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The Emotion Forecast Says Anger
Over the past few months, the emotion I have felt more than any other has been one of anger. Anger at the state of the world, anger at the inhumanity of innocent blood spilled in countless acts of injustice, and anger at myself for not being able to do more.
It is always there, simmering just below the surface. Distractions and diversions help me keep it at bay, at least for a little while. The rare vent thread on social media allows me to vent a fraction of it. But it is not enough. It is like trying to bail out water from a sinking boat using one’s own hands, an endeavour barely better than doing nothing at all.
This level of constant anger is not outwardly apparent. This is a result of decades of learning how to repress and mask emotions at a level where I start to unconsciously start repressing “negative” emotions. I think a lot of my autistic comrades will understand what I am talking about here.
So, this means that I have been thinking about anger as an emotion on a meta level. Really applying the best dissociative methods I can and retreating into my mind palace to contemplate the nature of anger. Not the first time I have done something like that but this time it feels more urgent.
Glass Cannons, Double Edged Swords, and Other Metaphors
Anger is a glass cannon. Its raw power is undeniable but it comes at significant cost to myself. It is emotionally exhausting, and it is not possible for me be in a heightened state of anger constantly. It is one thing to let it simmer in the background, another to let it boil over and pour it all over my hands.
A few months ago, in a conversation with my friend Minerva I said the phrase, “our capacity for empathy is much higher than our capacity for action”. Which is to say, that we can feel empathy for a lot of things but we can only act on a small subset of said things. I think this applies to anger as well.
In the case of anger, the balance is significantly more uneven. The cost of transmuting anger to action is higher. Along those lines, I think of anger as a kind of fossil fuel. Using it in small doses can be potent but using it in mass amounts continuously is going to result in emotional devastation that is hard to recover from.
Since I seem to be in the business of applying an exorbitant number of metaphors in this blog post, here is another one – if empathy is a warm hug, anger is a double-edged blade capable of damaging both the wielder and their target.
An Exhortation
So where am I going with this? What was the point of writing this? It is partially a bit of creative catharsis, one of those dissociative methods I mentioned earlier. But this is also a warning and a bit of advice.
In the ugly and cruel times we live in, anger is going to be our constant companion. There is cause for anger at every waking moment of our lives. So we should be using anger as much as possible to motivate us, to fuel us, to drive us to meaningful action but we also need to be careful that we don’t let it lead us to a point where the only thing remaining in our souls is the molten husk of anger.
I say, “we” but this is as much an exhortation to myself as it is to the collective. I need to heed my own words and carefully wield anger in my day-to-day existence. As an example, a single aspect of this is that I need to be more careful at how often I trigger the surfacing of my anger by being even more judicious about what I am reading, watching, and listening to.
I do not need to watch video footage of agents of a fascist state execute a human being in broad daylight to know that it happened and to know that it is unjust and worthy of action. Watching it serves no meaningful purpose except to inflame my anger to unsafe levels. Instead, I want to transmute the anger I already have into empathy and turn it into action.
The Campaign to Free Albeiro From ICE
In the spirit of that, I want to finish this blog post with a call to action. There is a fundraiser I want to direct your attention to. This is the fundraiser for Albeiro Ropero Remolina and his family. This is the first paragraph of a press release from his law firm.
Roa Immigration Law and ADC Immigration Law submitted a humanitarian request for release on behalf of Albeiro Ropero Remolina, an immigrant husband and father to three children, who was illegally arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Monday, December 29 and remains in custody. Despite entering the United States and promptly seeking asylum, having no criminal history, and complying with all government orders, ICE detained Albeiro and his wife (who has since been released). ICE is currently attempting to deny him access to life-saving medication for dire health conditions.
12/31/2025 – ICE Unlawfully Detains Disabled Immigrant Father in Chicago, Lawyers and Organizing Team Seek Urgent Support from Public
There is an ongoing fundraiser to raise funds for Albeiro and his family, to meet the various expenses that come with battling the state. The fundraiser is here.
I urge everyone to share this fundraiser within their networks and to give what they can. If you are on the fediverse, boost my post. The fundraiser is currently sitting at 70% of its $42,000 goal, let us get it to 100% as soon as possible. I believe in us.
That is all from me. I am going to go back to listening to Rage Against the Machine’s self-titled debut album for the umpteenth time. Stay safe out there comrades. The fight continues.
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