For the purpose of emotional work, I distinguish between anger and outrage. Anger is the emotion that ignites from difficulties and frustrations in our personal lives. Those things that we have control over. For example, a challenging relationship might fall into this category.
Outrage, on the other hand, is the emotion that ignites from things that are happening in the wider world around us. Things that we read on social media and newspapers fall into this category. Media, whether it is traditional or internet-based, thrive on outrage. It means more eyeballs on content. But paying attention to these articles, snippets, tweets, and opinions can decimate our emotional health.
There are a few reasons why I try to stay away from media that attempts to ignite outrage. 1) Outrage renders you powerless in the long run. 2) Outrage is incredibly contagious. 3) Outrage is used to control.
1) Outrage is a fire that can destroy—but it renders you powerless in the long run
Outrage renders one powerless and ineffective. This might not be completely accurate. Outrage is good when you want to destroy because it contains within it an enormous charge. When that charge is projected outward, it destroys things. When outrage is repressed it can cause health or mental problems. Whatever the case, that charge is not conducive to well-being. It doesn’t enable one to do good work. And it doesn’t allow one to respond effectively to problems.
Additionally, there is an energetic consequence to being emotionally triggered by some collective fear-outrage thought-form. For me personally, it has the consequence of instantly putting me into a depressed state. This happens when I read news headlines while driving. It is not always possible to ignore these. It usually takes me a while to become present enough to move beyond the infested heaviness. Presence helps, but these headlines are usually so laden with collective pain that it instantaneously drains any sense of well-being.
The trick is to limit your exposure to these vampiric sources of information circulation. A lot of news-related content aren’t centred around providing accurate information. It is centred around igniting fear and outrage.
It is really hard to do good work when we are stuck in the molasses of these fear-outrage reactions. Even if your reaction isn’t projected outward, there is an emotional drain that is significant. So, my rule is to ignore most of it. I don’t completely put my head in the sand. There are times that I watch news-related interviews. But I’ve learnt that I have to be selective in what I watch and read. I know that if I want to do good work, I have to be very careful about how much news I take in.
It’s also important to realise that the incentive structures of the media aren’t geared towards well-being. Outrage grabs attention. Fear draws you in. If you’re not mindful you will be unaware of how much emotional energy and attention is syphoned off to these articles and content. The more you cultivate emotional awareness, the more it becomes possible to disengage from the fear-outrage media content.
2) Outrage is highly contagious
It is nearly impossible to stay centred when outrage is sparked. There might be mindfulness masters that can contain the storm but I am not one of them. I’ve meditated for years and also spent significant time on processing my own trauma and old emotions but I am well aware that certain environments, people, and news sources can spark tremendous outrage in me. I stay away from those.
Here’s why: Outrage is highly contagious. We have all observed how people act in crowds, protests, and large rock concerts that go pear-shaped like Woodstock ‘99. We’ve also observed how irrational and charged disagreements become on internet platforms.
If I’m angry about something that’s going on in my personal life, that’s one thing, but if there is a sense of collective pain, the charge is greater. When a crowd is angry, the pain and energy is amplified. Even if you are extremely mindful, it is hard to detach from collective pain and outrage. It is, in fact, very hard not to be taken in by collective outrage. It’s also obvious that once your emotional body is high-jacked in that way, you cannot make good decisions. You cannot act intelligently—or even just half-way decently. To return to Woodstock ‘99 as an example, regular people did barbaric things because 1) they were outraged and 2) others did it. People jumped around in sewage and started fights and fires and all the rest. From the outside looking in, it seemed insane. But when you realise that collective outrage and restless dissatisfaction fuelled their actions, it makes sense.
For me, it always comes back to creative work. Or flow. If something aids me in my creative pursuits that something is good. If something hinders it, then I avoid that thing. Outrage has never aided my creativity. When outraged, it’s easy to lose your centre, and when that happens it’s difficult and time-consuming to get back to a sense of peace. Peace is (to a large extent) a prerequisite for good creative work.
3) Outrage as a control mechanism
Many years ago I wrote this on a white board in my study: Control someone’s emotions, control them. I was at a point in my life where I was shocked at how some of the most irrational, boorish people got the most attention and support on social media. They seemed to win arguments because they shouted the loudest. Or because they were the angriest. Or both. I came to the conclusion that if you can get people angry and afraid you can get them to do anything.
But the idea, Control someone’s emotions, control them is only half true. You can only be controlled if you are emotionally immature. You can only be controlled if you don’t have self-awareness. Emotional growth is the antidote to this. It allows us to detach from these storms of outrage and fear. That alone is enough of a reason to invest time and effort into emotional work.
Final Thoughts
I’m not arguing that we don’t have reasons to be angry about things. There are arguably dozens of things to be angry about. My argument is that outrage is useless at best and destructive at worst. It renders one powerless in the long run and it doesn’t solve anything. It syphons off emotional energy and attention. Energy and attention that we need to do good work. As an experiment, try doing good creative work when you feel outraged.
It is because of this that I limit my exposure to media that attempts to spark outrage. I’m not saying that I always get this right but I am certain that outage never leads to something good. It decimates emotional well-being.
It does take some inner fortitude to not get pulled into these pain-filled narratives on the internet and elsewhere. It is not easy to detach from pain and blame and decide to take responsibility. If we are not constantly triggered then we might actually have to do something to contribute. We might have to face our own doubts and shortcomings, and we might have to face the pain underneath the outrage.