How to use righteous anger?

[trenton]

I recently stumbled upon a scene depicting Jesus Christ as a social justice warrior.  I am wondering when to behave like this.  My mind plays devil's advocate and says I would probably be wrong and look horrible.  I think Jesus would react like this toward corporate lobbyists who turn the capital into a market place while oppressing humanity through legalized bribery.

How do we balance a low tolerance for devilry with moral relativism?

When should righteous anger be used and how should it be done?

How should we respond to someone else's righteous anger when they are wrong?

How can righteous anger be used without making people radical and violent?  

When does being nice make us a doormat for evil?

[Sucuk Ekmek]

Fact is nobody gives a fck about his father's place or his animals anymore. I would say he is not acting with raw anger, he knows he is doing the right thing and paying the price for it. Seems legit. 

[mojsterr]

Firstly, I want to know if this is something Jesus really did, or is a story that an a different person has made of him.

[mojsterr]

But all I know about expressing such emotions is what Bruce Lee said: "Be water".

When a stone is thrown into the water, the watter ripples just enough times that it is not too much and not too little. It reacts perfectly to the force of the stone thrown in.

In real life that means when you feel really angry, you should react accordingly and when it's over, you move on. But what is in you needs to be expressed. If you do not work on this correctly, you will supress it.

 

I can't do this, but I admire people who are really open and always express their emotions in any given situation. They say something back, there might be anger in them for 5 minutes, and then it goes away. It was channeled properly. I get angry and it sticks with me for a long time. I'm working on that.

[trenton]

1 hour ago, mojsterr said:

Firstly, I want to know if this is something Jesus really did, or is a story that an a different person has made of him.

My answer is I don't know.  For all I know Jesus is a poetic character that never existed like Adam, eve, Noah, and so forth.  I would never know for sure what Jesus was like unless I met him in the flesh.

As for using righteous anger, I think it is necessary to know your boundaries and make them explicit and specific.  Then enforce those boundaries.  An example would be if my grandma says she does not care if a n-word crook can't breath.  In that case doing the right thing or enforcing a boundary could be telling her "stop being a racist b-word."  The function of not being nice is to get the point across and make it obvious that change is necessary.

[gettoefl]

1 hour ago, trenton said:

My answer is I don't know.  For all I know Jesus is a poetic character that never existed like Adam, eve, Noah, and so forth.  I would never know for sure what Jesus was like unless I met him in the flesh.

As for using righteous anger, I think it is necessary to know your boundaries and make them explicit and specific.  Then enforce those boundaries.  An example would be if my grandma says she does not care if a n-word crook can't breath.  In that case doing the right thing or enforcing a boundary could be telling her "stop being a racist b-word."  The function of not being nice is to get the point across and make it obvious that change is necessary.

yes ... if people pointedly transgress or violate your boundaries, it may be righteous to take measures to demonstrate displeasure and indignation

hard to think of cases where you physically retaliate but there could be scenarios, an exampe of which is the clip above

you have to pick your battles carefully and also you have to weigh the likelihood of will your action bring about change in their behavior or not

usually best to do nothing but on the other hand don't become the local whipping boy

and yes this story is spoken of in all 4 gospels of the bible: The narrative occurs near the end of the Synoptic Gospels (at Matthew 21:12–17, Mark 11:15–19, and Luke 19:45–48) and near the start in the Gospel of John (at John 2:13–16).

[trenton]

7 hours ago, gettoefl said:

you have to pick your battles carefully and also you have to weigh the likelihood of will your action bring about change in their behavior or not

usually best to do nothing but on the other hand don't become the local whipping boy

@gettoefl 

This is an interesting paradox I would like to discuss.  How do we pick our battles?

Some people may be unwilling to change and you will only make an enemy out of them.  In this way your righteous anger will backfire and lead to further transgressions.  One example is if you make it obvious that you are offended, but the abuser recognizes this and takes joy in violating this boundary.  This can become harassment and it will enrage you further.  I see this in transgenderism which is a common battle being fought nowadays.

I think if you want to peacefully enforce a boundary, then the one who violates our boundaries must himself be conscious enough to admit his wrong doing and be willing to change and be your friend.  If he does not want to be your friend, then he will actively seek disapproval out of the addicting pleasure of getting on someone's bad side.  This is how adults bully each other as they take joy in this sense of power and control.  It is like I'm a monkey stuck in a cage and a sadistic bastard is jabbing me with a stick while laughing.

If somebody is like this, then the response could be saying "fuck off" and cut them off from you.  If you can't get this person out of your life so easily like a family member, then you can get stuck and feel like a victim. 

I felt This way when my mom had an abusive boyfriend who broke the dishes, stole my money, and beat her.  Mom would not listen to reason and she told me to mind my own business.  I chose this battle because I was concerned about the safety of the family.  On the inside it felt hollow to me because I was only acting based on the belief that a family should love each other.  In fact, I didn't really feel love from my family because we were full of lying, stealing, manipulating, criminals.  Dad fled the state to avoid paying child support and it all felt like a lie to me when I tried to stop the drug addiction and domestic violence in the name of family love.

[gettoefl]

8 hours ago, trenton said:

@gettoefl 

This is an interesting paradox I would like to discuss.  How do we pick our battles?

Some people may be unwilling to change and you will only make an enemy out of them.  In this way your righteous anger will backfire and lead to further transgressions.  One example is if you make it obvious that you are offended, but the abuser recognizes this and takes joy in violating this boundary.  This can become harassment and it will enrage you further.  I see this in transgenderism which is a common battle being fought nowadays.

I think if you want to peacefully enforce a boundary, then the one who violates our boundaries must himself be conscious enough to admit his wrong doing and be willing to change and be your friend.  If he does not want to be your friend, then he will actively seek disapproval out of the addicting pleasure of getting on someone's bad side.  This is how adults bully each other as they take joy in this sense of power and control.  It is like I'm a monkey stuck in a cage and a sadistic bastard is jabbing me with a stick while laughing.

If somebody is like this, then the response could be saying "fuck off" and cut them off from you.  If you can't get this person out of your life so easily like a family member, then you can get stuck and feel like a victim. 

I felt This way when my mom had an abusive boyfriend who broke the dishes, stole my money, and beat her.  Mom would not listen to reason and she told me to mind my own business.  I chose this battle because I was concerned about the safety of the family.  On the inside it felt hollow to me because I was only acting based on the belief that a family should love each other.  In fact, I didn't really feel love from my family because we were full of lying, stealing, manipulating, criminals.  Dad fled the state to avoid paying child support and it all felt like a lie to me when I tried to stop the drug addiction and domestic violence in the name of family love.

 

you have to assess another's level of consciousness ... it is probably lower than yours but how much lower ... are they a reasonable person or are they beyond hope of betterment... in the later case you better not interfere with them since you will provoke them to worse outbursts and onslaughts ... if you feel the person wants to learn and improve then i say it is within your remit to teach them a give them the medicine they need whether that be the gentle softly kind or the tough love kind ... anger is acceptable in this case since it a way of deeply communicating to another the extent of the pain you suffered from them ... this can perhaps be enough to jolt them into getting their act together

family drama and conflict is a whole huge can of worms and has to do with power relationships and some inflicting abuse and trauma on others so i think i will leave that for now though i empathize greatly with the hardships you have endured and truly hope you are seeing some light in the tunnel