How to generate outrage and influence people: The definitive guide

As someone quite rightly wrote, we are a country of trigger-happy outragers .

This Tanmay Bhat-Sachin Tendulkar-Lata Mangeshkar (bet you never thought you’d hear those three names in the same sentence) saga is just the latest in a seemingly never-ending series of people losing their sh-… minds at other people for a whole host of reasons: What they eat, what they wear, what they study, what they don’t study, what they sound like, what they look like, what they smell like and so on.

It’s got to the point where even journalists — expected to be calm, balanced and objective — are getting themselves all worked up, snapping like angry crocodiles and baying for the blood of the object of their ire.

The broader point is we’re all getting angrier.

It doesn’t even matter if the source of our anger has absolutely nothing to do with us. All we want is for our wrath to travel the length and breadth of this land ( maybe even beyond ).

But here’s the best part: None of this is necessarily a bad thing. Your anger, as Zakk de la Rocha said, is a gift.

Sure, people may call you all sorts of names, perhaps even call you a termagant, but the fact is that a regular dose of outrage is fantastic, provided it’s done correctly. Most people (pay attention, keyboard-warriors) just don’t how to do it properly.

Fortunately, we’ve got just the thing for you:

Now you know how to generate outrage. But that’s only half the battle.

What will you do if you find yourself on the receiving end of some sharp, effective and well-orchestrated outrage?

Here’s an equally definitive guide to deflecting outrage and avoiding public humiliation .