Outrage about Outrage - Part 2

My outrage about moral outrage deserves a part 2. And here it is.

Taking an action has a lot of impact on how someone feels about a situation. 

I am thirsty, I drink water and I feel better.

I am thirsty, I don't drink water and I will be uncomfortable.

I am hungry, I eat food and I feel better

I am hungry, I don't eat food and I feel cranky.

When you don't take action, the feeling persists, like a sore pain. And then over time, it festers into an seething anger because the mind will just amplify and focus on the discomfort, even if it not so bad. 

What happens when you cannot take an action? You tell yourself taking a stand and showing anger is the only thing you can do and you let your brain do that.

Which leads us to this:

Revolutionaries are the ones whose names are in history books - Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela. Closer to our times, Greta Thornberg (She actually acts on what she says and never flies). They felt outrage about something and took a strong action.

Silent Crusaders are the ones who should be in history books - R. Pappamal (105 year old grandma who led the organic farming revolution for farmers in TN), Jadav Payeng (who single handedly planted trees and converted a sanded area near the Brahmaputra into a forest). They felt little outrage, but silently went about doing their bit.

Indifferent are the ones who don't express their outrage and don't take action.

Armchair Activists are the ones who express extreme outrage, not through actions, but through words.

Now, here's the fun part that makes this equation more interesting. Like I said earlier, taking action has a reverse impact on how much outrage you feel:

Which automatically means:

Indifferent folks are happy because they don't let anything effect them. 

Silent Crusaders are happy because they direct the little bit anger they have into actions they believe in. They do it not to make a point, but because they genuinely believe in their actions. Like R. Pappamal.

Revolutionaries are rare, but the world remembers them for being angry on behalf of everyone and taking actions that most of us would be scared to take. But that action and the reaction they get from the world, propels them towards happiness. Like walking all the way to Dandi.

And that leaves us with Armchair Activists. The trials and tribulations of being an armchair activist requires a book of its own. They mean well, they are angry but they can't do what revolutionaries do. Which means, they are seething in anger but it goes nowhere, except heated discussions and quitting Whatsapp groups in anger.

Now, of course, the same person can be in different brackets for different issues. Maybe you don't care about the environment, but you care about Privacy. So, it takes a lot for you to say you won't take a flight in your whole life, but when the chance for an action on privacy came (e.g. switch your default search engine to DuckDuckGo instead of the evil Google or switch from Whatsapp to Signal), you did it and that makes you happier. You taking action at your own silent end, makes you a silent crusader for your principle.

My learning from all this is:

1. Be indifferent about some things. You don't have to take a stand on everything. And you should not force everyone to take a stand either. Refer to my previous post for more on why. Enjoy the bliss you get from the ignorance of the things you choose to be indifferent about.
2. Don't be indifferent to everything. Care deeply about some things. Should you make your care public? That's a personal choice. But again, even if you choose to make it public, don't force others to also not be indifferent and even take the same stand as you.
3. For the things you care about, take actions. They need not be public actions, but take actions that make you feel you belong in the silent crusader category. You deserve the happiness of knowing you did something you cared about. Gift yourself that happiness. Don't seethe in the anger of not taking an action.
4. Choose your battles wisely. Your happiness should be non-negotiable. Your anger should be actionable. 

I know. It increasingly looks like I am saying don't take stands unless you can take action. But here's the thing. That action need not be big. Just big enough for you to feel like you are doing something, so that, the anger does not boil through and make your actions look too small and hence, push you into the armchair activist bracket.

Then the question is, what is action?

Is taking a stand on Whatsapp, an action?

Is having heated debates, action?

Is signing an online petition, action?

Is making an anonymous donation, action?

Is taking part in a protest, action?

Is working hard at something you believe in, action?

Is walking all the way across the world barefooted, action?

The range is humungous. At the cost of sounding like a philosopher, I would say, my theory on action is "whatever gets you a positive energy reaction is worth the action".

What does that mean? And again, this would be different for different people.

For me, an argument on Whatsapp leaves me with a bad feeling and itchy thumbs that creep towards quitting the group.

For me, a heated argument where I have to raise my volume above my thoughts is a negative energy reaction and leaves me feeling disoriented for hours.

For me, signing an online petition is ok.

You get the point.

So as a corollary to choosing what to care about, you also need to think how to act on it, based on your personal subjective evaluation of what gives you positive energy reaction. If having debates gives you that, I say, go for it. But make sure you end up feeling positive. If a few hours after the debate, that is all you can still think about, and in a not so positive way, re-evaluate your positive energy reaction scale.

In short:

1. Choose what to care about
2. Choose what actions to take for things you care about, in order to end up in a positive energy state

That's all. 

Why am I pouring all these thoughts? Because I think anger is free for distribution these days. Everything around us can make us feel angry and outraged. Angry about Covid, angry about not being able to go home, angry about politics, angry about prejudice, angry about feminism. 

But happiness? Not as abundantly available as you would think.

And outpouring of anger also means we expect everyone to be angry along with us. That is unfair.

We owe it to the world and the next generation to take stands on various issues. All I am saying is, be more considerate in choosing what to be angry about and what actions you can take, because saving the world is important, but it is more important to create a happy world for the next generation. 

The worst possible scenario is kids from a young age feeling the pressure to take stands on everything. 

So yeah, take this as my little action towards abating my outrage about outrage. :)