Anger Is Never the Answer

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/opinion/anger-is-never-the-answer.html

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To the Editor:

While Jochen Bittner (“Mr. Trump, American Wütburger,” Opinion, Oct. 26) rightly criticizes Donald J. Trump for inciting hatred and anger, I disagree with him that “in its pure form, anger is a wonderful force of change.” Anger in any form begets violence, which is wrong even in the pursuit of a righteous cause. Mahatma Gandhi tamed the anger of a nation and taught it to fight for justice with nonviolent noncooperation. And Martin Luther King Jr. fought racial discrimination not by arousing anger as Mr. Bittner seems to suggest, but by inspiring calm, peaceful civil disobedience. Today the world needs less anger, not more — not even in its “pure form.”

PADDY RANGAPPA

Singapore