Do people like to be 'outraged'?

[NigelFargate]

Hardly a day goes by now without a storm of 'outrage' about what someone has said. Currently, the latest outburst of apoplectic fury is being vented against Donald Trump and Tyson Fury.

 

I suspect that righteous indignation of this kind provides people with a cathartic moral thrill - i.e. they get secret pleasure from being 'outraged'. Life would be much duller without our Donalds and Tysons.

[biotechpete]

It's the curse of 24hr media. The media report on opinions and what's going on in other sections of the media which whips up the hype.

 

I could happily go about my day not needing to know what famous idiots have/haven't said. I couldn't care less

[Alcoblog]

Hardly a day goes by now without a storm of 'outrage' about what someone has said. Currently, the latest outburst of apoplectic fury is being vented against Donald Trump and Tyson Fury.

 

I suspect that righteous indignation of this kind provides people with a cathartic moral thrill - i.e. they get secret pleasure from being 'outraged'. Life would be much duller without our Donalds and Tysons.

 

I agree … you need a yardstick by which to judge (If you consider yourself enough qualified/perfect to be of an outraged disposition in the first place)

Personally, I don't give a hoot.

[JFKvsNixon]

Hardly a day goes by now without a storm of 'outrage' about what someone has said. Currently, the latest outburst of apoplectic fury is being vented against Donald Trump and Tyson Fury.

 

I suspect that righteous indignation of this kind provides people with a cathartic moral thrill - i.e. they get secret pleasure from being 'outraged'. Life would be much duller without our Donalds and Tysons.

 

I thought that this thread was about the Daily Mail!

[RootsBooster]

Hardly a day goes by now without a storm of 'outrage' about what someone has said. Currently, the latest outburst of apoplectic fury is being vented against Donald Trump and Tyson Fury.

 

I suspect that righteous indignation of this kind provides people with a cathartic moral thrill - i.e. they get secret pleasure from being 'outraged'. Life would be much duller without our Donalds and Tysons.

 

Rather than people speaking out against Mr. Fury's and Mr. Trumps xenophobic/homophobic/misogynistic remarks, I find most daily/casual outrage tends to be from people about fairly trivial (and often not even true) things.

 

There's a chap who worked for me for years, most days he would be jabbing his finger at some sensational headline in the Daily Mail, sometimes livid and furious, saying something like "Can you believe this? Look what's happening now!".

Quite often I'd have a glance and then after a quick Google search on my phone show him that the story isn't what it's made out to be and that really there's nothing outrageous about it if you bother to look up the facts.

 

This went on for years but his approach to reading the paper never changed.

[Stoatwobbler]

I thought that this thread was about the Daily Mail!

 

The Daily Mail definetly does well out of selling outrage to right wingers.

 

However, this isn't something that's confined to the right wing. As can be seen from the tsunami of anti-Donald Trump stuff that's clogging my Farcebook and Tw@tter at the moment.

[Michael_W]

The term 'hate crime' is the type of hype that allows people to be outraged, most of the stuff regarded as 'hate crime' would have been laughed at in the school playground when I was a kid.

People have become prissy and oversensitive in their endeavours to silence those who don't share their views ..... IMHO !

Edited December 9, 2015 by Michael_W

[biotechpete]

The term 'hate crime' is the type of hype that allows people to be outraged, most of the stuff regarded as 'hate crime' would have been laughed at in the school playground when I was a kid.

People have become prissy and oversensitive in their endeavours to silence those who don't share their views ..... IMHO !

 

I think you are right to some extent however I think that the same sorts of reactions to events have made racism and homophobia unacceptable in wider society which is a good thing IMHO

[Anna B]

The term 'hate crime' is the type of hype that allows people to be outraged, most of the stuff regarded as 'hate crime' would have been laughed at in the school playground when I was a kid.

People have become prissy and oversensitive in their endeavours to silence those who don't share their views ..... IMHO !

 

Totally agree. We have free speech in this country (allegedly) and it is being eroded.

 

"I may not like what they say, but I defend their right to say it."

[sgtkate]

I think people do, myself included if we are going to be honest. It allows them to make them feel better that they 'don't think like that' and means that can carry on without ever looking inside themselves to see that they also harbour some unpleasant views. Far easier to challenge someone else, than challenge yourself.

 

Protectionism basically.

 

And whilst I understand the basis of our discrimination laws, I do wonder if they have achieved what they set out to do and if perhaps they were a mistake? I don't know. Be good to hear other peoples views on them. Does protecting certain groups in law diminish the rights of the others?