Not only are we one of the most depressed and unhealthy nations, Scotland, and Britain as a whole, is fast realising we are an angry nation and showing no signs of calming down. Unbeknownst to many is that anger and loss of temper are contributing factors in inducing heart attacks in young men especially.

 

They are considered to be parallel causal factors in cardiac arrest along with stress and anxiety; more often than not a bubbling and unstable cocktail of all three are present in the mind and blood of those affected.

 

We lead busy lives and let us crudely state that as consumers we have a tendency to want what we want to the nth degree. This is not necessarily a bad thing in isolated events such as dining, plumbing or sex. We have been conditioned by mediums that when we dine out we aren’t afraid to heed Gillian McKeith’s advice and order it dairy, gluten and carb free with a side of vegetables.

 

We watch and tut in agreement with the smug builder as his fellow tradesman of ill repute uses lightweight metal when cast iron one should be used. Sex and the City, the internet and glossy magazines (top shelf or lower) show that consumer society counts for any fetish; where bedroom acts are no more an exception to the dogma. We are as materialistic as big brother America and yet in an age of consumer power Karl Marx would be proud of, why do we sway more towards anger than generations previous?

 

They who didn’t have the luxury of so much choice, who never experienced the communications highway, access to luxury facilities on credit and who never pondered over eastern, ethnic and continental culture. A recent YouGov survey of 2,000 people found 12% of people say they have issues with their anger. One in four say they worry about the levels of anger they sometimes experience and 64% think people in general are getting angrier. In March The Mental Health Foundation published a report which suggested one-third of people claimed to have a friend or relative who experienced difficulty in containing their anger.

 

The Mental Health Foundation’s Boiling Point report states that ‘chronic and intense anger has been linked with heart disease, cancer, stroke, colds and flu as well as depression, self-harm and substance misuse... Anger is more likely to have a negative effect on relationships than any other emotion.’ In an age of choice and anger we must draw some link between divorce rates spiralling out of control and the related phenomena therein. One casts a bleak eye at the news and spies the rub.

 

Quickly rounded compartmentalised slogans and headlines, concepts new to the ear which only advanced consumerism can explain. We have road-rage, airrage, attacks on employees and our borrowing has hit staggering highs. First time buyers have been priced out of the market with those lucky enough to own a house now seeing their bricks and mortar tumble in value. Our musthaveitnow philosophy explains road rage attacks unfolding as a result of impatient overtaking and cheeky manoeuvres in stealing parking spaces.

 

Waiters and waitresses endeavour to satisfy customers every need at zero minutes notice and doctors and nurses operate in conditions of fear or guard as patients refuse to wait for observation. We have a dichotomy afoot. We have set ourselves conditions whereby we have a colossal range of options, we choose what we want and want it immediately. This philosophy breeds despair for those who cannot command such choice and impatience for those who can but are made to wait. A selfish blueprint for life in Scotland, and we fail to remember that if someone nabs our parking space, they are in a rush too.

 

If someone is seen before us in a hospital they are first in the supply and demand queue ethos, it seems we have a confused logic between the greater good for all and that for self. One explanation is that we dislike outsiders disrupting our plans and interrupting our universe. We have the ability to choose our friends in whatever country we wish thanks to the Facebook revolution. We feel we are personally the epicentre of the world with our mobile phone granting access to whichever friend we want, enforcing our self importance.

 

Ipods allow music to retain our individualism and serve to ignore hitherto notions of community spirit or chatting with a stranger when walking in the street or taking transport to work. Those who are able to subscribe to the philosophy of self and choice are reminded by little things in the context of the day. When this little world of ours is penetrated by a service letting us down, by someone we don’t know (and subsequently don’t trust let’s be honest) infiltrating our parameters we get scared and we get angry.

 

Let’s all try counting to ten, otherwise we run the risk of getting angrier, greedier and more impatient. Other people aren’t so bad.

 

Ally Millar