long term recovering addict here and yeah i’ve been trying to work on the “anger” stuff in this last year. you’re right. in the moment it feels good. and it’s very easy to replicate that dopamine hit though getting righteous about stuff — just go on HN and find something about AI (that’s for me anyway - “they’re wrong, must fix the wrong!”).

i guess we are kinda hardwired as humans to react to perceived danger/threats. warm and fuzzy nice feelings seem harder to cultivate and take a lot of persistent effort. so it’s much easier to fall into this anger/hatewatching cycle than the other more compassionate/reasonable/warm and fuzzy side.

dunno, most of this comment is probably pop psych bs, but it feels right for my experience so i dunno.

fwiw, i hope your friends finds their way to something a little more peaceful one day.