EDITOR’S NOTE: RIGHTEOUS RAGE

We’re often told to remain measured—under control—as if anger is a useless human emotion serving no place in our daily lives. In Evolution and Human Behavior, Sznycer, Sell, and Dumont describe anger as “a neurocognitive adaptation designed to bargain for better treatment.” Adrenaline courses, heart rates climb, and we are in the struggle of fight, flight, or freeze. When you add in morality, ethics, and justice it’s hard to imagine how anyone is moving through the current timeline with anything but rage. The triggers come daily—too many to process individually.

There are so many reasons to be justly angry right now that it’s hard to make time for the rest of the emotional spectrum. But it’s the joy, the grief, the love that remind us why we must fight for everyone’s ability to experience the infinite continuum of human emotion. Be it seething, quiet and calculated, or outright riotous, our rage is sometimes the strongest indicator of our morality and our worth, the value we place on those things we stand for. 

At Epistemic we strive to stand for all of you—all of us. To participate in the fight against the innumerable injustices endured every minute of every day. You may notice that Kristin and I each have pieces in this issue. We do so in solidarity with contributors of this issue. Thank you for fighting with us.

Join us @EpistemicLit and @Nimblewitlit on Instagram and Bluesky.

– Melissa Rotert, Co-founder and EIC, Fiction