Anger and Hate as Drug Addictions

On a message board someone wrote: "Anger and hate are the most dangerous "drug addictions" in today's society."

I agree with this 100%. I would not even put the phrase drug addictions in quotation marks in the statement above. In fact, I am of the opinion, from what I have observed that one of the most effective mind-control methods being used is training people that the only possible reactions that they can have to certain stimuli (like an opinion that is truly anti-State and anti-Establishment, as opposed to state-sanctioned "dissidence") is anger and hatred.

We know that the chemicals that are released by the brain when angered and when feeling hate are not only very destructive to the organism; they are among the most addictive, as you said.

People who have been trained to react with anger and hatred to that which they do not like are addicted to their own biochemistry. Like all addictions it is ongoing and the addict creates the need for more by creating situations that will "require" him or her to get his or her "fix".

It is the worst form of addiction because unlike others there is no need to procure a substance. All the addict has to do is get himself or herself into a frenzy. So, reasons to hate and get angry are always being created in the mind of the addict.

Often, this addiction is found among people who have some sort of cause or hold to some sort of ideology. Whenever they encounter anyone who is not in keeping with their ideas they go into rages. I have noticed that this phenomenon is particularly pronounced among "Leftists". Many of them are wholly incapable of tolerating differing opinions and react with uncontrollable fits of anger. It seems to me that they were conditioned to respond so in order to self-destruct.

In the 24 years that I have been away from the US I have seen this behavior control technique honed to perfection among the populace, particularly, as I have said, among "Leftists".

In response another person wrote: "That would mean ALL of us, and there is no escaping it. However, it is possible to use the biochemistry and redirect it. It can be taught and eventually over time, like water carves through stone, persistence will win."

While I don't think there is no escaping the conditioning, i.e., I can envision societies that would not do this to us; it is certainly true that in our society we are so programmed.

We are also capable of compassion and the ability to look at one another and at ourselves and say: That is not how I want to be. I want to exist on a higher plane than that.

As my friend says: "Think a higher thought."

We are not only capable of thinking higher thoughts, we can consciously condition ourselves to do so. It takes time, patience and many, many repeated efforts, but we can. We can will ourselves to grow IF we are aware of the need for growth and IF we consider compassion a higher level of reaction and emoting than rage.

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com