Thread by @asymmetricinfo

Still think that whatever its ostensible subject, an enormous amount of performative rage on the internet--and its audience counterpart, rage-seeking--is about using rage to suppress more normal anxiety and sadness about quotidien things like death, aging, loneliness, failure.

This works only temporarily and in the meantime makes everything worse, but it does work temporarily. Hard to think about your unsatisfying marriage or your mother's decline into dementia when you're so mad at some jerk in Tuscaloosa or Portland who said something awful!

When internet rage targets you, instead of getting worked up into an equally towering dudgeon, consider the attacker is probably sad and frightened & trying to deal with that, albeit unproductively, like we all do sometimes. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and a little grace.

And if you find that your main hobby is finding new reasons to get mad, and people to get mad at, please do consider getting whatever help you need to improve things for yourself IRL. Starting with looking for communities that mainly focus on something other than anger.

Write a novel, learn how to make croissants, run a 5k, crochet doilies, catch fish, drive those ATV thingies too fast down dirt roads, take up bird watching, master a foreign language, study some historical period or place you know nothing about, deliver groceries for old folks.

Yes, the world is full of suffering, but the only reason we can tell that is that we have so many good things to which we can compare the bad parts.

There is SO MUCH great stuff in the world, and you only have a short time to take it all in. Better get started!