Denver post columnist Tynan Fries, writing in her piece last Sunday ('Why A Rage Room Is The Perfect Way To Take Out Your Pandemic Stress', p. 1E) may have inadvertently uncovered the perfect vehicle for Rage-aholic Right wingers to discharge their pent up anger at leaders and the Covid pandemic restrictions. So instead of tying up whole cities (like Ottawa, Canada) with illegal economic and social terror, raising havoc, they can get it all out in a Rage room: smashing plates, pulverizing TVs and stereos, and annihilating cups...you name it.
In Ms. Fries case (don't know if she's a rightie nut or just an over-stressed writer), she proudly proclaimed:
"I'm holding a metal baseball bat. And my eyes are set on destroying a coffee-maker. As I smash it into tiny pieces, it becomes the embodiment of all the cups of coffee I drank alone this year instead of with my coworkers or friends.
I then shatter a
serving platter on the ground. That one’s for all the dishes I washed while
staying home to do my part. I took a crowbar to a typewriter because this job
is hard, especially while working from home. And a sledgehammer for the stereo
that reminds me of my loud neighbors.
After 40 minutes of smashing,
breaking, beating and screaming at SMASH*IT
Breakroom, I have a smile on my face.
This is the kind of therapy I needed as we approach year three of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept is simple. Pay money to break a bunch of stuff that no one wants anymore. The team at SMASH*IT will arm you with safety gear, bats, crowbars, giant wrenches and more. Then they’ll set you loose in a room with a brunch of glass, ceramic and appliances ."
"Only in America!", as Janice testily put it when I showed her the article. Afterwards adding "But hey, if it gets them focused on smashing stuff instead of beating up airline attendants, defecating in the Capitol building, smashing D.C. cops' heads or taking over cities, it's a good thing!"
I agree, and hell, there are even "package deals" as Ms. Fries notes, though you may have to pay up to a thousand bucks for 20 minutes of mayhem. Plus, your friends outside can watch you via video and cheer you on. I can imagine all the MAGA cap wearing goobers now outside that place in Denver.
Tynan also has suggestions for would-be smashers:
Level up: If you’re visiting for a specific reason, let the employees know. They
may provide a specific piece that will resonate with your group. (When I went
with a bunch of journalists, they gave us that typewriter to annihilate.)
Pro tip: Stretch beforehand. You may be ready to let out that rage, but
your back is not.
Clearly the urge to batter can also come on suddenly. Fries notes one woman of 33 who: "on a recent bike ride, her thoughts began to wander to the state of the world. She found herself overcome unexpectedly with a rage so forceful, she burst into tears. “
Adding, in the woman's own words:
"It almost felt like I was storing rage in my body, and the pedaling awakened it and let it out,” So on to the nearest Rage room she went.
Evidently this kind of activity, as bizarre as it might appear to a Brit or West Indian, is getting commonplace. Cody Mitts, a licensed counselor cited in the Post piece - who offers anger management
therapy in Denver- said the events of the past couple of years — political turmoil,
an amplified spotlight on
racism, a still-raging pandemic, financial distress, climate grief —
have ensured the group therapy sessions at Ipseity Counseling Clinic have remained full. He told Fries:
“A lot more people are seeking out support of
their anger. We’ve stayed busier in the last couple years with
everything going on in the world. A lot of people are looking for healthy ways
to express their anger right now.”
But what's behind all this rage that needs to be discharged? According to one guru of rage Fries interviewed, who operates the Righteous Rage Institute , in his own words:
“We all experience frustration and rage. What really is at the root of that rage… is that there are
systems that are failing people and that is why many people have articulated
what we’ve gone through in the last two years as a dual pandemic. The virus but
then the weaknesses in our systems the virus exposed — the social system,
housing, justice system, financial systems. People have been a collateral
damage to the failing of those systems. …"
The question avoided here is where did the weakness in so many people, so many citizens come from? Why isn't our current crop of citizens more resilient and fearless like the American generation during World War II - when equally severe sacrifices had to be made for the good of the nation? The answer by author William Davies ('Nervous States: Democracy And The Decline Of Reason') is that too many Americans today - lacking the power of reason and critical thinking - have become hostage to too many external, manipulating messages.
These messages have emanated from both a 24/7 overloaded mainstream media and social media platforms with algorithms that encourage manipulation. Both have distorted objective truths as well as historical facts leading to a mirrored distortion of perceptions in millions. Because the perceptions and the reality cannot be reconciled then rage is the result - as an emotional reaction to one's inability to control external reality. (Because one is falsely told by the messagers s/he can control reality, i.e. by ignoring vaccine advice from experts, by shouting down medical people at meetings, by blocking highways with trucks to bring a government to heel - if it doesn't meet your demands.)
If this theory is true then it means rage rooms will be of minimal benefit, other than for a brief palliative effect. Also, the basis is wrong, at least according to one take by Psychology Today contributor Kevin Bennett ('Rage Rooms Not A Good Idea') who wrote:
Rage rooms offer a place to go for people who are feeling the impulse to become physically violent, but they do not want the mess that comes with attacking others. Is this a good prescription for chronic ragers? Unfortunately, many people still subscribe to the “aggression as a pressure cooker” model of human behavior. According to this logic, if you don’t let off some steam or release your aggression in a timely manner, it will manifest itself in dangerous, weird, and inappropriate ways. Do not hold it in for too long or you will eventually go berserk and lose all control. Hence, the rage room.
But as Bennett goes on to point out when you spend this time in a rage room pulverizing an inanimate object - whether TV, coffee -maker or computer - you automatically condition yourself to "quickly become aggressive the next time your anxiety levels rise." Thus, instead of releasing an escape valve on your anger you are really rewarding your distress with an instant pleasure emanating from smashing a computer with a metal baseball bat. As Janice would put it, you are merely letting your inner spoiled brat take over, your regressive Id.
Still, she agrees rage rooms might at least be a temporary (if flawed) answer, for a raging right wing nut who is all in with Trump's Big Lie and who has eyes glued to FOX 24/7. What might be better? "Having a frontal lobotomy or at least electro-convulsive therapy three times weekly!"
But maybe not even that, if one can at least bring himself to go 'cold turkey' on Trumpie social media and daily exposure to FOX News. Remove the sources of manipulation of reality and remove the sources of rage.
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by Jason Sattler | February 11, 2022 - 9:11am | permalink
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