From: megazone@obsidian.WPI.EDU (MegaZone23)
Newsgroups: alt.suicide.holiday
Subject: Anger and some comments at the end
Date: 12 Oct 1992 04:31:22 GMT
Organization: WPI USAF -- United Society of Animation Fans
NNTP-Posting-Host: obsidian.wpi.edu

In article <92285.164437U56503@uicvm.uic.edu> U56503@uicvm.uic.edu writes:
>In article <1b80jjINN1jb@bigboote.WPI.EDU>, megazone@obsidian.WPI.EDU
>(MegaZone23) says:
>>Why do you write suicide? - they ask... Well, becuase I don't like to hurt
>>others so I turn it upon myself [personal references omitted.]
>After reading all the current posts in a.s.h., (Summarized succinctly by
>Megazone.  Hey, where and what is "wpi" anyway?), I have a few

WPI is the Worst Place Imaginable... :-)

Actually it is Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA, USA

>What about anger?  What is the difference between feeling it and
>acting it out?  

You can feel anger without acting it out. How about when someone cuts you off
on the highway? I feel a bit angry for a second, but I don't act on it. It 
isn't worth it.

>What is the difference between turning it upon yourself and not?  

Just to clarify, I didn't mean I go and get pissed at myself. But I'll hold
it in until I can find a way to vent it. Sometimes it isn't a good idea to
express your anger to the person making you angry. Ever have a Professor 
really piss you off? So gonna let him know how pissed you are? Probably not.
I'll just swallow the anger and save it for something else.

>What is the difference between expressing it inappropriately and 
>appropriately?

You get me mad, I hit you. Seems rather inappropriate. You get me mad, I
calmly present your arguments and refute yours. More appropriate. Sometimes, 
as with a prof., telling them isn't the best. 

>What is the difference between expressing it and acting on it?  

You can express it many ways. Yelling, fighting, arguing, sulking, etc,...
Or you can turn the anger into creative energy and write a poem say, or maybe
a fight scene in a story. Use the mood you're in to your advantage. If I get
really pissed I'll avoid people until I'm calmed down, why risk passing the
anger on. There is too much around already. I'll go watch The Wall, or some
anime, listen to music and write, whatever I need to do to calm down. The
best thing is long walks at night in the rain.. But Nature has to help out
there...

Writing is a way of acting on the anger, I many/most of the was to express it
are actually 'acting' on it. More direct ways. The town annouces it is going 
to establish new parking regs that screw you over. The can result in anger.
So you use the anger and start a letter writing campaign. Go to meetings, etc
to fight it. 

I'm doing that currently to fight for the WPI Campus Center, more parking, a 
new ME building etc. I try to be active, I go for the mic. But I also use my
anger as a force to make logical arguments. it won't help to get up there 
and rant at them, in fact it could hurt.

>Why is society so dysfunctional about anger?  

Anger is a violent emotion, one that takes will to control. Women aren't 
supposed to get angry, at least not vocally. Men are supposed to be controlled
and hide it, unless you're doing construction, etc. It's ingrained in our
actions and since there is no acceptable way to express it in many situations
it can build up to the bursting point and result in a violent act.

>What can we do as individuals to manage our anger to our own best interests 
>despite society's dysfunction?  

Practice structuring your anger, channel it in a way that has the best chance 
of eliminating the cause of the anger. Within reason. A thirty-ought-six has
a good chance of eliminating an annoying neighbor. But it isn't very polite.

Everyone needs to find their own way. For me it can be writing, reading,
walking, music, maybe beating the hell out of my bed (holes in the wall cost
too much...), whatever. Somtimes it just takes time. There is no one answer.

I don't think you will ever totally eliminate outbursts, it is part of our 
nature. Sometimes it just happens. I've had friends jumped. My first instinct
is to find the attacker and kill them slowly. Not very productive. Reason
takes over and you turn the anger towards things like filling out reports
for the poice, etc...

>If depression is anger turned inward against the self, what are functional
>alternatives?

Depression isn't always inward anger. Hell, I think about Death when I'm
gleeful, not only depressed. I get depressed for reasons that don't make me 
angry. A friend getting hurt can depress me, who am I angry at? Noone, unless
they were hurt by someone on purpose. I just don't like to see friends suffer.

>>megazone, Hey, at least it isn't suicide this time, 10/10/92
>I, for one, am happy to see that for you!
>Hope you stick with it now....

Most likely not. I have a fascination with the unknown, and Death is the 
biggest of them all. And it is easier to write as myself doing the act to
myself, it's a writing cheat. Not that I'm going to actually do it, it is
just a tool to help me write. Just as we the authors of UF included ourselves
as characters... Any characters any author creates will have some bit, no
matter how small, of themselves in them. Someday maybe I'll be good enough to
create more of a varied cast...

One thing about your fear of change syndrome. I can't speak for everyone, 
but I know who I am. I change all the time. When I entered school I made some
very drastic changes in my life. I have had several major events since then
change who I am. If you don't change you get stagnant. (gee, whodathunkit?)
I have my own beliefs that I will not cling too as canon, if I encounter 
something new I will evlauate it and make changes as needed. 

I enjoy doing new things, it adds a spice to life. I try not to evaluate
people by what I see on the nets. My entire personality isn't presented in
these elctrons. I may act a bit different on different groups. Check out
rec.arts.anime, sci.military, rec.aviation.pilot, whatever. I have more than
one attitude depending on the topic. A one newsgroup sample is pretty limited.

I admit I am more likely to post original stuff here if I am angry or 
depressed. That's what I tend to use this group for, venting emotions that I
don't have anywhere else to do so. The poems I cross post to various groups 
for various reasons. 

I've been told by those who read several of the groups that I do that I seem
like a different person. I can post a dark tome of doom here and a list of 
strange lighthearted jokes in r.a.a within minutes of each other.

I do what I do because it is what I feel is right. One thing that bothers me
is that some of the things I like end up being trendy and then everyone 
assumes I'm doing it to conform. Arg, I'm nto a conformist, I'm not a
non-conformist, I'm an individual. What a concept, neh? I think for myself
and I act on my own.

"I live in freedom, under my own flag."   
   --Captain Harlock

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# I have one prejudice, and that is against stupidity.  Use your mind, think! #
#Email megazone@wpi.wpi.edu  Moderator, WPI anime FTP site 130.215.24.1 /anime#
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Newsgroups: alt.suicide.holiday