Member-only story
Philosophical advice
If I were a Ukrainian, should I not be angry at the Russians?
Anger, Seneca says, is temporary madness. But surely if your country is invaded and your family killed, you are entitled to be angry?
D. writes: Things here in the UK and Europe are — as you are aware — getting grimmer by the day. A great many innocent people are being killed and we currently have around 4–5 million refugees moving into EU countries. The level of human misery is unimaginable.
One image, in particular, sticks in my mind; a father pulling the body of his dead child from the rubble of a building which had just been struck by a Russian missile. In this situation I think that anger — even rage — is an appropriate and perfectly healthy response.
I know that Stoics tend to down regulate human emotions and they have a particular problem with anger (especially Seneca). But in limit situations, I think righteous anger can be — and often is — an adaptive response which is also enabling. Since the conflict in Ukraine started, I have heard so many Ukrainian soldiers say that what sustains them in the fight is anger (controlled), fueled by an abiding hatred for their Russian invaders.
