Here's a question to you: are anger and hatred positive or a negative emotions? Most people would probably find it strange to even ask this question. It's pretty much common sense to regard them as negative. The troubling question is: why do we enjoy them so much then?
Yes, that's my controversial proposition for this week: People love being angry. People enjoy hating each other. I don't know if I'll manage to convince you of that one, but try to give it a chance: Being angry at someone comes with so many fun side-effects. The feeling of moral superiority over them and how much larger that makes you feel is just the start. You also get to tell others about the terrible things they did which not only gives you a lot of attention but usually also affirmation and sometimes even compassion or admiration. But not even that is the end of it. One cannot neglect the joy of conceptualizing revenge scenarios. For many people it's a perfect opportunity to dwell in a bit of sadism, as their felt moral superiority legitimizes the escape into violent thoughts. Welcome to yet another part of the human condition we usually don't like to admit exists.
If you still don't believe me, look at how contagious this anger is. As already mentioned, it's usually a welcome topic for conversation. As long as they share your moral understanding, other people want in on the fun. It doesn't matter if they themselves suffered any damages or if they even care about those who did. The hate for this individual who behaved immorally legitimizes all the fun mentioned above. To see what I mean, look at the modern phenomenon of "shit-storms" or, if you want something less intense, watch one of those YouTube videos where people share recordings of their dashcams.
So why do we still say that anger and hatred are negative emotions? Because they have really negative consequences. It's not only the sad reality that for some individuals with low impulse control the sadistic activity doesn't stay confined in the realm of thoughts. It's not only the fact that the truth is often neglected in the twisted game of telephone which is the retelling of a story about someone's misconduct. The events around those most directly involved are often tragic. But in my view, the real harm done by all this hatred is the distraction it causes. The inhibition of rational thought.
But why would a nihilist care about this? After all, I wrote multiple times that emotions are important. Without moral restraints, why not just give in to the anger? Should you fear the wrath of a nihilist as much as the movie "The Big Lebowski" suggests?
Well, first of all, it's much more difficult to anger me as a nihilist. I accept that morality is subjective and don't consider any moral code superior to another. I can't think of any sensitive topics that I wouldn't accept others to have different opinions on. I know that the root cause of most conflicts are misunderstandings and try to apply Hanlon's Razor whenever possible. Still, angering me is far from impossible. And it's true that I don't care about "turning the other cheek" or "maintaining good Karma" or anything like that. But valuing my feelings does not mean to blindly follow all my instincts. Instead I try to consider the long term effects my actions will have on my feelings. In my experience, any action of petty revenge will give a short spike of satisfaction, followed by a long stretch of shame and regret. That's just not something I'm into. So you don't have to be afraid that I will just mash your teeth in.
I prefer smarter forms of conflict resolution. Usually, I'm genuinely interested in resolving conflicts peacefully and most conflicts I've experienced could be cleared by identifying the underlying misunderstanding or simply "agreeing to disagree". Either I'm really lucky or this works really well. I've had very few ugly conflicts in the past. That's ok, though. There's plenty other ways to have fun.
