When I look at the kinds of articles people post on social media and the comments under them, it feels like there’s an overwhelming amount of hate and anger in the world - or at least among the people posting and commenting. (Maybe it’s just that non-angry people don’t spend much time in this kind of spaces.)
In contrast, when I think about my own life, I realize that I’m almost never angry. I feel many other negative emotions, sure, but anger isn’t one of them, and even when it arises it’s usually quite short-lived. I can’t even name a single person I hate - neither in my personal life nor in the media. I simply don’t spend time dwelling on people I’m not interested in or being angry at the world for not meeting my expectations.
This makes me wonder: is my experience rare or unusual? Or is hate and anger simply overrepresented in the media because those emotions motivate people to engage, making them seem far more widespread than they actually are?
I’m trying to understand rather than criticize. I can’t take credit for not being angry because whatever tha skill is doesn’t translate into other things like anxiety. I’m anxious about equally trivial things and I can’t help myself. I guess I’m just glad I don’t need to deal with this constant anger too.
For sure, feel free to find other articles from a scientific journal to find something with less discrepancy. I just picked something that seemed to be accessible. And unfortunately I don’t remember much on the topic to be of use.
Alright. Hopefully your memory comes back eventually. The idea of anger not being a primary emotion is an interesting thought I hadn’t considered before.
Totally, kind of why the idea has lingered in my brain all these years. If I do any further reading I’ll check back in. Since there were others also curious on the topic.