KoPiJan 31
Natasha 🇪🇺
Terry Pratchett on militant decency and justifiable anger
Jan 31 at 11:34amWeb
Show threadThat Frisian Girl-ishJan 31
@Natasha_Jay Anger is the psychological equivalent of pain. Both say "Something is wrong! Stop the wrong! DO something!"
Do we want both to go away, sure, we do, because they are not comfortable states of being in. Can we just numb it, why, yes, to varying degrees. Is it better to deal with the root cause, if we can, absolutely.
Also, both can make you an absolute bitch to deal with.
Show threadGolden Retriever GFJan 31
@Natasha_Jay I had to go to years of therapy to learn that society adds moral weight to emotions the same way it does to food. Cake is a sin, Salad is for saints. We are trained to see emotions like sadness and anger as "Bad" as "Sins" when what they are trying to communicate is important.

Anger is the emotion that says we have been wronged and being placid and treating it as "Bad" or "I shouldn't feel this way" will not fix the issue. I was also trained to use the energy from those higher emotions to improve my life. Anger's energy should be used to address the source of the anger. Constructively if possible but only if the situation is actually worth it to your life and your happiness to salvage. Otherwise it's better to excise the source of that anger, but still use the energy from it.
Show threadFranchescaJan 31
@GoldenRetrieverGF @Natasha_Jay
Show threadGolden Retriever GFJan 31
@Frantasaur exactly that @Natasha_Jay
Show threadnai 🖤Jan 31
@Natasha_Jay what should you do if looking at all that makes you feel down instead of angry?
Show threadNatasha 🇪🇺Jan 31

@nyx_lyb3ra
It's not a command to be angry, it's an allowance that it can be natural to feel it

Sadness and anger can coexist too

Show threadJesse McClure Jan 31

@nyx_lyb3ra @Natasha_Jay

The previous comparison of anger to pain is spot on. Just as with pain, there are different reactions.

When in pain we might jump to escape or scream to alert to the pain if we feel we have agency in affecting the pain. Or we might slow down, cuddle up in blankets and wait for healing if we don't feel that we have agency in affecting the pain.

Anger is the jump and the scream. Sadness is slowing to allow wounds to heal.

Show threadLarryJan 31
@nyx_lyb3ra @Natasha_Jay
You feel helpless, which is the root of depression.
Show threadLarryJan 31
@nyx_lyb3ra @Natasha_Jay https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5059346M/Helplessness
Helplessness by Martin Elias Pete Seligman | Open Library

Helplessness by Martin Elias Pete Seligman, 1975, W. H. Freeman, trade distributor, Scribner edition, in English

Open Library
Show threadDarwin WoodkaJan 31

@nyx_lyb3ra @Natasha_Jay

I've always thought depression was anger directed inward. When I realized that and understood it was the situation around me that was depressing me and I was actually just angry about it, I stopped being depressed.

Show threadGuillotine Jones, FlâneurJan 31
@Natasha_Jay
No wonder so many people quote Terry Pratchett, Natasha.
This one quotation changes my default mental stance A LOT.
Show threadNatasha 🇪🇺Jan 31
@Guillotine_Jones
It took me until in my 50s before I became intensely blazingly (rightly) angry. It has been a personal step to allow that, though how to use it is another step I need to learn. So this helps me too ie it isn't an abstract.
Show threadGuillotine Jones, FlâneurJan 31
@Natasha_Jay
Samesies, Natasha!
But much later than my 50s in my case.
Unfortunately.
Show threadJohnsJan 31
@Natasha_Jay #GNU #Terrypratchett
Show threadAlan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏Jan 31
@Natasha_Jay Through the course of my life I have been asked, frequently, why I am so angry. My response has been that I'm not angry, I'm determined. Anger is static; determination is dynamic.
Show threadLaemenPangJan 31
@Natasha_Jay octarine baby
Show threadBaltergeistJan 31
@Natasha_Jay
#SpeakHisName
🕯❤️
Show threadJoannaJan 31
@Natasha_Jay
Huge Terry Pratchett fan for years. Owning our anger and using it to create equitable and sustainable change is IMO an excellent way to move forward.
Show threadNymnympseudonymJan 31

@walkingblind @Natasha_Jay
Metallica back when they were good
... and *angry*

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rKk3OGrdf5c

... And Justice for All (Remastered)

YouTube
Show threadJens Oliver MeiertJan 31

@Natasha_Jay, not a Terry Pratchett connaisseur but this reminds me of the idea that aggression is also natural, useful, and even important, as in it serving as a *creative impulse*.

It’s not helpful in this light to confuse aggression with violence—two different things.

Show threadCassianJan 31
@Natasha_Jay Source: https://serialephemera.tumblr.com/post/636666887988740096/thematically-speaking-the-most-important-thing
Serial Ephemera

Thematically speaking, the most important thing Terry Pratchett taught me was the concept of militant decency. The idea that you can look at the world and its flaws and its injustices and its...

Tumblr
Show threadGeePawHillJan 31
@Natasha_Jay It was James Baldwin who taught me that one. It's a helluva powerful insight.
Show threadRob LandleyJan 31
@Natasha_Jay He was quite open about being "powered by anger". https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/24/terry-pratchett-angry-not-jolly-neil-gaiman
Neil Gaiman: ‘Terry Pratchett isn’t jolly. He’s angry’

From the archive: Terry Pratchett may strike many as a twinkly old elf, but that’s not him at all. Neil Gaiman on the inner rage that drives his ailing friend’s writing

The Guardian
Show threadMarkus FeilnerJan 31
@lproven @chillicampari
Show threadSpudHead (unfunny) (cool??) [0528]Feb 1
@Natasha_Jay this user wasnt spending their time around the right people. militant decency isnt the way i wouldve put it (“improvement out of spite” maybe) but yeah. this is my philosophy
Show threadLisPiFeb 1
@Natasha_Jay I'm vaguely curious about the cultural background that leads to assuming it is not an option.
Show threadPheedback PhilFeb 1
@Natasha_Jay Pterry - one of the most humane writers of our time!
Show threadCubeRootOfTrueFeb 1
@Natasha_Jay The Assassin's Guild always intrigued me. The Patrician was wise. If they're going to run around murdering people anyway, might as well make a guild, tax them, and have them charge proper fees. You need a license to become a member, and the final exam to get in is ... erm ... very final if you fail. It's a proper business, that Guild, and I wouldn't say ill of it
Show threada colony of eukaryotesFeb 1
@Natasha_Jay The name escapes me, of another great contemporary philosopher, who once opined "Anger is an energy"..