Do we crave the feeling of anger?

The integrity of the enevironment is a central issue in our sense of belonging and our sense of well being. A chaotic environment ignores our need for order and stability. If we take the disorder personally, it may be because it's like someone does not care enough to see to it that the environment is what we think it should be. It could seem like an unkept promise and someone failed us - either out of lack of caring or respect or simple negligence. It could almost seem seem like a kind of abuse.

I think we are most likely be mad at those who profess to love us because they raised out expectations the most. We may not allow ourselves to experience our anger toward them for fear of repercussions. Sometimes recognizing the feelings is healthier than pretending not to have them.

The NY Times article seems to be concerned with fairly specific kind of anger - outrage, which seems more like a form of conceit of the whiny and griping variety. There are forms of anger that involve so much physiological upheaval and are so stressful that they are unlikely to be enjoyable.
 
Btw, not sure why the OP is the Philosophy area, and I gotta tell ya, it really makes me feel confused, helpless and angryryy!*@!^%$# Darn you, Paladin*#@!!! :p:p:p:D:D:D
 
Paladin said:
Here's a humorous article from the New York Times that I feel sheds a little light into the dark recesses of our collective unconscious. Do we really just enjoy being angry? Are there times when we pick the low road of contention because if just feels good?

Isn’t It Outrageous? - Happy Days Blog - NYTimes.com
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Sounds like this writer is going through hate-addiction-withdrawls. Will he look for a new hate recepticle after he's done mourning the loss of a favorite hate recepticle?
 
Nobody seen what the bleep?

According to it we (some of us) get addicted to the little neurochemical that is produced when we are angry...so we repeat it to get our fix.
 
I don't crave it, but it is simply the first instinct to come to mind, as it is the most suiting and natural. You have to -go- out of your way and change yourself not to feel rage or anger or violence..... That is what comes to mind.... Naturally... To change this is to attempt to be something else.... :)
 
Paladin said:
Do we really just enjoy being angry?
Are there times when we pick the low road of contention because if just feels good?
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I don't think I "enjoy" it or that it "feels good". I've been accused of being "snippy" on occasions, does that count as anger? I don't think I am feeling anger when I post stuff that may be viewed by others as anger. I think you have to know someone in "real life" to say whether they get angry or how often they're angry. I don't think people think I'm an angry person, or maybe that's just my poor self-awareness. Or maybe they're scared to mention it in case I go ballistic with them...but I doubt it.

The writer says (jokingly?) he spends about 87% of his time winning imaginary arguments. Has he had a stroke or a heart attack yet? Perhaps he should get out of his mind a bit more and be in the real world.

I'm glad he ends up pointing towards the need for empathy and understanding. Fundamentally I think anger (like much negative affect) results from the mismatch between the ideal template in our mind as to how things in the external world should be operating, and how they actually are.

s.
 
I'm going to disagree with Snoopy. I think people enjoy it and cultivate it, as if it were a garden that provided endless supplies of delight to be picked and savored.

I work in a design department, and the various "outrages" foisted upon us by clients are treated like treasure that we can share and howl over all day long.
 
Every radio station has it's "Mr Angry". Much of our most valued comedy is often re-expressed anger. And writing is a great platform. Satire for me is its greatest expression. And the harder and rawer the better.


When I think about my time here I do not think I have been angry at anyone. I see anger as a sometimes useful tool for extracting peoples opinions and personality which may reveal context to other things they say. You do not know what someone is like unless you have seen them angry. I like a site that keeps limiting my ability to get into juvenile flame wars, because the teenager in me never left. Though it does get a bit embarrassing at 43 I sort of hope that urge never leaves me. I just have to work on turning more of it into comedy here. Maybe I need a comedy guru?



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Snoopy said:
I don't think I "enjoy" it or that it "feels good". I've been accused of being "snippy" on occasions, does that count as anger? I don't think I am feeling anger when I post stuff that may be viewed by others as anger. I think you have to know someone in "real life" to say whether they get angry or how often they're angry. I don't think people think I'm an angry person, or maybe that's just my poor self-awareness. Or maybe they're scared to mention it in case I go ballistic with them...but I doubt it.

The writer says (jokingly?) he spends about 87% of his time winning imaginary arguments. Has he had a stroke or a heart attack yet? Perhaps he should get out of his mind a bit more and be in the real world.

I'm glad he ends up pointing towards the need for empathy and understanding. Fundamentally I think anger (like much negative affect) results from the mismatch between the ideal template in our mind as to how things in the external world should be operating, and how they actually are.

s.
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back to cognitive dissonance?! l agree with cz in that the environment, particularly certain jobs like journalists, critics, and backstabbing advertising dogeatdog establishments engenders such behaviour which can get habitual and a means to letting off the steam of frustration, which anger essentially is; look at road rage at strangers! Underneath all anger is fear and may be a deflection of that; pretty much base chakra survival stuff [unless you have joined the bandwagon of bad is good so get over it you moron mentality]. lt can and is used as intimidation, verbally or otherwise, of superiority and lack of control; for others its became an artform in itself, used jokingly with a smile at the end [or even worse a wink!].
 
Netti-Netti said:
Btw, not sure why the OP is the Philosophy area, and I gotta tell ya, it really makes me feel confused, helpless and angryryy!*@!^%$# Darn you, Paladin*#@!!! :p:p:p:D:D:D
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Exactly! Why the h3ll is it in the philosophy area? What right thinking person would do such a thing? Ah perhaps that is the first clue! Quick Watson the game is afoot!
 
nativeastral said:
back to cognitive dissonance?! l agree with cz in that the environment, particularly certain jobs like journalists, critics, and backstabbing advertising dogeatdog establishments engenders such behaviour which can get habitual and a means to letting off the steam of frustration, which anger essentially is; look at road rage at strangers! Underneath all anger is fear and may be a deflection of that; pretty much base chakra survival stuff [unless you have joined the bandwagon of bad is good so get over it you moron mentality]. lt can and is used as intimidation, verbally or otherwise, of superiority and lack of control; for others its became an artform in itself, used jokingly with a smile at the end [or even worse a wink!].
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Someone much smarter than me once told me that expectations are simply pre-meditated resentments. I know I fall in that trap on a regular basis. The trick is that if we can find a righteous indignation it is much easier to justify and even honor the anger.

Rageaholics I have known will use righteous indignation of hide the "addiction" as Wil intimates in his post.
 
In this chart from the book Power v. Force...Anger is a level of consicousness, and anger can pull you out of lower levels, help you move up...however it doesn't do you much good if you stay there. Also anger can drag you down from higher levels of consciousness.

Picture1-1.png
 
Snoopy said:
The writer says (jokingly?) he spends about 87% of his time winning imaginary arguments. Has he had a stroke or a heart attack yet?
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The authors also mentions "the pleasures of outrage and vindication, of being wronged and proven right." That fits in with my conceit theory: Vindication is self-enhancing.

Outrage is an alternative to the despair of having been wronged with no hope of overt retaliation or corrective action. It may be helpful in situations where more positive self-enhancing experiences are not available.
 
Netti-Netti said:
The authors also mentions "the pleasures of outrage and vindication, of being wronged and proven right." That fits in with my conceit theory: Vindication is self-enhancing.

Outrage is an alternative to the despair of having been wronged with no hope of overt retaliation or corrective action. It may be helpful in situations where more positive self-enhancing experiences are not available.
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In other words, many people would rather be angry than depressed.
 
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