Degrees of emotion

I think we’re all aware that there is a wide range of the intensity of which people feel emotions. Some people seem to erupt with emotions at the drop of a hat, others are cool as a cucumber. And some people seem more prone to different types of emotions e.g. they get angry easily, or they’re particularly melancholy. I’ve long presumed this variation in emotional experience is responsible for a lot of the tension between people. “How can you not take my emotions seriously?” some weepy eyed worrywart asks of a particularly dispassionate coworker.

I’ve been reading a book entitled “The Modular Brain” by Richard Restak and he makes a similar point in regards to people with a disorder in which they can still feel emotions, but they can’t properly express them or recognize their expression in others. He says…

Milder forms of the disorder account, I am convinced, for many of the misunderstandings and grievances that arise involving people with subtle degrees of impairment, especially when they interact with others highly skilled in expressing emotions and deciphering the emotions of others. In describing people with the milder forms of this difficulty, words like “insensitive” and “obtuse” are often employed by spouses, friends and coworkers, no doubt a response to the flat tones and matter-of-fact manner that accompanies what should be highly emotional topics.

This seems to be a specific example of a larger topic: many of the arguments and disagreements that occur on a personal, institutional, and even national level are more about differences of brain circuitry then opinion. And if humankind really seeks to mitigate these disagreements, they will have to take the neurological causes into account. In short, we could end all disagreement and war, if people would just read my blog and take my ideas to heart.

8 thoughts on “Degrees of emotion

  1. John Saleeby

    Uh, I didn’t read the article but here is a headline I saw at a Music Biz web site – “Creed Saves Norwegian Child From Wild Wolves”.

    I read an article on that site about Iggy’s drummer getting killed by a Hit And Run Driver and that appears to be true so maybe Creed really has saved a Norwegian child from a fuckin’ pack of wild wolves, I dunno. Where the fuck was Creed when Iggy’s poor drummer was getting killed by a Hit And Run Driver? How many guys are in Creed? Surely enough for them to spread and protect us all, right? Ma, fuck Creed!

  2. Wil Post author

    That might be an interesting idea for a short story — there’s some band that is universally despised (as Creed is) but then the band does something so heroic that everyone is ashamed of their opinion. And then the band gets the Noble peace prize and has sex with everybody.

  3. AnonymousZ

    Use your spell check. You misspelled Noble. Obama did not, I repeat, did not receive the Noble Peace prize. And I wouldn’t mind having sex with Obama.
    AZ

  4. John Saleeby

    Yeah! Ma, fuck Obama!

    Creed just came by to check the air in my tires and make sure my turn signals are working properly. My milk was one day past the expiration date – Thanks, guys!

  5. John Saleeby

    Here Is My VOW
    Here is My PLEDGE . . .

    I will NEVER, for as long as I Live and Breath, go to Las Vegas, Nevada – NEVER!

    And it’s Sunday Morning in The Deep South so you KNOW I MEAN IT

  6. Wil Post author

    I don’t blame you, Vegas blows. The hookers all have a real attitude.

    Well, excuse me Mrs. “I don’t do anal for less than $1500 !”

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