Writing nearly 2,000 years ago, the Roman philosopher Seneca described anger as “fundamentally wicked” and fit only for suppression. The doctrinal texts of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam tend to take a similarly dim view of anger, which they often list among man’s principal shortcomings.
“Traditionally, anger has been looked at as negative,” says Philip Gable, PhD, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Delaware.
Gable has studied the way anger influences the brain and behavior. He says that, by and large, people report that the experience of being angry is unpleasant at least in retrospect. Of course, anger is also an emotion that fuels aggression, rage, violence, and hate. For all these reasons, most psychologists today categorize anger as a negative emotion.
A new podcast, The American Democracy Lab, launches today. Now more than ever, it’s important to be able to understand issues from a variety of perspectives. The American Democracy Lab podcast, presented by the Gephardt Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, brings together experts from different fields and backgrounds to talk about an aspect of our American democracy and where different perspectives may converge.
Alan Lambert, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, serves as host of the podcast. In the first episode, he is joined by Arts & Sciences’ Steven Fazzari, the Bert A. and Jeanette L. Lynch Distinguished Professor of Economics, and Peter Kastor, professor of history and of American culture studies.
A bagpipe ceremony commences during a change of command ceremony Saturday at Station No. 41 in Rifle. Ray Erku / Post Independent
Before an enormous American flag draped across the wall, outgoing Colorado River Fire Rescue Chief Randy Callahan took the department’s fire engine red flag with a distinct sense of decorum and handed it to newly sworn-in chief Leif Sackett.
Adorned in traditional firefighter dress uniforms in front of cohorts and family inside Station 41 in Rifle on Saturday, the two chiefs would carry out the first official change of command ceremony in CRFR history.
“The time has come for me to climb down the ladder,” Callahan said during a speech prior to Sackett being sworn in.