What is worth your anger?

Greatnan Romney is only a candidate.
If the American people vote Obama out, they will get the government they deserve.

Joan - see my post about Mitt Romney's choice for a vice-presidential candidate- he wants to cut food subsidies for the poor, reduce spending on health for the elderly, and cut taxes for the rich!

I get angry at right-wing ratbags in power, especially when they use the power for idealism-based horrors that hurt vulnerable people. (It is happening right now in Queensland Australia where I live)

I get angry at all injustices.

And bullying.

And all the stuff Greatnan said.

Except.... it is not anger. It is something else. Sorrow at evil. Sadness.

I feel angry at what Brady did and about the hurt he caused people. I don't feel angry that Winnie Johnson has died. I feel glad that she has died.

At the moment my anger is firmly placed on Ian Brady for the agony he put that poor woman and family through, and who sadly lost her life today.

Worse!

He makes me feel murderous - is that anger or something worse?

Michael Gove doesn't make me angry. However, the mere thought of him fills me with both contempt and despair.

Lots of things on this thread, but at the moment Michael Gove tops the list.

Agreed. The worst kind of abuse of power.

So many things on everyone's lists that I can identify with, but the one thing that brings out those powerful emotions in me is harm done to children.

Violence and sexual assault towards children and the lasting legacy it leaves.

In addition to most of the things on Greatnan's list I have recently been very angry with newspapers (one in particular) who deliberately publish stories they KNOW to be untrue, simply to put pressure on the subject of the story to agree to be interviewed. The root of my anger is the same as most of the other people on here who have voiced an opinion: injustice.
I am not an 'angry' person, I don't easily get irritated or take offence, but some things should not be tolerated: so I spend quite a bit of time, effort and money on doing my bit to protest at many of the things on Greatnan's list - and yes, I get angry!!

Exactly, jeni.

Righteous anger rather than pathological anger?

goldengirl That's one thing that would make me angry! Especially when you think about the danger of toxoplasmosis to small children. Last time we were on our narrowboat, I was washing up and a dog did a poo right in front of the window, directly at eye level. Its owner did scoop the poop and take it away, but it made me feel sick!

The person at the end of our road has got so angry about dogs pooping on his front lawn, he's put a sample of the offending item in a carrier bag and attached it to his fence along with a notice requesting that owners take their doggy doos home with them. And there it stays. I suppose it's made him feel better but it doesn't look nice to those of us who are innocent passers by.

Yes, I was thinking of anger as a very positive force for good. We ought to be angry about cruelty and injustice. This is obviously quite different from uncontrolled 'red mist' type of rage which results in violence to others.
I don't recall feeling anger towards individuals in my own sphere, except for one man who treated my daughter badly. She has totally forgiven him and is now happily married to a much better man, but I still feel great hostility towards him. I am not sure I could ever be violent, though, I have never struck anyone in my life. I would just like to hurt him in some way.

I was at Greenham Common. Just the big demo, I didn't live there. Also marched against the Iraq war twice; that made me angry.

I think anger can be very positive; it can be a life saver in fact.

I get angry with people who bury their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge or engage with difficult things. They give themselves a quiet life but it is nearly always at the expense of other people, usually their nearest and dearest.

I've not been all that aware of anger on Gransnet. Annoyance maybe.

jane, I think anger can be both those things you describe. It is a complex emotion. It can be useful as well as destructive. I remember a time when DD1 did something that made me angry and I tried to contain my anger, but my father, wisely, said that if a parent is angry with a child, the child needs to know this or else how do they learn how not to make other people angry? I they don't learn that lesson in childhood, they may well get themselves into big trouble later on. Of course, he was talking about reasonable and controlled and undamaging anger, the purpose of which is to correct the child and to educate it.

Y'can't beat a good protest march! I went on one last year and felt great [it was about the closure of the last train manufacturer in this country; I think it worked 'cos they're still making trains]. Wish I'd been to Greenham Common; one of my 'lifes regrets'. There were still people there until quite recently I believe? Cruise missiles terrified me; the thought of something so evil moving round the country under cover of darkness, like something from a Grimms Fairy Tale. Shudder...Went on a CND march once, although I was never a unilateralist. Got a badge next to me from the World Disarmament Campaign which, I'm ashamed to say, I'd forgotten about till I found it in a drawer the other day. Some of us in our local group were convinced our phones were being tapped. Never forget going for a smear test only to find the doctor was a member of my peace group. When he suggested we get someone else to do it I was more than happy to agree . When my children were babies I so wanted to make the world a better and safer place for them. I wonder if it is? There's always another fear to replace the last one, but perhaps it's up to them to safegard the world for their children now. I've done my bit. Armchair anarchist these days, me...

Another vote for Hunt. I find it difficult to be angry without becoming over-emotional.
Anger is a strong word. If someone disagreed with you, would you rather they voiced their opinion angrily, or in a calm and reasonable way?
That is not to say there are not things that I feel strongly about, but I find it slightly paradoxical that on this thread, anger seems to be portrayed as a positive thing, but on another, we see that a young man's anger has led him to commit violent acts against a poster's daughter, and we are vocal in our condemnation.

Some colleagues used to call me 'Hannah with her banner' and my DDs always refer to striped jumpers as 'Marching Jumpers' as that is what they remember us wearing when we went to Greenham, London marches etc when they were small!!
Think it is important to stand up & be counted..otherwise you can't grumble!!

Injustice, cruelty, prejudice, many things, but perhaps most of all wanton stupidity. That's nothing to do with people who can't do things or who have never been taught about things. It's people who deliberately choose to be stupid, which in my days as a Catholic I reckoned was the unforgivable sin against the Holy Ghost.