Constant theme of ANGER on ATS

I don't see it as anger but a very hearty exchange of passonate viewpoints.
At least with ATS you don't get the bigotry and hate from radical minded people. Thats what turned me off to alot of other sites.

reply to post by Skyfloating


You're so very right. And like another poster said, we are beginning to reflect the MSM because those are the sensationalized stories that get people's emotions riled when they are full of rhetoric.

Many posters aren't realizing they are part of the problem when they are starting threads based on news stories whose sole purpose is to create a divide or blame this group or another while detracting away from the ROOT CAUSE which very often tends to be our corrupted government.

I've admittedly been getting very angry at the increased intolerance, bigotry, and racism (with a small dash of sexism) going on on ATS. When you try to point out the ignorance they accuse of being on the side of the enemy. It really blows my mind!

I'm so sick of the "you're either with us or against" us mentality, I can barely stand it. It's black or white. No gray. You can't simply disagree without being lambasted with insults or innuendo as to your lack loyalty to America. The latter really gets me riled.

Yes there has been much anger. And in some ways, it is a good thing. But mostly it is a bad thing. Pointless, rambling anger is actually hard to maintain. It ' ebbs, but isn't forgotten. So a heat and relax, heat and relax pattern can form. After time the pressure can be really brought on hard until a focus is introduced.

I hate to use the example but look at the race riots of 1919. The film Birth Of A Nation had been out for four years, racial tensions were still high. Many of the same things said about Illegals stealing "our" jobs was said then about Blacks. That their wages were so much lower, it put current employees at risk. Same defense of doing jobs that Whites don't want was used. Blah, blah, blah.

The huge difference was there was more resentment over "birth rights" and "heritages" were lost by many the Reconstruction Era. Hate groups forms and by 1919, race riots broke out in various locations in the US throughout the year.

Today, is really no different. Bottom up economies, lost jobs, lost homes, families having to relocate to find work. And the people (in the US) have a focus almost handed to them. Except, it is not fully focused and some people are better informed and direct the attention elsewhere.

Maybe not my best explanation, but I hope people can see what I am saying. Hard to fully describe intangibles like feelings well enough.

I think it is not that there are so many angry folks, but that the angry folks are expressing theirselves.... kinda like a verbal minority. But hey, I could be wrong. Here's some other ideas:

-People are anxious and uptight because of the economy. Things are hard and that boils over into sites and conversation. Listen and read about people that lived in the Depression, there was a lot of anger then too.

-America is not the place we grew up in. But, it has always been changing, even from the beginning, as good a thing as that is...it makes people,even me, uncomfortable at times. We feel uneasy. I wish John Wayne could ride up and fix this mess, but he ain't here...

-Lastly, everything we were told was important is not anymore. We realize we are not entitled to anything but our own hopes and dreams. We are not assured of a big house with 2 cars and eating out every weekend.

How do we fix this? BEACH MUSIC...no, not that beachboy stuff in Ca...good ol' bluesy ol' soul from down in Carolina...steam up some crabs or shrimps, grab da hot sauce and crank up the Tams, the Catalinas, Delbert McClinton, The Rev.Bubba D. Liverance....the Embers. Take your shoes off, build a big ol' bonny fire, stick dem feets in the sand...and shag.

reply to post by johnny2127

underlying reasons

Some people participate in forum discussions to share ideas. Some people participate in forum discussion to fuel their ego. Others participate to play make-believe, and still others participate to act out their need to feel superior to others. There are other motivations as well.

When these various people interact, conflict sometimes results.

reply to post by nunya13

been getting very angry at the increased intolerance, bigotry, and racism

I'm so sick of the "you're either with us or against" us mentality

Do you see how these tendencies might sometimes conflict with one another?

When you try to point out the ignorance they accuse of
being on the side of the enemy. It really blows my mind!

I'm so sick of the "you're either with us or against" us mentality,
I can barely stand it. It's black or white. No gray.

Do you now?



[edit on 18-5-2010 by LordBucket]

Good thread. I was going to start one myself called "Rage Virus - Is it Real?" Not exclusively about ATS but everywhere in general.

I read newspapers online and always the comments too. I've found that at least 80% of commenters on some of the stories are negative, sarcastic, vindictive, angry, and worse. If there was no law and order they would turn into mobs and kill.

Check for yourselves. Try reading the Daily Mail and look at the various articles. The ones about individuals and not news in general. People hate people. It's unnerving.

Forgot to add. It's the papers themselves who stir it up.

