君子有怒 發(fā)之有道

We have lost the art of the unsent angry letter, saysa recent New York Times column.

“寫一封不會寄出的‘憤怒信’已經(jīng)成為了一項失傳的藝術(shù)。”《紐約時報》最近的專欄文章如是寫到。

The writer, Maria Konnikova, says many famouspeople had the habit of writing letters expressingtheir frustrations toward their receivers and thendestroying the missives. Whenever former USPresident Abraham Lincoln felt the urge to tellsomeone off, he would compose what he called a“hot letter”. He would vent all of his anger into anote, put it aside until his emotions cooled down, and then he would write on the letter: “Neversent. Never signed.”

該文章的作者瑪麗亞•科尼科娃寫到：很多名人在憤怒時都會給惹怒他的人寫信表達憤怒，然后再撕掉這封信。曾經(jīng)的美國總統(tǒng)亞伯拉罕•林肯就是其中之一，他每次想要責罵別人時就會寫一封他所謂的 “怒火之信”，把所有的憤怒都寫進信中，然后將其放在一邊直到自己平靜下來，再在信上寫上“永不署名、永不寄出”。

Konnikova says the unsent angry letter used to be a tradition among public figures who neededto think twice about their choice of words. Former US president Harry S. Truman, former UKPrime Minister Winston Churchill and American author Mark Twain all wrote unsent angry letters.

科尼科娃說，作為名人間的一項傳統(tǒng)，永不寄出的憤怒信曾讓他們?nèi)甲约旱那苍~造句。同樣出任過美國總統(tǒng)的哈里•杜魯門、曾經(jīng)的英國首相溫斯頓•丘吉爾以及美國作家馬克•吐溫都曾寫過這樣的憤怒信。

There are two benefits of unsent letter, says Konnikova: “It serves as a type of emotionalcatharsis, a way to let it all out without the repercussions of true engagement. And it acts asa strategic catharsis, an exercise in saying what you really think.”

科尼科娃認為這種做法有兩方面好處，一是“作為感性宣泄感情的方式，在不會產(chǎn)生實際影響的情況下把感情全部發(fā)泄出來。”二是“作為感情宣泄的訓(xùn)練，讓你能表達出自己的真實想法。”

Place to vent

宣泄之道

In the social media age, we have more channels to express immediate displeasure than everbefore. Venting our negative feelings is easy. But it also means we forego our chance to thinktwice and act differently.

在這個社交媒體流行的年代，我們有了更多即刻發(fā)泄不滿的途徑。宣泄負面情緒變得更容易。但是，這也意味著我們正在放棄三思而后行的選項。

When Lincoln wanted to write his “hot letter”, he had to find a pen and a piece of paper. Thatprocess alone provided an opportunity to curb impulse, and time to determine if his angershould be voiced or be kept quiet. Now we need only click a button to send our complaints andhurtful words on their way. In the heat of the moment, says Konnikova: “We find the linebetween an appropriate response and one that needs a cooling-off period blurring.” We havelost a buffer zone to determine what needs to be said and what needs to only to be felt. It’sespecially true when we see similarly angry commentary coming from others, says Konnikova.Our own anger begins to feel more socially appropriate and justified.

林肯想要寫“怒火之信”時，尋找紙筆的過程能讓他冷靜下來，讓他有時間決定到底是要為自己的憤怒發(fā)聲，還是要將憤怒留在心底。而現(xiàn)在，我們只需點一下鼠標，自己的牢騷之語、傷人之言就能迅速發(fā)送出去?？颇峥仆拚f，現(xiàn)在的人在怒發(fā)沖冠時，“不再需要冷靜期就能做出所謂恰當?shù)幕貞?yīng)”。(現(xiàn)代社交媒體讓)我們失去了緩沖，沒有時間三思哪些話應(yīng)該說，哪些情緒需要宣泄。這一點也尤其適用于我們看到別人同樣怒氣沖沖的評論之時。科尼科娃認為，我們因此更會覺得我們的憤怒符合社會規(guī)范的天經(jīng)地義的。

Perhaps that’s why we see so much anger and hatred online, so many anonymous, bittercomments, so many imprudent tweets and messy posts, says Konnikova. Because creatingthem is so easy, you feel it less a satisfying experience to vent out your feelings, so you feelthe need to do it more often. When your emotions never quite cool, they keep coming out inother ways.

在科尼科娃看來，這也許就是為什么現(xiàn)在網(wǎng)上出現(xiàn)了如此多憤恨之言、匿名的尖酸之語、粗魯?shù)耐铺貭顟B(tài)、以及滿是臟話的回復(fù)。因為發(fā)布這一切太過容易，甚至讓你覺得發(fā)一條已經(jīng)不能滿足自己宣泄的欲望，需要發(fā)更多來才能痛快。只要你的情緒尚未平靜，你就會另尋他法將其宣泄。