Tag: anger

I was at the Saturday Coffee Talk (though late) discussion and the topic was self-righteous anger.

My experience is that anger has always led to violence and we (humankind) would be better served if we could find, and use, new ways of promulgating change than through using anger as the touch stone.

From a Buddhist perspective, I could keep this short and sweet, and regurgitate the words that “righteous anger” is part of the “three poisons” in Buddhism — greed, hatred, and ignorance —end of conversation.

I am increasingly concerned about two trends in our culture that may or may not be related. This blog is about the first trend — a trend of insisting that people be ‘nice’.  My next blog will address the second trend — incivility — and a possible relationship between the two.

I, personally, experience this demand for niceness mainly in two settings.

A great many Jews, religious and secular alike, feel inspired by the Jewish concept of tikkun olam: our collective duty to help heal the world. Like many other progressive concepts, tikkun olam can easily be caricatured as a “nice” thing to do rather than a good thing. Awww, those B’nai Mitzvah students are picking up litter in the park — isn’t that nice! In this formulation, “nice” is code for gestural, temporary and ultimately ineffectual.