Why do people rage about stuff that has no effect on them?

[Bertylicious]

I guess it's about truth innit? Like some dickhead once made a point or a study or something about how people can be told a statement which is not true and unsupported by evidence but which conforms to their point of view, then be provided with a different statement that is supported by evidence but which doesn't support their point of view and they start rabidly defending the former statement.

In the majority of cases anyway. Some people are all philosophical doubt and go on about how you can't be certain about anything but they probably have depression or something and aren't real people.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

Sometimes it feels like there is a competition, online, or in the media as to who can feign to be the most outraged.

 

[MetalMagpie]

But what I don't comprehend is how much effort people go into hating these things that aren't trying to appeal to them in the first place.

There's a sense of "togetherness" when you can have passionate conversations with other human beings about things you agree on. And that's the case whether you're talking about something you all love or something you all hate. (In fact, "raging" can give you more things to talk about than lauding something does.)

Or a larger scale, such discussions contribute to the feeling of being part of a community. The "us and them" mentality is a deeply rooted one. Think how much enjoyment people get out of cheering on their sports team and jeering the opposition. As is the case in warfare, the "us" (or community) part is easier to define when there's a "them" to compare to. So criticising other communities is an effective way make your own community feel more secure. ("Yankees are gonna beat Red Sox this year 'cos Yankees are the best and Red Sox suck!")

Basically: People like belonging to communities. People like talking to each other about views that unite their community. And those views can be dislikes as well as likes.