Outrage Should Result in Action

This week, like all weeks, someone somewhere is outraged at me. Sometimes it is just a one-day rage, others can keep up outrage for weeks.  I suppose I could work up a good case of outrage about it but frankly it just isn’t worth the trouble for me.

My favorite case of outrage that was directed at me was when one of our reporters misspelled shepherd as in German shepherd.  He made a typo and spelled it shepard. That caused a serious case of outrage. I was called ignorant and poorly educated. Keysville, Charlotte County, Southside Virginia, all Southerners and a few more groups were maligned.  Again I could have been outraged but declined.

Outrage like hate and love and almost every other emotion should be used discriminately.  Too much of any emotion can be emotionally draining; for both for the outragee and the recipient.

Some people are currently outraged that things aren’t being done exactly like they think they should be done. They are outraged that THEIR opinions are not being given proper consideration. They are outraged they are not in control. Then they are outraged when someone else’s opinion is different from theirs.  They are outraged when the recipients of the outrage ignore them and they are outraged when the recipients respond to them.

Like many other things, all of this outrage is about power. Any outraged idiot can always find a few other idiots who will join them on their outrage bandwagon.

I am finding all of this outrage a little annoying.

 Slate.com listed a daily outrage calendar for 2014. There was outrage on a national level every day.

Here’s something to be outraged about if you are looking for something. It is my belief, which has been documented in my experience, that many of those who are regularly outraged have something missing in their lives and don’t really have much of a life of their own.

 Surely there are important things happening that deserve outrage. But the important thing is to do more than be outraged. Do something to make a difference.