True outrage is a great cleansing experience, at least for the truly outraged. It isn’t only catharthic, it is transformative. Outrage is like sexual climax, it burns, it lights up, it shivers it does all the great and good things, hot and small. In outrage as in climax, we are all briefly golden. We are light.
But in outrage there is additionally the blissful experience of being totally justified. In sex hopefully all parties feel justified, or at least satisfied, but in outrage, only one person does or can and that person is, if you are the outraged, YOU. You are right. You are good. You are smart. And everybody loves you.
Aaah, you can feel your shoulders relax, you know that you’re going to sleep well tonight. You are breathing more deeply, more slowly, you totally deserve to treat yourself to a very large, cold drink of something that clinks, your headache is going away, no, its gone. And all because you have at last expressed in some way your (recapping from above: completely justified righteouss, you are gold you are love, everybody loves you and so forth) outrage.
No wonder it’s all so addictive.