"But I would love to read about healthy angry behavior in the work place, or with friends"
As I said:
"I am going to side with the professionals in the field who say that it is extremely important to express feelings. I think verbal expression is healthy and that repressing feelings has caused a great deal of hurt in the world. I think the literature supports me in this, but I am always interested in other opinions..."
That it is healthier to express ones anger verbally rather than to internalize it or physically express it, is not seriously challenged by anyone in this day and age.
I am angry at the the transparent attempt at the Government to overturn Roe/Wade and create criminals out of millions of people. I am still angry at 9/11.
Anger helps to mold and firm resistance to injustice. Anger gives strength to the will, and firmness to the resolve.
People are cautioned NOT to talk overly with friends about controversial issues such as religion or politics. Because anger with regards to ones values and beliefs is a NATURAL survival mechanism...and it is NATURAL for anger to invite aggression.
This is why it is so valuable to be able to discuss such things as Roe versus Wade--and the importance of such issues to people and what they value in their life--without resorting to physical violence and aggression. Expressing your anger on a BB is just what the doctor ordered. Thus, I have encouraged it here. If we are not angry about the injustices in our world, and if we do not feel angry toward those whom perpetuate and advocate such injustices...then we are NOODLES. And noodles do not take a stand at the barricades.
The following is a healthy expression of anger, irrespective of whether the views expressed are popular or defensible. It may also be noted that in a free forum it would invite a great deal of anger from those opposed to such values.
"I can't stand Bush, and I know Clinton would have been faster at handling this, more compassionate in his speeches, and just more what I would want to see all the way around. Whatever tar sticks to Bush, I want to see stay stuck, until people see for real what kind of mistake they elected. I don't want him tarred with anyone else's goo- his own will be enough. But I want him hit hard, and hit often, with his own mistakes- and I don't want to see him get a break on those.
And I want to see a liberal resurgence in this country, because as far as I can see, Bush sucks in every conceivable way, about everything I care about."
Now Bush probably did not read this personal attack, so I doubt he will respond. But the anger against his supporters is palpable. And I think it is healthy to have anger when our values are threatened.
If you look at SGBR you will remark that it is about bringing diametrically opposed values and ideas into open conflict in order that people have the opportunity to examine their values and to reconsider their positions and possibly for rational people to reach a synthesis. Noodles will (of course) feel no anger in discussing whether or not people should be classified and punished as criminals for (as an example) having an abortion in an abortion clinic. But people who recognize how their input is one line being drawn on the face of the world which is being drawn by all people--these people will feel anger and this anger will help to firm up their argument and their defense of values.
I certainly don't expect all of this anger to be "understated" and there is absolutely no reason why it should be. Therefore, I have stated up front on the thread guidelines that normal insult will be tolerated. That does not mean I advocate it. This would be out of place on a cooking thread or a recipe thread--but it would also be unlikely to occur. Who in the Hell gets angry if somebody is mangling their favorite recipe for cheesecake?! It is not quite the same as religious wars or the moral war for individual rights and freedoms.
Why should people get angry, I ask again? And the simple answer is this: If you LIKE sitting at the back of the bus and if you like being banned from restaurants or being herded to the side like animals in a corral---then you will have nothing to gain by getting angry or by expressing that anger. If you LIKE being forced to have a baby when you do not wish to have one---then you will have nothing to gain by getting angry or by expressing that anger. If you LIKE the angry people of the world having the complete say in who you will worship or what you will believe, and if you are content to simply wait for them to arrive at a victor so you will know your place---then you will have nothing to gain by getting angry or by expressing that anger.
But I am NOT content to let the values of my planet be determined by the aggressive and the violent. I am NOT content to be called a murderer and to have 4 out of 5 of my fellow Canadians be called murderers because they value the right to abortion and because they support that legal right. And when Roes versus Wade is overturned, we will welcome you here at our clinics. Just bring cash, please! |
