Human beings, like the animal kingdom, and in fact all of nature, are essentially peace-loving and want nothing more than to go about their lives harmoniously. Yet we live in what has been called the Age of Anger.

It is the age of extreme emotions — of like or dislike emojis. It is also a time of dissatisfaction, disruption and imposition, whether by the state or economic forces through their various powerful mechanisms of control in societies all over the world. These can be visible, as in countries like Pakistan, or invisible, as in affluent countries. Pew Research conducted in 27 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia revealed that, whereas the majority believed elected officials do not care about what ordinary people think, any change of governments would make no difference to this fact, since most politicians are perceived to be corrupt.

Pankaj Mishra, in his book The Age of Anger: A History of the Present, writes, “The sense of being humiliated by arrogant and deceptive elites was widespread, cutting across national, religious and racial lines” creating a “negative solidarity” and resentment among those left-behind.

The collective response can be one of cynicism or depression, with no hope for change, or of resistance. As Christina Care says, we’re finally “allowed” to be angry at a lot of things — the state of the world, politics, etc, provided we channel our anger into action.

Anger is one of the basic emotions experienced by all humans. Yet, according to neuroscientist Dayu Lin, anger is stimulated by a tiny part of the brain near the bottom of the hypothalamus, with the more dominant part of the brain, the frontal cortex, generating empathy and compassion.

Anger at its most basic level is a protective response — protecting oneself or one’s loved ones, or one’s country. It is a reaction, which implies it has a source. Anger has many stages, from frustration to extreme violence, although violence itself does not need anger as a trigger, as seen in the actions of gangs and cartels, which follow a dispassionate code of “No fear, no mercy”.

Military training encourages aggression meant to inflict intentional physical harm on other people, while discouraging anger, which implies loss of control. The Persian king Xerxes I had the waters of the Hellespont whipped after his bridges were destroyed by a storm that delayed his invasion of Greece. On another occasion, he wrote an angry letter to a mountain blocking his path.

Of all the emotions humans possess, anger is seen as the most negative. Displays of anger in a child — whether through temper tantrums or rudeness — has been called a ‘gun pointed at a parent’, with the implied message, “See what you made me do?”

While at a personal level, anger is seen as destructive and a quality to be discouraged, collective anger is seen as a positive motivator for change. As the saying goes, “If you are enraged, you are engaged.”

Anger is justified by political scientists if the root cause is injustice or corruption. It is seen as a key element for collective action and is a powerful agent of change. Rational and legitimate anger is a form of altruism or selfless concern for the well-being of others. It activates pride by uniting people to fight for a noble cause and generates a sense of hope in righting a wrong. It encourages more people to participate in the political process.

Politicians harness anger for protests and to motivate revolutions. Collective anger may take the form of a peaceful Gandhian civil disobedience action, or a chaotic and brutal French Revolution.

Anger as a political weapon is successful if contained, but relies on the implied threat that, if grievances are not addressed immediately, the anger will spiral into uncontrollable violence. It is a fine line to walk between channelling collective anger and ensuring collective anger does not spin out of control. To avoid a confrontational abyss, successful political activists focus on specific and well-articulated goals — a change in a specific law, the end of Apartheid, or the protection of women in the workplace.

As Peter Lyman has suggested, “Anger is an indispensable political emotion — for without angry speech the body politic would lack the voice of the powerless questioning the justice of the dominant order.”

Channelling anger into action, such as the spontaneous dumping of rubbish at Karachi Electric offices in response to additional billing on electricity bills for garbage collection, diffuses rage with humour. This is also the effect of political memes, songs played at rallies, political cartoons or the witty satire of the inimitable Anwar Maqsood, which create a safety valve, calming the intensity of anger, while acknowledging its legitimacy.

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist.
She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2022