Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (12:00 p.m.) The Burn Journal | Page 19

and determined. The artist clearly meant to highlight the parallels of the two time periods in regards to
the continuing struggle against discrimination. Bringing to the public’s attention the situation of race
relations in the United States and portraying the message that there is still a need for progress in order to
further eradicate inequality.
In terms of depicting the emotion of anger, this photo illustration clearly does so. The signs dis-
playing “Black Lives Matter” illustrate the outrage directed at the wrongdoings that occurred. Other
signs, such as those reading “I Can’t Breathe”, referring to the brutal take down that resulted in the death
of Eric Gardner as he told police officers “I can’t breathe”, and “I Might Be Next”, clarify that their ac-
tion is in response to the threats of police brutality and violent injustice. It was this very anger that incit-
ed people to take action in response to these wrongdoings in the form of protest, and additionally riots,
in the cities of Baltimore and Ferguson.
Offenses such as discrimination can easily be seen as sources of frustration that trigger the emo-
tion of anger. Philosopher Santideva stated “If indeed there is a remedy, then what’s the point of frustra-
tion? And if there is no remedy, then what’s the point of frustration?” (Santideva). More often than not,
individuals may not know if there is a remedy to rectify a situation that troubles them. This “not-
knowing” may cause some frustration in itself. It could be proposed however, that the majority of frus-
tration stems from a lack of personal control over a situation and that the emotion of anger occurs as mo-
tivation of sorts to regain control. After all, experiencing a loss of control in an aspect of one’s personal
life can be perceived as threatening as having a sense of control is imperative to feeling safe and secure
in your environment. If there is no remedy to a threat or frustration, then a person has lost their ability to
regain control and therefore, their frustration and eventual anger is warranted. On the other end, if there
does exist a remedy, then it may be that it is not being enacted soon enough and so one may be angry
that they are experiencing some feeling of vulnerability in their temporary lack of control. In applying
this concept to the image and the issue in society that it represents, one can observe how the image sug-
gests frustration originating from the fact that the struggle against discrimination has been so long on
going, signified by the merging of the two time periods in the image. Furthermore, the modern signs of
“I Might Be Next” and “Ferguson is Everywhere” depict their fear at the lack of control they are experi-
encing due to the inequality of the justice system. The article in the Washington Post, “Don’t criticize
Black Lives Matter for provoking violence. The civil rights movement did, too”, in which this image
appeared, discusses the degree to which repeating demonstrations of anger and violence have been nec-
essary in gaining attention to reform injustice and discrimination.
In today’s society, as it has in the past, the role of anger is one of motivation. Often times, this
emotion is given a negative connotation. However, there are a variety of ways in which anger provokes
action in a positive way. It can push athletes to strive for greatness and inspire students to work harder.
And on a large enough scale, it can and has provoked social change. Anger involves passion. It arouses a
drive within people to take action and energizes them. The intensity in which it can overtake people
sometimes makes it easy to be swept up in the fray. And at times it can be misdirected and can even be-
come dangerous. It’s important that we as a society, recognize this, and aim to use this emotion con-
structively to enact positive changes in the world around us.
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