Maybe this is not very charitable, but it seems to me that there are quite a few people in the world who actually enjoy the feeling of "being outraged."
I sort of understand how it works — at least by proxy — in the sense that this desire to find things to be outraged about likely gives these folks a nice dopamine hit while it's going on. I'm familiar with it from the perspective of living with ADHD, which often revolves around a lack of dopamine regulation, and a sometimes compulsive search for something to give us the next dopamine hit.
Personally, I don't much care about feeling outraged, although I can't deny that it happens from time to time. However I definitely don't go fishing for it when I'm bored!
I'm by no means a scientist on the biology of the brain, but it strikes me that feeling compelled to be outraged about something fits in pretty much the same broad category as feeling compelled to take on the role of victim in every situation in the world.
I have had more than a few encounters with people who came across almost as "professional victims."
To be honest, I'm not sure why you'd want to… but, at the same time, I try to have compassion for those who seem to be somewhat at the mercy of their brain chemistry because I understand how that feels.
Even so, "I can't help it" is a pretty lame excuse! Maybe you can't but you can have at least a minimal awareness of your own behavior patterns.
I understand how it feels to at least have a modest amount of insight into the fact that you are at the mercy of your brain chemistry. And if you have that, why would you just allow yourself to go with that feeling, rather than seek deeper understanding and ways to manage it?
I don't walk around taking some kind of covert pride in being scatterbrained, for example. I recognize that it happens, is likely to happen... but more than anything I'm pretty apologetic to the people around me and have the foresight to give them a bit of a warning as to what might happen if they rely too thoroughly on me being able to remember stuff or manage multiple threads of action at the same time.
Maybe people have always felt outraged about everything left, right and center, and we just see more of it at the moment because it is — for lack of a better term — "political season" here in the USA... and politics tends to bring out a certain amount of polarity to start with, and if you're predisposed to wanting to be outraged by something politics is definitely a fertile field in which to plant those seeds.
We often default to associating constant outrage we left-leaning social justice, but it's something I pretty much see in all people, across the political spectrum. If you don't believe me, just think about a gun enthusiast's reaction to anything that might question or impede their right to bear arms.
Sometimes I just get to feeling concerned about the mental health (and balance) of broader society, as a whole.
Are we becoming less and less capable of navigating ideas that challenge our thought patterns? Why all the outrage?
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!
Comments, feedback and other engagement is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
Greetings bloggers and social content creators! This article was created via PeakD, a blogging application that's part of the Hive Social Content Experience. If you're a blogger, writer, poet, artist, vlogger, musician or other creative content wizard, come join us! Hive is a little "different" because it's not run by a "company;" it operates via the consensus of its users and your content can't be banned, censored, taken down or demonetized. And that COUNTS for something, in these uncertain times! So if you're ready for the next generation of social content where YOU retain ownership and control, come by and learn about Hive and make an account!
Proud member of the Silver Bloggers Community on Hive!
As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly and uniquely for this platform — not posted anywhere else.
2026.10.08 00:45 PDT
1669/2935