There are so many cases of internet outrage that the next time you go online and search, you will be inundated with countless instances.
This outrage is being directed at well-known names including the likes of Woody Allen and Stephen Colbert as well as Justine Socco.
Are people too easily triggered by manufactured social media outrage?
Politicians are also the target of social media outrage as too are others like the court of law and social movements. Even various news media outlets will not be spared.
A corrective measure?
The only positive thing that can be said about social media outrage is it can act like a corrective measure, and in some instances, it even allows people to vent their sense of helplessness. Social media outrage has also been used to punish a guilty person, especially those who have not been officially penalized. George Zimmerman is a case in point. The other thing that goes in the favor of social media outrage is it can become a catalyzing force of activism and it can also force the powers that be to respond to a justifiable outrage.
Attacking commentators and not issues
The trouble is social media outrage is mostly about the commentator and not the reason behind a particular act. People who vent their outrage over social media platforms may actually be doing more harm than good and they may only be addressing the instigator instead of the real issue at hand.
Unhealthy angry outbursts
People who are likely to vent their outrage over social media are those who are generally angrier than most people and they vent their anger not in a healthy manner but in a maladaptive manner. The trouble is these people do not have any proper strategy to cope with their anger and so they will go online to rant and rave and, in this way, may enter into an altercation – either physically or verbally.
A way to get immediate relief from pent up emotions
Of course, venting your outrage online may not get you into a fistfight but it will not do much more than provide intermediate relief from whatever pent up emotions you are feeling. The fact is people who vent their rage generally become angrier down the road.
Outrage not the same as anger
Outrage is also different than anger in its purest form. It signifies that someone is feeling like their value system has been affronted and is not the same as simply seething. Social media outrage generally calls into question the user’s own probity. The user is only preserving their belief or delusion that they happen to be morally superior to the persons that offended them.
Easily outraged
The bottom line is people are becoming too easily triggered by manufactured social media outrage. This outrage is very closely related to direct action and is a way of protesting and not boycotting and marching as was the case before the advent of the Internet. Becoming incensed may be a noble thing for some but it seems to be more about propping up one’s ego. Rage may not even be the real problem but it is the rash way in which it is expressed that makes it dangerous. Being able to tell the world about something that makes you feel mad is the driving force behind some social media outrage. It would have been better to have calmed down and thought things through.
