Anger Vs. Sadness

In a post from a while back, I wrote about the ways that violence, rather than sadness, can be a way of dealing with the darker parts of human existence. In that post, I was talking about literature. But today I experienced the same thing but in real life.

I had a kind of bad day. Not a super awful bad day or anything, just, you know, one of those days where you end up feeling sad. I have to say, I was feeling pretty darn sad.

Nothing was really cheering me up.

Then, I got pissed off. And suddenly things seemed a little brighter. !

First I learned from Jezebel that the president of NOW said something about how the reason women ought to hate Obama is that he and Edwards engaged in a kind of metaphorical gang-bang, or multiple rape, of Hillary during or after some debate or something.

Oh my god. What? As Jezebel readers point out, this both trivializes rape, and manages also to conflate gang-bangs with non-consensual sex. News flash, Marcia Pappas, some women choose to be with a lot of guys! At the same time!

Then I read about how Bill Clinton is saying how the only reason Obama did well in South Carolina is that black people would only vote for a black person, or something. Good heavens. I used to always defend Bill Clinton but this is ridiculous!

It turns out anger and hatred can actually be life-affirming. Which is a scary thought, really. I kind of wish it wasn't true.

But I'm going to try to stay mad about it rather than sad. Just from the happiness-preservation point of view.