On the side of those who govern or the people who demand things from them? The civil rights movement, eg, was driven in no small part by righteous anger. Many movements for rights and inclusion are.
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Sure, and the people screaming at a black girl trying to attend school were similarly driven by righteous anger.
Do you think it was the anger or the calm marches, the resolute civil disobedience, the finding common ground? Anger is a motivator, but if you let it drive it takes you to dark places
Like I write in the piece, the reasons for anger and the form it takes matter. There’s no equivalence between racist and anti-racist anger. The former is bogus. The latter is righteous.
Everyone always thinks their anger is righteous. Of course the reasons matter, because my reasons for being angry are just and good and their reasons are irrational and stupid.
This is why it's irrational to use anger. Arguments from emotion are countered with opposing arguments from emotion.
Sorry to intrude, but I’d just like to suggest the word “outrage” instead of “anger”. Similar, but different. When I’ve seen positive political change being made it seems like it was often sparked by someone’s outrage. In my own life, I’ve often considered outrage to be the productive form of anger.
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Do you think it was the anger or the calm marches, the resolute civil disobedience, the finding common ground? Anger is a motivator, but if you let it drive it takes you to dark places
This is why it's irrational to use anger. Arguments from emotion are countered with opposing arguments from emotion.