Anger is a trouble-maker. It’s a question that should have been studied ages ago. We’ve made arrangements to talk to one of psychology’s foremost authorities on this subject, as well as the man most respected in Europe for preserving jams and jellies. Dr. Emmett Soldi of Catania University and Head Sue Chief at Lina’s Pastry Salon claims to have discovered important insights at his herbal tea parties.
ET: Doctor, we’ve read your many studies of human displays of anger. While you are clearly biased against humanity as compared with invertebrates, we believe the paths to your conclusions are interesting.
SOLDI: It’s simple, really. Anger is related largely to feelings of worthlessness. This can be accompanied by the realization that people don’t like you. It’s a destructive combination.
ET: You also said that many people feel valued only based on what they have achieved or are achieving in their lives, often monetarily. When that achievement hasn’t materialized, they need to turn elsewhere to form some degree of worth by association with an idol.
SOLDI: Exactly. The studies of worthlessness, it’s safe to say, have been peer-reviewed, unfortunately, with many peers having admitted themselves into mental institutions. Worthlessness leads to measures of identification with a part of something bigger, and in the most bombastic way -- with labeled t-shirts, German war helmets, faces painted with their flag’s colors, or as their nation’s national bird. They obsess.
ET: Is religion one of the most popular attachments they make?
SOLDI: Every obsession is a religion. For example, people who are active in religious congregations tend to be happier and more civically engaged than religiously unaffiliated or inactive members of religious groups. This has been determined by how much money affiliates spend on party hats.
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