What If Humanity Lost Anger and Sadness for a Year?

[Bab5space]

This is an interesting what if scenario... mainly for fiction anyway.

I will describe the changes I think would happen and you may add upon it.

2019: Every human alive retains fear, joy, love, disgust, and surprise. But they all lose the the emotions of anger and sadness. After 2020 everything will revert back to normal.

How crime is effected: Certain rates go down while others go up. Namely crimes of passion/murders by scorned lovers go waaay down. Strangely, some hate crimes continue, since often at their core such ones feel threatened and are motivated by fear mostly, not hate. As does gang violence for the same reason. Also the suicide rate drops dramatically.

Economics: There is a spike in productivity across many economic sectors as no one comes to work distracted by sadness nor anger.

How politics are effected: The USA and world politics will be different, with opposing sides playing on the public's potential fears more than anything. Less insults in the media everywhere, including the internet, since they no longer tick anyone off. Instead people start making threats and thus start getting arrested.

Death: People no longer mourn at funerals, instead it is a joyous occasion celebrating the life of the deceased.

Did I miss anything? What else would happen/change in 2019?

 

[Anachronist]

Sounds like dispassionate killing in cold blood would increase, possibly as a source of joy, because anger and sadness don't exist. The killings would be efficient and quick to eliminate the disgust.

 

[Bab5space]

Sounds like dispassionate killing in cold blood would increase, possibly as a source of joy, because anger and sadness don't exist. The killings would be efficient and quick to eliminate the disgust.

Certainly that is possible, but I doubt most people get joy out of that. I do agree with you about people being dispassionate about killing though.

Fear would likely be the main motivator for violence, and except for psychopaths, most would feel joy in battle merely because they survived instead of died.

There is one down side to not having sadness and anger though.

Sadness can make a person feel regret over poor choices, and anger can cause one to be tough with one self and be a better person in the end.
Without that what have they got to lean on? Disgust? Fear?

The irony is that they will never feel 'disgusted' with themselves, since that really means a sense of anger/sadness with one-self.

Disgust is more an aversion feeling due to not liking something, namely you wan't sonething or someone away from you. Like yesterday. Because they/it makes you feel uncomfortable.

At best I can see being proactive to avoud mistakes in the first place. But as for mistakes they have made, the only real thing that will stoo repeating the cycle developing a love for opposite behavior.
Human's can learn to love anything. Whether or not what they love is real, worthy, good, evil, or unworthy matters not to a heart that loves. A heart wants what it what it wants, but it can also be trained too.

 

[some bloke]

People would become a##holes.

If your actions cannot evoke any negative rebuttals from others except disgust, then people would do things which don't disgust people but would, previously, incite anger.

Example - a man walks up and punches an old lady in the face, in the middle of town. People would be scared, and surprised and disgusted, but if no-one is angry at the situation, then they will not punish the man. How would the lady feel? not angry or sad at having been randomly punched in the face by a stranger? simply scared, but somehow scared without sadness?

Larger scale, politics. The country-leader-of-your-choice (take a guess) declares that he is withdrawing all funding from everything else and putting it all into producing nuclear missiles for fighting hurricanes. people would feel disgusted, but without sadness or anger to motivate them, they would not react. Their only options are to be happy about it.

adoptions of rescue animals would drop significantly - a lot of people adopt because of how sad it is that he puppies were abandoned. Adverts for water-aid will just disgust people. people will become self-centred, and not have empathy to care, as they cannot be saddened by the grim images. People actually living in squalor & poverty would be disgusted by everyone around them, not sad, and I have no idea what that would entail.

Anger & sadness are great motivators. Disgust makes you look away, not act. Show someone a documentary on the effect plastics are having on the ocean, and if they cannot get angry or sad about it, they will simply dislike watching the program and change the channel.

As soon as everyone gets those feelings back, and sees what they did in the last year, you would have mass suicides. Unless project nuke-the-hurricanes went forward, in which case it would be too late for that anyway.

 

[Bab5space]

People would become a##holes.

If your actions cannot evoke any negative rebuttals from others except disgust, then people would do things which don't disgust people but would, previously, incite anger.

Example - a man walks up and punches an old lady in the face, in the middle of town. People would be scared, and surprised and disgusted, but if no-one is angry at the situation, then they will not punish the man. How would the lady feel? not angry or sad at having been randomly punched in the face by a stranger? simply scared, but somehow scared without sadness?

Larger scale, politics. The country-leader-of-your-choice (take a guess) declares that he is withdrawing all funding from everything else and putting it all into producing nuclear missiles for fighting hurricanes. people would feel disgusted, but without sadness or anger to motivate them, they would not react. Their only options are to be happy about it.

adoptions of rescue animals would drop significantly - a lot of people adopt because of how sad it is that he puppies were abandoned. Adverts for water-aid will just disgust people. people will become self-centred, and not have empathy to care, as they cannot be saddened by the grim images. People actually living in squalor & poverty would be disgusted by everyone around them, not sad, and I have no idea what that would entail.

Anger & sadness are great motivators. Disgust makes you look away, not act. Show someone a documentary on the effect plastics are having on the ocean, and if they cannot get angry or sad about it, they will simply dislike watching the program and change the channel.

As soon as everyone gets those feelings back, and sees what they did in the last year, you would have mass suicides. Unless project nuke-the-hurricanes went forward, in which case it would be too late for that anyway.

An interesting analysis. Had not conidered the reactions of the public vs the individual need for acceptance.

Positive forces in play: Any emotion can be a positive or negative force. Like Franklin from Babylon 5 said when he met himself near death, it is not what we are not yhat defines us, but what we are.

A good person without sadness or anger:

Love: Has love for people in general. Loves self to a moderate degree, not overwhelmingly selfish. Can motivate to action.

Fear: Fears danger for self or others.
Disgust: Like everyone else.
Surprise: Like others.
Joy: Like others, but colored by their love for others and a moderate love of self.

On the other hand, an evil person with these limits would be scary indeed. Acting very much like Emperor Cartagia from Babylon 5. Hilarious to watch yet remarkably dangerous.