“I’m more likely to throw insults than axes”

Deirdre Macken on the current trend towards anger.

People are so much angrier these days, I whinged to a friend. I was thinking of the bile on social media, the outrage genre in main media, the road rage, flashing impatience of city drivers and TV shows that build their ratings on our base instincts for disgust, snobbery or revenge.

I was thinking anger of the intellect until a friend commented that an axe throwing venue had just opened down the road. Axe throwing, I said, unwilling to believe that OH&S rules, councils and police would allow people to walk off the street and throw axes around.

When I explored Google, I discovered these places are everywhere and the names have a verisimilitude that you have to admire – Maniax and Kiss my Axe are the biggest – and they promise experiences that “will bring you closer to being one with old Norse Gods”. Viking-themed bars help set the mood.

I’m more likely to throw insults than axes so I asked a young person.

“Oh yeah, they’re popular for corporate days but you have to be careful not to shout out your boss’s name when you throw,” he said. “Lots go there for first dates, too.”

I would have thought throwing weapons on a first date would be more of a red flag than a ­romantic gesture. But, hey I guess it’s fair warning. These centres are often promoted as a way to shake off the tensions but they’re wrong because psychologists warn that rage sports are not a healthy option for dissipating anger.

Rage sports, you say? Indeed, Viking dens aren’t the only place for letting off steam. There are rage rooms but you might know them as smash rooms or wreck rooms (and if you do know them as that I hope I don’t know you).

These are rooms that you enter with a baseball bat and crowbar and proceed to smash every bit of crockery, appliance or furniture that the operator has placed there for your ­demolition.

These, too, are popping up everywhere although we don’t yet have paint splatter rooms or scream rooms that are popular overseas. You can, of course, scream in the rage room so why pay twice?

For those without the money for a $99 family pass to raging, there is something called Dammit Dolls, which are little stuffed dolls that you smash around until the stuffing falls out. And I sincerely hope you don’t have children.

As I was saying, psychologists don’t like this trend even though the purveyors of rage say it’s just like primal scream therapy or scream meditation and will get you in touch with the way barbarians used to operate before we had something called civilisation.

They say that the act of venting your anger has more serious consequences than a smashed printer in a warehouse room (although I must admit smashing printers is a regular fantasy of mine).

Indeed they say you are conditioning yourself to become aggressive next time you feel anxious or angry.

It’s like gym work for DV.

I can sympathise with young men living in high rise boxes trying to find a way back to Viking masculinity and I’m cautioning myself about casting judgement on them because they express anger in a different way.

I can wield a keyboard to vent anger, why can’t they use an axe? I can employ a lexicon of eviscerating words to express displeasure, why can’t they smash crockery? I have a platform, they have rooms to hire. Some do it in cars, others do it in scream rooms. It’s all the same. We’re pretty angry these days.

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