Instinctive anger at the wealthy and/or wealth contrasts

[But that doesn't really matter, nihm. A 70% tax rate hits everybodies salary at 70%.

My anger that was momentarily projected on the happy young couple was not about them, obviously, as admitted many times - the anger was about the screamingly unjust chasm between the fate that they had the luck to face and the one that the poor couple was pretty much born into. Anger about that phenomenon was momentarily projected on them, as they are its involuntary beneficiaries.

CalamityJane wrote:

In all of my years doing volunteer work for the underprivileged, I rarely found lower income recipients who helped others, it was always the ones in the higher income brackets and the rich who helped either with monetary donations or time.

This was emphatically not my experience.

I saw people with no money helping other people with no money all the time, in ways large and small.

Your ability to bring yourself into check and not strike out (at least this time)

Well the National Center for Charities has a different statistic, than
the experience you have had, sozobe. Unfortunately the data is from 1997
but I doubt that it has changed over the years, more the contrary.

If I understand you correctly, you find the notion that people may ever feel some visceral, split second impulse to slap someone, for some reason or other not to do with that person, disturbing and incomprehensible.

I havent addressed this aspect of your posts yet, I think. Have you never in your life felt such a momentary emotion, that you can think of? No flash of similar anger that you got over at once - I dont know - say, for example, at some guy who for some reason reminded you of a bad man in your past, even though he didnt actually do anything?

...I'd like to think that the only difference with me, regarding encountering such a feeling, for whatever reason, I mean - is that I was aware of my feeling in such detail, and honest about it. Rather than that I have some sort of unusual agressive streak.

The number of posters here who've said they've had a similar feeling even just on this topic alone, does reassure me. But perhaps we'd need someone like dlowan to shed more light on that.

What I said was:

It amazes me that more people here have suggested bringing the yuppie couple down to a level closer to the poor drunk arguing couple than bringing the poor drunk arguing couple up to the level of the yuppies.

I did not claim it would make them poor.

nimh wrote:

If I understand you correctly, you find the notion that people may ever feel some visceral, split second impulse to slap someone, for some reason or other not to do with that person, disturbing and incomprehensible.

yes

nimh wrote:

I havent addressed this aspect of your posts yet, I think. Have you never in your life felt such a momentary emotion, that you can think of? No flash of similar anger that you got over at once - I dont know - say, for example, at some guy who for some reason reminded you of a bad man in your past, even though he didnt actually do anything?

honestly, no. Not one that brought me to the point of wanting to hurt someone, but then my emotions tend more towards tears than violence. Since becoming an adult, I can only think of one instance when I felt moved to striking anyone, and that person was definitely involved in the incident.

nimh wrote:

...I'd like to think that the only difference with me, regarding encountering such a feeling, for whatever reason, I mean - is that I was aware of my feeling in such detail, and honest about it. Rather than that I have some sort of unusual agressive streak.

The number of posters here who've said they've had a similar feeling even just on this topic alone, does reassure me. But perhaps we'd need someone like dlowan to shed more light on that.

And the number of posters here who've said they've had a similar feeling scares the bejesus out of me. I read through this entire thread three times before responding the first time. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was the chorus of 'me too's that shocked me. Many have spoken about similar anger and I kept hoping against hope that someone would qualify it with 'except the urge to slap someone', but no one did. I did note that no one else gave an example that included wanting to strike an innocent bystander so it remains my hope that I am correct in thinking that you were getting general rather than specific 'yeps'.

It isn't entirely fair of me to infer that I'm only concerned about the urge to strike out - however fleetingly. I am still generally concerned about the instinctive reaction towards a person that has nothing to do with that individual as a person. My first response was more directed to the visceral response to groups of people based on class, appearance, and status. I'm sure there are plenty of unresolved issues of my own that go into that concern.

<takes a step or two back>

really, JPB? I am just as surprised with your answers and observations as you seem to be with everybody else's. You never had an urge to just kick somebody annoying in the shin in a overcrowded subway which halts every five meters and you have somplace to be, especially if that somebody is either too close, or doing something that's making you want to jump out of your skin? or just an urge to thrash around ("let's MOVE already!!!")
Like nimh, i would never even in my dream act upon those urges, but i'd be dishonest if i claimed not to have them. (especially when loud chewing gums or plastic bags rustling are involved... or feeling of powerlessness.).
Shrug. I think it's absolutely common, at least among people i know firsthand.

I'm more likely to step in when I hear or see the threat of something like that in an attempt to prevent it than I am to have those feelings myself.

JPB wrote:

I'm more likely to step in when I hear or see the threat of something like that in an attempt to prevent it than I am to have those feelings myself.

(Emphasis mine.)

I think that may be the center of it. I think most of us didn't see it as any kind of an actual threat. Since nimh was pretty clear that there wasn't even the slightest chance of him actually slapping this couple or anyone else in similar circumstances, and since we know him well enough via A2K to believe that, the part that was focused on was the why of it, as he requested.

That's true, snood, but we're no closer to solving the WHY of it than before. I certainly can't help, since that situation wouldn't have angered me.

Do you ever have this? Ever have something similar? Why, do you think? How would you interpret, digress, reflect about it?