Rumor has it, we’re all human here. 😉 And so we’ve all, yes me included, experienced frustration with “the other” (pick your poison… religion, politics, social issues… including cakes), you name it. Debate is good, it’s thought-provoking. But when the conditions are right, the conversation can easily devolve into an anger-fest. It can be a slow-rolling/escalating buildup, a sudden slap-upside-the-face, or even an historically bad personal chemistry rearing its ugly head. But someone will be the first one to finally lose his cool. And so they respond with the only weapon they have left in their quiver– insults.
From the Twitterverse to the Blogosphere, frustration and anger-wallowing is running amok, out of control. We all know it. We see it here, each and every day, in spite of the moderators’ warnings. We can’t seem to get away from it, for even one blog cycle/OP. In its reproductive way, anger, like water, seems to have an affinity for itself; anger usually just begetting more anger. And we can so easily be tempted to buy into the anger, when dared by “the wrong (or right)” blogger or troll.
But seriously, I think we all need to calm down and rethink our anger, for our own good, as a civilized species. While some anger is baked right into our human emotional cakes, we need to find a way to make our collective anger more “constructive,” rather than “destructive”; else this isn’t going to end well. We need to figure something out.
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So I’m wondering, how can we learn to temper our anger? A friend of mine says “Just give ‘em the facts.” But even facts are being assaulted with their latest progeny begetting— the “alt facts.” Hmh.
Rather than asking WHY we get angry (we all know why…unchecked(able) emotions), I’m asking HOW to best deal with our mutual anger.
So here’s my challenge:
Give us the formula for staying cool, calm and collected when dealing with others you disagree with here. What would you say is the magic ingredient(s) that can make that happen?
Thanks for thinking about it and posting.