4 ms·

My tenuous hypothesis is that people think sharing news of an injustice will increase the likelihood that it will be redressed.

• pg 13y ago
  That's probably a big part of it. But I believe people also sometimes enjoy the feeling of being indignant.
  • tomjen3 13y ago
    That is almost certainly true, but I doubt that alone would explain it, as people also love to look at cute pictures of animals, list of facts, etc. So it would seem to me that the more interesting question is why would they like being indignant so much? Does it foster some group cohesion or does it trigger our flight/fight response so that people get a dopamin rush?
  • alexqgb 13y ago
    Meaning that the derivation of pleasure from indignation is finely honed social trait. We actually like to police ourselves. So ironically, the "righteous individual against nefarious powers and / or the establishment" turns out to be a mechanism for preserving greater social cohesion.