[edit on 18-5-2010 by wigit]

As for the overarching anger IMO I would say that everyone in damn near every country is hurting. People are scared. Where once, we believed we had some sort of voice reality is now crashing done upon us and it frightens alot of people. Myself included. I used to deride and call the NWO forum goers paranoid. They were right. From my part in it, the anger is pointed mainly inward that I was to arrogant to see what they were saying. But I believe the majority of the outright anger, and I have seen it from people and even mods on here that normally are very low-key people, it is true fear. Fear of what is going to happen, where the next meal is going to come from, and a genuine feeling of helplessness and the only way to feel empowered is to get angry and vent. To be honest after reading this thread and thinking, I have been part of the fear mongering in a sense that I realized that I normally post political stories that really piss me off, and I know they would rile others up, kind of like a vindication for being angry. Like I need some sort of validation for why I am so pissed off. I am going to do my part to try and cut back on the infalmmatory posting, not sweep things under the rug to avoid anger, but be more concious of poking and prodding for a reaction. S+F OP for provoking a little internal inventory.

[edit on 18-5-2010 by djvexd]

[edit on 18-5-2010 by djvexd]

I know. I just read some thread- I don't even remember which one now, and it seemed like most of the posts were negative. Like personal attacks on the OP. It made me really sad and feel depressed.

I was under the impression that lots of people here at ATS were trying to move beyond all that to better loving understanding of everything and everyone. How can any of the angry posters ever expect to not be angry when they don't try to love? I thought love was the key to everything. .... maybe these angry and mean posters just have not been privy to such info.

ATS and similar sites allow people to vent. So do the Comments sections of online news sources. And when you read the comments in online news, you generally find considerable more anger than on ATS

So it's not just ATS, by any means. And if ATS were to attempt to censure 'angry' posts, those posters would simply move to other venues

Anger is what it is. Anger is also defined as 'disappointed hope'

So let's examine 'disappointed hope' ....

Every time there's a general-election, for example, people's hopes are raised by politicians who promise 'change'

Then people's hopes are dashed once again when they see those promises are empty and nothing's changed at all

We could take those who 'hope' for disclosure re: extraterrestrial aliens, UFOs, etc. These people believe/want to believe that aliens will arrive to save them, or at least that 'important people' (politicians, scientists, etc.) will 'admit' extraterrestrial aliens exist. Or they hope for a mass-arrival of aliens. Until that happens, believers will continue to be angry over what they believe are cover-ups -- and will remain basically angry about the fact they're growing older year by year and could even die without witnessing what they so fervently hope for and believe in

Others are sure the world will end in their lifetime --- that their religious belief in a 'rapture' and Armageddon will be manifest. They've invested huge amounts of time and energy into this and want a 'pay-out' for that expenditure

In the above and other cases, people energetically defend their beliefs, whether they involve extraterrestrial aliens, world's-end scenarios or various social-reforms

the more threatened they perceive their beliefs to be, the more angry and heated the defence

that's because people identify with their beliefs

and when you attack their beliefs, they regard it as an attack upon themselves

when you discredit their belief system, they feel you're discrediting them personally

So people defend their beliefs with the same fervour, in many instances, as they'd defend themselves

It happens in coffee shops and living-rooms and bars all over the world. The more someone has invested in a belief, the more heatedly they'll defend it

ATS could be likened to a huge bar or coffee shop where people of like-mind form groups to discuss various topics and to defend them against sceptics, disbelievers and members of opposing groups using various weapons such as sarcasm, ridicule, dismissal and outright denial, etc.

Quite often, when everything around them is distintegrating (their personal life, career, financial security, etc.), the more heavily they invest in their pet hate or belief. Religion, for example, was often the only thing people had left to sustain them in past eras, when plagues, taxes, warfare, loss of all those they held dear had stripped them to the bone. These days, some people have substituted belief in aliens as their religion. They feel that if that is taken away from them, they'll cease to exist. So they angrily (and desperately) defend as if their life depends on it. Same with other beliefs

Also, in defending their beliefs, some people believe they are making their hopes 'come true'. Just as they fear that if they allow an attack on their beliefs to go unaddressed might cause their hopes and beliefs to be 'destroyed'

The resulting skirmishes make for a volatile environment. But all it takes is a click of the mouse to make it all go away

Although I have noticed an increase in agitation on this site, it is not limited to this place. I see it everywhere, including myself.

When I am at the grocery store or any store really, people just seem agitated or short. The other day I was in line at a pharmacy and the woman in front of me had asked for a bunch of lottery tickets, well the clerk apparently got something wrong and this woman just absolutely lost it on her. The entire store could hear her screaming at the poor clerk, it was disastrous. After the woman left the store the clerk broke down and cried.

I watched a piece on the news last week discussing the increase in road rage. the reporter just took a drive on a busy road while filming other drivers(all faces and plates were blurred). Car after car, you could see people hammering their steering wheels, rolling down the windows and yelling at other drivers and throwing them the finger. It was brutal.

People just seem angry, I think something is going to give and I think it will be soon.

