Anger in America is a cancer. It eats away at our democracy and destroys everything it touches.
Anger runs rampant through our nation, and it is destroying us from within. We feel impotent at the lack of urgency from those in power, and we feel frustrated by all the problems going unaddressed.
In a helpful blog post by Ryan Holiday If You’re Angry, You’re Part of the Problem, Not the Solution, he laments that the loudest voices on both the left and the right are imploring us to be angry: “If you’re not outraged, they both tell us, “You’re not paying attention.'”
But is the anger helping us, or is it just driving us further and further away?
I think it’s pretty obvious that all this anger is tearing us apart and we need to do something about it.
The Psychology of Anger
As lame as it might seem, to look at anger at a society level, we can explore the psychology of anger and how it’s thought about in the medical profession.
What is Anger?
Anger is a feeling that can range from mild irritation to intense fury. It can be directed at others or oneself, and it often leads to aggressive or destructive behavior. Anger is a natural response to certain situations, but it can become a problem when it’s expressed in harmful ways or persists for long periods of time – sound familiar?
- According to the American Psychological Association, “anger is a common and normal emotion that everyone feels at some point in their lives.”
- Anger can have both positive and negative effects on our mental and physical health.
- Some of the negative effects of anger include increased stress levels, high blood pressure, heart problems, and headaches. In the case of American society as a whole, it’s making it impossible for us to solve our problems.
Why are People so Angry?
There are many reasons for all the anger. I have whole pages devoted to the many problems we have.
But at the individual level, there are many reasons why people might be angry. Some may have experienced trauma or injustice, while others may feel like they’re not being heard or valued. In some cases, anger may be the result of a mental health condition, such as depression or anxiety.
What Can We Do About All the Anger in Society?
There are a few things that experts recommend when it comes to managing anger. First, it’s important to identify the triggers that lead to angry feelings. Once we know what sets us off, we can try to avoid those situations or work to improve them, or be better prepared to deal with them.
In his 2019 article in The Atlantic The Real Roots of American Rage, Charles Duhigg quotes Nikki Haley, at the time Governor of South Carolina. “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation… Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That’s just not true.”
What Triggers Anger?
There is no shortage of aspects of our society that can trigger angry feelings. Some common triggers include feeling powerless or frustration, being ignored or dismissed, facing obstacles or setbacks, and feeling attacked or threatened.
If we think about it at the national level, what things make people angry? What makes Twitter or Fox News or MSNBC go bananas?
If we can become aware of our societal triggers, we can identify the biggest problems making people angry and work to improve the situation, or avoid them, or at least manage our anger more effectively.
Healthy Ways to Express Anger
The AI says it’s helpful to find healthy ways to express anger. Some helpful tips for managing anger the robot came up with include:
- Talk to a friend, mentor, counselor or therapist – Seek out helpful internet forums, social media groups or get involved in your local community.
- Write in a journal – Writing about the issues that cause anger and their causes can help us understand the issues better. Look into Citizen Journalism, where you can become a part of the solution by writing about the issues.
- Exercise regularly – As a society, we can promote exercise, subsidize gyms and reward weight loss. This would help to release tension and frustration and reduce health care costs at a macro level.
- Practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or meditation – As individuals, practicing selfcare can help us manage our anger. The same holds true for society at large.
- Spend time with supportive people who can provide encouragement and understanding – Strong communities can help people get involved, which lowers anger. They can expose people to different viewpoints in constructive ways. Being a part of a community creates feelings of being involved, which reduces anger.
It’s important to find an outlet that works you (or us as a society) and that doesn’t involve harming yourself or others.
Apparently those are the four and only four ways the Jasper knows how to deal with anger, I tried very hard to make it offer more suggestions.
One thing I can think of is to work through how you feel and to really understand the issue. In the research lab, scientists found that when people who felt strongly about an issue were forced to explain what they thought and why, they often struggled. This is known as addressing the illusion of explanatory depth. Attempting to explain what we think about something in why results in a significant reduction of the feelings of anger toward the opposing viewpoint.
Manage Stress and Relax
Finally, it’s crucial to learn how to manage stress and relax. This can be difficult, but when dealing with anger there are many different techniques that can be helpful. Some people may prefer to exercise, while others may find relief through relaxation techniques or meditation. It’s important to find what works for you and to make time for self-care.
Reducing stress
When stress gets the best of us it makes us more likely to lash out in anger. Understanding how to manage stress at a societal level can help reduce the frequency and intensity of angry outbursts.
- If we deal with our societal issues, like lowering the cost of living, as a society we’d have less stress.
- We can make the media less divisive. Today outrage rules the airwaves. It’s #counterproductive immature and just makes things worse. We’re adults. We need to act like it, not throw temper tantrums when things aren’t the way we want.
- We can make social media better. The problems with media platforms are well documented. It seems when we’re behind a screen we have fewer reservations about popping off, to quote Obama. But we can leverage social media to be a positive force in society.
- We can demand leaders who offer solutions and work hard to make progress rather than stoke anger. We often take our ques from our leaders, and going back to acting like babies, we need leaders that communicate effectively. That have reasonable thoughts and solutions. Not leaders who just point their outraged finger and blame the opposite party for all our problems.
It’s important to find healthy ways to deal with anger before it leads to negative consequences.
Share Personal Stories or Experiences of Anger
Communicating honestly, as adults, with others can be a powerful remedy for anger. Again from Holiday’s post:
“Think of Abraham Lincoln. A defining moment of his life came in 1841 when he, then no more than a successful Midwestern lawyer, saw a group of slaves chained together on a riverboat like “so many fish on a trotline.” Abolitionists had witnessed scenes like this for centuries and many of them became radicalized in the process. Lincoln’s reaction was different. It wasn’t anger, he felt, but a deep and profound sadness at the injustice of it. But this was key. For all the passion of the abolitionist movement, it was Lincoln who spent the next two decades plotting a course of political change that ultimately accomplished what generations of Americans had failed to do. It was Lincoln — unlike even the radicals — who never doubted that the Union could be preserved, that the war could be won, who steered the ship unswervingly through those terrible times, all the while preaching a need for understanding, for forgiveness and mutual culpability. He was even-keeled in his determination to improve the world” Link.
We Have to Get a Handle on All this Out of Control Anger
Managing anger is not easy at the individual level, never mind society. But it’s important for the health of our democracy. We can’t keep doing what we’re doing.
This anger and outrage is fueling the division and gridlock that defines our modern world.
We need to find ways to make people feel better, to have less stress, and reform the media generally. If we can all work on managing our anger in healthy ways, it will make a world of difference.
If we address the biggest societal problems that drive so much of the anger, we can work to improve them. Make them Less Bad.
And when disagreements come up, we need to find healthy ways to express disagreement without resorting to anger. We need to foster positive inter-relation rather than outrage. With hope, cooperation, resilience, and solidarity, we will prevail over this anger-driven rampage once and for all.
We Can Build a Happier Society.
We may be angry now, but our future is still bright if we stand together as one people united in our fight for a better tomorrow!
What are some things that make you angry? What tips do you have for managing anger in a healthy way?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
