Anger is often perceived as destructive and devious as one of the seven deadly sins. It is also an emotion that parents warned us about. Anything related to anger would be enveloped with some negative connotation. For example, it is not as often to hear that someone is a great person because they have a hot temper. Thus, there has always been a tendency to knit anger into a negative context. However, Robert Solomon, the author of True to Our Feelings, justified anger and validated this feeling in various ways, such as by referencing ancient Greek philosophers. “A man who does not get angry at the right time (in the right way, at the right person, in an appropriate situation) is a fool,” Solomon introduced an inspiring quote from Aristotle’s Ethics, which set the tone for his further elaboration on anger. (Solomon, pg.14)
Aside from the brief of Robert Solomon’s argumentation on anger as a tool to engage with the world, I am writing this blog as a gentle reflection on the Tangshan Attack in China and its reactions on many Chinese. Because the anger that this incident sparked in Chinese society is a compelling example that supports Aristotle’s words that a man should get angry at the right time, it also reflects Solomon’s argument that anger is a way of interacting with the rest of the world.
The Tangshan Attack was an outrageous, violent crime in early June, when a group of seven men and two women on four newly graduated high school women in a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, China. A woman and three of her friends were brutally beaten by a drunk middle-aged man and his fellows. They were repeatedly kicked and punched after rejecting this man’s intentional sexual harassment. A report from CNN’s journalist Nectar Gan in September 2022, “Surveillance footage of the attack — showing the woman dragged by her hair, hit with bottles and chairs and repeatedly kicked in the head.” (Gan, 2022) Then, the camera recording went viral on the internet and sparked an outcry on one of China’s primary social media–Weibo. Chinese authorities charged 28 people in response to this incident, including eight police officials who were suspected of providing “protection” to the criminals.
As this outrageous incident became a piece of breaking news that drew authority’s attention, it is undoubtedly a representation that supports Solomon’s argument that anger is a strategy. According to Solomon, in the introduction of the passage, “I suggested that emotions are or at least can be strategies.” (Solomon, p.20) This incident is good support because the public outcry drew public attention and indirectly pushed through many other investigations related to the criminals. For example, Jizhi Chen, the main perpetrator of the attack, had been under investigation several times since 2012. The Guardian reported on his past affiliation with several crimes, including “disorderly behavior, intentional injury, robbery and “gathering a mob to fight.”(The Guardian, 2022) He could always be released shortly after being arrested due to his affiliation with several local police officials, who were also under investigation because of this incident. Chen has been a ringleader of a gang that “menaced the public” for ten years and has done irrecoverable damages to many families in Tangshan. However, none of the crimes he committed in the past drew enough public attention to put him and his protection under investigation. Therefore, public outrage may be a key factor that drove the Chinese authority to look through this incident that was “protected” by local level corruption, thus enforcing appropriate punishment to the criminals. As a result, it is reasonable to deduce that anger is undoubtedly a method to engage with this world, in contrast to many assumptions that anger will always lead to adverse outcomes.
Although the Tangshan Attack is a compelling example to support that anger has a positive impact which could even push through several long-shelved criminal investigations, anger certainly has its shortcomings because of the tendency of this emotion to bring reckless behaviors. For example, along with the fact that public outrage drew authority’s attention, it also incubated numerous groundless allegations. At the time of public outcry, weblogs that belonged to private owners spread fake news asserting that the four young victims were prostitutes, and they argued that “good women” do not go out and eat at a barbecue restaurant in the early morning. The truth is that the four young women finished the college entry exam–Gaokao only a few days before this incident. Many weblogs created nonexistent facts like those excerpted above. They related them to this incident to attract clicks and followers, with a distinct negative side effect and public anger. However, as Tangshan Attack serves as evidence for the argument asserted above, anger preserves its positive impacts when it happens at the right time, in the right way, at the right person, and in an appropriate situation.

References
China sentences man who attacked women at restaurant to 24 years. (2022, September 23). the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/23/china-sentences-man-who-attacked-women-at-restaurant-to-24-years
Gan, N. (2022, September 5). China charges dozens over brutal attack on women in restaurant. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/29/china/china-tangshan-restaurant-attack-prosecution-intl-hnk/index.html

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