On another note, perhaps related to this, or not. I am convinced we are experiencing a quickening of time.

reply to post by PowerSlave


But of course people are exasperated, frustrated and angry, particularly in traffic

World populations have grown massively since the introduction of the motor vehicle

governments are enforcing unsustainable immigration on existing communities

jobs are scarce

money is tight

prices continue rising

people, people everywhere, all with their desperate needs and fears


Some choose to see this as 'proof' that 'something is going to happen soon'


They're intended to believe and preach that. That's the agenda

Yet there have always been impatient and stressed-out people such as the incident in the news agency

All we're seeing is MORE of what always existed


I hope 'something big' DOES happen soon

Hope it results in at least a halving of the world's population with huge restrictions upon increasing that depleted stock

With less people, less competition for resources, housing, jobs, etc. -- and with less idiots permitted to breed -- we could expect to see a much happier world-populace

reply to post by Dock9


You make a valid point. Without any overarching conspiracy just the mere population in close proximity dictates that nastiness in the form of something 'big' will happen. Unfortunatley humans have a shark mentality in that when masses are pushed to a point and blood is spilt a frenzy insues. Very nasty things coming.

Some great replies here, on an important issue, because without anger, many of us would do little beyond our "comfort zone".

It seems that the idea of anger automatically contains within it a notion of justification, which I think is not to be overlooked. If we are angry, then we usually feel that we are justified in some way, even if our emotions have clouded our reason.

Of course, if we can't quite put our finger on what it is, perhaps the many things, then the important issue becomes, that we can't really do much about it, in a constructive sense.

So, logically, we need to reflect a bit, and ask the question: Should we be "angry", and if so, why?

That's the process that can take us to an answer. On the one hand, if we find that our anger derives perhaps from our "lower" inclinations (such as impatience, selfishness, etc.), then recognize it, and move on.

On the other hand, we may find that some of our anger is coming from real, and serious issues in our lives. For example, in cases of child molestation, often a parent "knows" already, but has failed to do something about it. Usually another family member, husband, uncle, etc., but the point is, the anger "should" be there. One, it should be directed at the perpetrator, and two, at one's self, if we had failed to do what we believed was right.

Expanding on this idea, we find ourselves in a world of incredible suffering, and profound injustice, around the globe. Should we be angry? Damn right, we should be! But frankly, most of us are seemingly not angry at the "right" things. We get caught up in highly manipulated politics, or our own personal economic woes (that are sometimes due to our own fault), or a particular "conspiracy theory" that brands some group as the reason why life ain't-so-good, and on and on. Add to this a media that perpetually plays to our lowest nature, and we've got a recipe for exactly what we see.

All that being said, in all sincerity, I'm not feeling terribly "constructive" at the moment, forgive me. Instead, I would like to "vent" a tad, for my own mental and emotional well-being. If this thread went too much longer without the mention of 9/11, or of the needless sacrifices of combatants around the globe, I might get even angrier, if such a thing were possible. Yes, I am angry when I contemplate the evil machinations of our masters, who set one people against another, and then sit back and laugh as we tear ourselves apart. They are so casual about it, as if they were watching a dog fight, but it is we, who mourn our sons and daughters. It is we who bleed, and starve, and die. I ask again, "should" we be angry? Let me ask one final question: How angry should we be?

JR MacBeth
MyBlog

I to think MSM have a lot to answer for. I only have to glance at the headlines of certain papers on sale at the newsagents and my blood begins to boil. With me it really is a case of, i have to laugh or else i really would bloody cry!

Here is an interesting thread about an ats member’s effort against British tabloid headlines.

"I believe over 1,000 people were murdered due to the actions of a UK national newspaper"

They say anger is an energy, and i would agree it would be better to be angry the apathetic. I also believe dashed hopes and the obvious truth that can be found embedded on the internet adds to this anger, especially when that truth is DENIED.

I think that much of it stems from the fact that no matter what you believe or who you are, you don't feel like govt represents you any longer. People are constantly searching for representation. There is a seething anger that many feel due to the fact that they feel left behind by govt and the establishment. Interestingly, this is the same regardless if you think the govt should give you more, or if you think the govt takes too much.... either way you don't feel represented.

What are you talking about! Didn't you read the thread! I've never seen anything like this! who do you think you are! what's going on!

Oh wait, lost myself for a minute there.... "sorry"

reply to post by johnny2127


I like to drop in on different topics because it's good forf my mental heatlth. It helps calm me when dealing issues in my life that are important. But some issues I avoid. Conspiracy views I won't name that seem straight out of a psycotic break, and all or nothing religous debate's are risky to wander in to because disagreement is viewed as a personal attack. But worse is people who have no sense of humor, which usually reveales itself as; WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU @#$%^&* You get the idea. Listen people, were faceless words on a page. It's not personal, it's recreation.

reply to post by johnny2127


Anger is the most prevailent of all the emotions. It always gets noticed.
More and more people, more and more anger. I also think people realise less and less happiness in todays society. Another factor of significance
IMO is the No. of Godless human beings.

clearly anger is one of the primary functions of the human psyche.

Wild raging is more often dangerous & likely self-dangerous, but

controlled, focused & targeted anger probably can be highly useful.