When someone can convince you, through their words and actions and through the words and actions of others who they have manipulated or influenced, that you had something which belonged to you, but it was unfairly taken away by others who did not deserve to have it, it will anger you. Sometimes, depending on the length and power of the assault upon people’s sensibilities, and the playing on their raw emotions, the anger can be considerable.
Even if the thing that you thought you had, which was unrighteously taken from you by those who did not deserve to have it…never even really existed….you can be convinced it did, and that it was the most important thing you ever owned.
People can be convinced to fight and die for this figment of their imagination. They can be convinced to hate and despise those who are different from them because of this fictional ideal. Then they will stand back and really think, and will be unable to remember what it was they were convinced they lost.
They’ll still be angry though.
Writing for Sanity's Sake 