Skip to main content

righteous indignation 

What motivates people who dislike a popular TV show, movie, musical artist, TV or movie actor, etc. to go on the internet and voice their dislike. You'd think it would be as simple as "watch something else on TV", "don't see that movie", "don't listen to their music", "don't watch movies and TV shows that actor is in". Instead, some people have to use their dislike to feel superior to those who have completely different tastes.
Instead of changing the channel, some people keep watching a new TV show so they can express their righteous indignation before an internet community of people who do enjoy the new TV show.
righteous indignation mug front
Get the righteous indignation mug.
See more merch

Righteous Indignation Junkie

A term for what motivates a keyboard warrior (or moral grandstanding in general.)

Morality or ethics isn't the point. Genuine concern for the issue they're talking about, isn't the point. And social status/clout, doesn't quite cover their motivations either. Because this is a very specific kind of affirmation seeking.

People who are righteous indignation junkies today, are basically like a modern representation of the Salem Witch Trial crew...They've just exchanged their pitch forks for keyboards, and stake kindle for declarations of hardline"wokeness".

Just as some hivemind Salem dipshits, got a dopamine/neuroepinephrine rush, burning people at the stake back in the day (because they thought their actions were on the side of the angels)...Today's righteous indignation junkies are motivated by a similar chemical cocktail.

It's just that torture and public executions aren't a common pastime anymore, so that thirst for blood had to get a post-modern rebranding. That's what today's insincere moral outrage essentially is. Blood thirstiness channelled into a more socially acceptable package.
Have you ever come across someone who appears to constantly jump on the bandwagon of angry editorial headlines, without really knowing or caring about the topic at hand? Do all their posts have a tone of righteous indignation? Do they never talk about things that might improve a social issue (or things that are currently being done)? Does it appear like critical thinking is a foreign country in their brain? And everything they say is motivated by wanting to feel righteously indignant?

That's a righteous indignation junkie.

Righteous Indigestion 

The act of being so mad at someone else for something stupid that they've done that you feel physically ill.
Girl 1: Wow, your boyfriend cheated on you?

Girl 2: Yea, we're going to talk about it later today. I'm just so mad, I've been filled with righteous indigestion all day.
The word 'flag' as pronounced by people with thick Belfast accents. The term is a perfect encapsulation of the disproportionate and overblown reaction to the removal of the Union Jack (as in 'de fleg') from above City Hall in Belfast. Where previously it had flown for 365 days per year, it is now flown on 17 designated days of the year - in line with many other British cities.

The event caused a portion of the Protestant community ('fleggers') to make international pricks of themselves as they proceeded to wreck the fucking place, claiming it was another erosion of a 'British' identity they perceive to have been under attack since the horrifying spectre of equality reared its head in Northern Ireland.

The word 'fleg' - and indeed 'fleggers' - fittingly describes a section of humanity unconcerned with knowledge, reality or the vagaries of the English language. Like America's tea-baggers they are ruled by instinct, fear and paranoia with a side dish of rampant bigotry and startling ignorance of the world around them.
"Wat de fuck like! The taigs got de fleg took down! Let's wreck de fuckin place! No surrender!"

"De fleg has been took down! Before ye know it there'll be a united Ireland! Attack Short Strand! God Save The Queen!"
Fleg by OnionFleg August 9, 2013
Word of the Day on July 18, 2026
To take something small, that doesn't quite qualify as a theft. Probably from the Danish "skæv" or the Dutch "scheef", both of which are pronounced similarly, meaning "askew, or not quite right'. To change an item's ownership without permission, but only something small and of little worth.
"I skeefed an apple off the neighbor's tree." "I skeefed some chips outta your bag when you looked away." "Don't skeef my chair when I go to the bathroom."
Skeef by kachinaflonk July 16, 2026
Word of the Day on July 17, 2026

Hair spider

A tight, tangled knot of loose hair and lint that forms inside clothing during the clothes dryer cycle. It typically hides inside garments, causing an annoying lump or a phantom tickling sensation against the skin until it is found or falls out onto the floor during folding.
I was folding my clothes and a huge hair spider fell out onto my hand
Hair spider by Kmorsels July 15, 2026
Word of the Day on July 16, 2026
n. A screenshot fabricated by a company to misrepresent the graphics of a game; a combination of the words bullshit and screenshot.

Originated from Penny Arcade, a popular gaming webcomic.
-Have you seen Madden 2006 for the Xbox 360? The graphics are gonna be awesome!
-Dude, the Madden 2006 images they showed at E3 were bullshots. It doesn't look nearly as good as they said.
bullshot by Worker Unit #503,298,545 September 26, 2005
Word of the Day on July 15, 2026