How do you cope with your anger towards the opposition?

[Mike 03]

This past weekend I had to face that I was just as furious with the right wing as they are with me, and I want to funnel or channel this anger into something positive, not negative, but since the mass shooting I have felt paralyzed, very sad, and very confused.

Do any of you have any advice on how to view the events of the recent days and turn them towards a good, positive, productive action? I feel very stuck since Saturday and would appreciate any advice.

Thanks DU friends.

[AlabamaLibrul]

1. Shrink, I wanna kill....

okay that's not helpful at all.

[Kingofalldems]

2. I come here

But they show up here too.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. This is how I approach this task:

I remind myself that I have, at most, control over myself. Nothing else. So to be upset at the opposition is spinning my wheels.

I'm trying to be stoic. I don't always succeed...

Of course, there's always letters to the editor, talking to like-minded folks, calling your Congress critter...

Those might help you, and even more importantly, they might be effective.

Hang in there...

Recommended.

[Dappleganger]

15. All great suggestions.

Balance is important, too. Trying to not hyper-focus on these recent issues isn't easy. Dh took us to the movies last night (True Grit), it helped.

My husband is a conservative (although a registered independent for nearly a decade) so we talk these things out frequently. He as always remains exasperated with those on the right for their sheer lunacy.

[Drale]

4. The same way I deal with all my anger

violent video games.

[Carolina]

8. escapism

through walks, movies and of course, venting with like minded souls here at DU

[eleny]

5. I got into the kitchen and baked

Seriously. We had a snowstorm last night so driving to the rec center to swim off my frustration was not happening. So after a while today I just went into the kitchen and baked a blueberry pie. Sugar free, too, and it's delish.

Then I put some pork chops in a bag with a homemade marinade. That took up some more time.

I feel a little better but my fuse for angst is short. I'll need to head back in to start supper. Thank goodness.

[RainDog]

6. I don't feel angry. I feel indignation.

I feel like people like Palin and Rush have come in and shat in the middle of America's living room. It's disgusting - but someone that pathetic doesn't make me angry - they make me sad to know they get paid salaries to continue the same behavior.

The bosses that pay their salaries - make me think this nation has been demeaned by their greed and lust for power. That doesn't make me angry. It makes me think that, no matter how much money you have, if you're a grotesque person who gives money to hate mongers - you're no better than any other politically corrupt person in any other part of the world.

They're sort of like Kim Jong-il - in moral stature and in their usefulness to this nation.

[Rex]

7. You can't always have what you want.

But you find sometimes you get what you need.

[stray cat]

9. By being friends with those I disagree with - When you know someone they become a person

rather than a label

[Mike 03]

10. Don't worry, I don't have a violent bone in body, that is not an option.

I rescue scorpions and tarantulas, and I have trouble even pulling weeds (I only pull weeds beacuse my HOA fines me if I don't, and my neighbors hate me).

I am a Buddhist, but an overly sensitive one. But I am aspiring to detachment.

There is just something about seeing a courageous congresswoman's brains blown out that rubs me the wrong way, especially when she is "targeted" by Sarah Palin.

[Cleita]

11. I laugh at them. That's why I consider a Jon Stewart fix

every day essential to my sanity. Try writing some angry satire regarding what you are angry at. You will find it better than being sad.

[Pathwalker]

12. Read a book, look at seed catalog, spend time with a hobby,

visit a greenhouse, take a bubble bath, hug loved ones, turn of the teevee and put on some peaceful music - or some serious rock and dance like no one can see me, do some volunteer work. And do it all while ignoring politics for as long as it takes to get unstuck. And don't forget to breathe deeply.

[TheKentuckian]

13. Tell one or more of them about their rotten selves

[kctim]

I just accept the fact

that this was the work of a crazed individual, not of an entire group. But then, I don't grasp at every straw in order to score political points against those with differing beliefs.

[demokatgurrl]

14. I watch a lot of sports

and drink a lot of wine. And that's not even a joke. Most times, I cannot bear to read any news that's politics-related. Of course that means no TV news, or "news", and I read selectively online- pretty much sticking to overseas online newspapers (der Spiegel, Guardian, Dutch News.... anything ) Maybe this is an ostrich-like approach, but I think I am well aware of what's going on and don't want to harm my health by dwelling on it. When I really feel a need to hear about a major event, I'll watch Jon Stewart or Colbert.

[WinkyDink]

16. I post here.

[arcticken]

17. Statistics are your best friend. Use them to put this whole

thing into rational perspective. Think in terms of how ludicrous it was for past generations to posit that rock and roll was the devil's music and that heavy metal or violent video games caused kids to become slavering serial killers. And Marilyn Manson didn't cause Columbine.

[lunatica]

18. What I've done when I reach rage saturation exhaustion

Is take a few days off and do some self-examination (a life not examined is a life not lived) and see what it is in me that reacts by allowing hateful people to push my buttons. I mix it with doing things I like doing. Things that make me good afterward. And I try to see where I can change my attitude to be better. I usually decide that the worst thing to be is just like the people I hate or rage about. I don't want to be like them. I don't want anything in me to reflect Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Colter or Palin. I decide I want to be a kind and sympathetic person who says positive things and who is nice to be around.

The funny thing is that people I meet or strangers I walk past reflect that choice about myself. We greet each other, we make an effort to be nice and kind and receptive.

It's amazing how that works.

[WillyT]

19. Drink Heavily, Sing Irish Folk Songs...

Oh... you said positive...

Drink heavily...

:D

[hyphenate]

20. We see too much,

That's the truth.

Think about it. We've become hypervigilant about all the things going horribly wrong, and our minds cannot accept the amount of data coming into their brains.

Before telephones, the 'net, and TV, people didn't need to absorb all the news in the world. While we had a decent amount of input, the rapidity and enveloping morass was present, and for most of us, the smothering has already rankled us severely.

Back in the "good days," people could go out and watch them being executed, but that was usually the only spectacle a town could see. As better word of mouth became regular, it became an imperative t0 reach more and more people, to widen the sphere of influence. And now, we see too much going on, and it's difficult for the world to ever go back to their own form of ignorance.

[kestrel91316]

21. By tapping on my DU keyboard. VENT VENT VENT VENT VENT

[CTyankee]

22. Art always saves you.

Music is particularly good. Brahms "Requiem" is my favorite for this type of situation.

Go to an art museum. Try to understand and "read" the painting or the sculpture. Get into it. Really into it!

Read poetry. The greatest poets all wrestled with the problems you are wrestling with. They wrote in their pain. You need them now...

[TygrBright]

23. Relentless cynical mockery.

I seek it out whenever I'm particularly enraged.

By now I'm an addict.

Anyone who knows any consistently good sources, post 'em please...

hungrily,
Bright