Audism, Racism and Anger in the Neighbourhood II

Below is a translation of this vlog:

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Part II of this vlog. If you have not seen Part II, please view Part I then return here. You will then understand what I’m discussing. If you have already viewed the first part, enjoy the rest of this vlog.

Anger: Righteous vs Selfish

I wish to discuss the third term: anger. There are differences between the two types of anger: righteous anger and selfish anger. After this discussion, you will know how to recognize the type of anger exhibited. Let’s begin with selfish anger.

Selfish anger. Is the purpose of selfish anger to protect others? No. Protect the self? No. Is selfish anger used to improve society? Nope. To correct other people’s behaviour? No. This anger results in attacking others if one doesn’t get one’s way, or if one’s self-esteem is low. So, one belittles others in order to make oneself feel better, or more superior. We have seen this selfish anger exhibited by Jack, who belittled Troy, so he would feel better after losing during the hockey game. He did not like it when he was soundly trounced. So, when Troy called him an idiot for trying to assault him, it stung his already-battered self-esteem. In retalation, Jack verbally attacked him. During our discussion, Troy stated that Jack wanted to pull him down just because he was angry.

Now, on to righteous anger. What does it look like? Is the purpose here to protect others? To protect the self if one were in a bad situation? To improve society? To correct other people’s behaviours? Yes, to all the above. We can recognize righteous anger in the story I described. The anger Troy experienced was righteous, but the choice of action he took, i.e. the hitting of Jack’s stick wasn’t the best choice of action. I don’t agree with violence. Still, he did feel the kind of anger that impelled him to tell Jack he was wrong.

As for Troy’s friends, they decided to drop the road hockey game instead of continuing to play. This action was a message to Jack that his insulting Troy’s parents on the basis of their being deaf was not to be tolerated nor acceptable. The friends showed their righteous anger in their action of leaving the game even though it was not finished. When Jack’s older brother reprimanded him, he was showing righteous anger. He was sending his brother the message loud and clear that it was unacceptable to belittle on the basis of the inability to hear.

The actions of leaving in the middle of the game, and reprimanding were intended to defend Troy and his parents. The third action, which was Troy’s approaching Jack’s parent to inform him of the situation, was intended to correct Jack’s behaviour, and to try to raise awareness that racism/audism is not appropriate.

Righteous and selfish anger. Now we see the difference between the two. Behaviours associated with each type of anger are different, as well. There are differences between behaviours that occur in response to racism and audism, and behaviours that come from audism/racism.

Remember:

The goal of righteous anger is to protect others, or to change and/or remove an unacceptable situation.

The goal of selfish anger is to make oneself better by belittling others.

The question that we must ponder is this:

Which kind of anger is more effective in achieving positive changes in society?

ADDENDUM: (This is not in the vlog.) It is up to us to carefully choose actions that reflect the true reason behind our anger. We can have righteous anger, and yet choose the wrong actions that would hinder our success in improving the society in which we live. It is important to examine our motives, our options and the ethical ramifications of each action considered. Then, act.