a word for that matter, until I read a chapter in a collection of writings by Don Watson which was an edited version of the original edition of this book, published in 2008.
Watson is one of my favourite writers for several reasons: he makes me think; he's widely read, much more than I am, but he's also read books and ideas that have been part of my reading life.
Here, Indignation spreads from the Old and New testaments to Watson's own family, various philosophers and writers, movies and television series, as well as the realms of politics and history, essentially what might be called the Anglophone countries. There's a bit of humour and wit among some trenchant judgements on what public figures have said, or might not have said if they thought about it.
On a personal level, I found this book insightful into the activities of my own broader family, notably recently with a recent death. Lots of indignation, as well as anger.
The book is part of a series on particular words: slim texts that can be quietly considered over the hour that it might take to read (50 minutes in a decent chair for me).
The front cover of this book comes with a personal endorsement from the venerable American writer and editor Lewis Lapham, a favourite read in the past. The back cover has a few brief paragraphs by the equally venerable thinker in Barry Jones, in which he suggests that Donald Trump offered voters "vengeance" more than anything else: something worth thinking about when reflecting on indignation.
Watson is one of my favourite writers for several reasons: he makes me think; he's widely read, much more than I am, but he's also read books and ideas that have been part of my reading life.
Here, Indignation spreads from the Old and New testaments to Watson's own family, various philosophers and writers, movies and television series, as well as the realms of politics and history, essentially what might be called the Anglophone countries. There's a bit of humour and wit among some trenchant judgements on what public figures have said, or might not have said if they thought about it.
On a personal level, I found this book insightful into the activities of my own broader family, notably recently with a recent death. Lots of indignation, as well as anger.
The book is part of a series on particular words: slim texts that can be quietly considered over the hour that it might take to read (50 minutes in a decent chair for me).
The front cover of this book comes with a personal endorsement from the venerable American writer and editor Lewis Lapham, a favourite read in the past. The back cover has a few brief paragraphs by the equally venerable thinker in Barry Jones, in which he suggests that Donald Trump offered voters "vengeance" more than anything else: something worth thinking about when reflecting on indignation.
December 17, 2020
In this Little Book on Big Ideas, wordsmith extraordinaire, Don Watson, tackles indignation. An entertaining Don talks us through: the Old Testament, focussing on an indignant God and those indignant on his behalf; his extended family and their perceived slights and retaliatory silences; the TV series, The Sopranos, and the childish pride which launched a thousand vendettas; and generalised indignation of voters who swept Trump into power - ‘we don’t know politics, but we know who we don’t like’. He then looks inward at the corrosive power of his own indignation towards George W Bush’s presidency. I think Watson’s message is that, while an entirely human reaction, indignation depletes us, often with no useful result.
January 1, 2019
Just read it .. For pleasure and wisdom
Don Watson has a magic touch with words and a subversive humour which is devilishly delightful. Who else could write On Indignation and make it so thought provoking and original.
Don Watson has a magic touch with words and a subversive humour which is devilishly delightful. Who else could write On Indignation and make it so thought provoking and original.
May 4, 2021
My first read of the "on" series with some interesting ideas and engaging humour. Stalin and the great aunts make the principles more accessible and the hero of the Somme at the end just about sums it up.
September 26, 2021
Reflections and lessons learned:
“How dare you?”
Ahhh, I love humanity, life, and interactions…but I’m still currently holding on to two petty indignations in life where I have uttered the above about a recent situation - where it has been about something badly communicated, possibly even by myself, and the ensuing flared nostril personal offence that hasn’t been resolved by either party, knowingly and unknowingly. These are the short term ones, and I’m sure if I was to stop and list them, I probably would have at least ten long term indignations - how could these people have treated me like this/I completely misinterpreted a situation that the other party didn’t second guess and apologise… this latter attempt at self reflection probably makes my indignation ironically even greater, but I do enjoy being an angered introvert trying to join in on this strange old world.
Honour, will, serenity, rules, respect - a really interesting analysis of an emotion not often enough separated out from frustration, annoyance and anger. Not an author that I’d heard from before, but definitely a writer that I’d be interested in revisiting
“Anger obliterates personality, indignation expresses it… full of dramatic, including comic, possibility…”
“How dare you?”
Ahhh, I love humanity, life, and interactions…but I’m still currently holding on to two petty indignations in life where I have uttered the above about a recent situation - where it has been about something badly communicated, possibly even by myself, and the ensuing flared nostril personal offence that hasn’t been resolved by either party, knowingly and unknowingly. These are the short term ones, and I’m sure if I was to stop and list them, I probably would have at least ten long term indignations - how could these people have treated me like this/I completely misinterpreted a situation that the other party didn’t second guess and apologise… this latter attempt at self reflection probably makes my indignation ironically even greater, but I do enjoy being an angered introvert trying to join in on this strange old world.
Honour, will, serenity, rules, respect - a really interesting analysis of an emotion not often enough separated out from frustration, annoyance and anger. Not an author that I’d heard from before, but definitely a writer that I’d be interested in revisiting
“Anger obliterates personality, indignation expresses it… full of dramatic, including comic, possibility…”
May 5, 2023
A compelling read concluding that indignation is inevitable and necessary to the human condition as oxygen. Scathing on Dubya and Trump, he knits together disparate examples. Some gems: 'How dare this foreign idiot have a platform in my living room, my prime minister welcome him, lap up his compliments, grovel like a spaniel in his company' and 'Is there anything more galling than an insouciant guest?'. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews