I was online the other night, and one user was baiting others in chat
with incendiary remarks as to what he would do, sexually, to their mothers.
After a couple replies of varying interest, the person admitted that their
mother had passed away some years previously, to which someone replied, "You
should have died with her."
With many struggling to understand and combat "trolling" and online exchanges
of negative suggestion, there should be something said in defense of the
expression of insulting, deliberately misleading or otherwise hurtful language,
since anger and its forms are natural human reactions to occurrences in life.
Think of it as an intermediary between the fulfillment of a fight or flight
reaction; Anger, and at the other end of the spectrum Joy after a positive
event, indicates our position in a situation where it is possible for us to
make a decision on what to do next. In the absence of pressing circumstance,
the realization of what is our mental state allows us to prolong a moment,
learn about ourselves and our minds, and make better decisions based on past
experience and knowledge.
Bad things happen -- that is a known fact. Catharsis, the process of expressing
anger in order to overcome it, has been interpreted in slightly different ways
by many throughout the years since Freud's development of his theories. Some
experimenters have employed the use of objects with their subjects, such as
punching bags or pillows, comparing reported anger after a session with people
who have undergone less violent experimental conditions such as the pleasant
distraction of doing math problems, or simply sitting back and thinking about
their feelings.
It is impossible to say whether the person in my first paragraph was genuinely
angry, or had the potential to show aggression in other parts of life -- or
even if those responding were acting with their emotions invested in the
conversation. It is a potential situation, however, as mothers do pass away and
this usually causes a feeling of sadness in their children.
Outside of a network comprised of morally-upright standards where positivity is
encouraged when responding to someone's grief, does the callous response that
the person received merit praise, or at least a bit of consideration? Where
else would this person hear such a possible answer to their lament but from
within the confines of supposed anonymity, not as a mere observer but as one
who shares a deeply emotional thought and is present, participating and knowing
that the words in response are directed toward them. It isn't easy these days
to find the village grouch, the drunken lout who hurls insults at anyone in
range, filling in the words that feel like a smack on the forehead in between
the expected words of sympathy, comfort or abject unattachment -- except on the
internet.
Written expression of anger at a less-than-manifesto volume, while raising the
level of anger a person feels much like hitting a therapeutic punching bag,
doesn't always lead to increased aggression in interpersonal exchanges that are
perceived to be real.
This post ran out of steam, so I'll end by saying that it's healthy to write;
and opening up to the raw and agressively uncaring your most sensitive issues
may be a Catharsis in itself, as the pressure of being ist in dem lustigen
forces the acceptance of humanity at its most humble ideal -- that of being
juxtaposed with the butt of a joke.
Some of us are laughing with you.
Some slightly relevant references, from the Read-These-Not-^ Department:
Bushman, B.J. (2002). Does Venting Anger Feed or Extinguish the Flame?
Catharsis, Rumination, Distraction, Anger, and Aggressive Responding. PSPB, 28 (6). 724-731. Retrieved from https://illinois.edu/lb/files/2009/03/26/9293.pdf
Patrick, C.J. (2013). The Therapeutic Expression of Anger: Emotionally Expressive Writing and Exposure. Theses and Dissertations, Paper 238. Retrieved from http://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1243&context=etd
Rigby, K. (1995). Anonymity on the Internet Must be Protected. Paper for MIT 6.805/STS085: Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier, Fall 1995. Retrieved from http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/student-papers/fall95-papers/rigby-anonymity.html
