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Indignation Junkie is a term coined by David Brin in his novel "Existence". It refers to the gratification people feel when they are emotionally aroused by their own act of expressing outrage, frequently on a moral or social injustice issue. This actually causes their brains to release endorphins/dopamine, which cause a form of euphoria and further arousal. They actually get high from their own indignant rants.
"Mary spends every night arguing furiously with people on FaceBook. What cause is she so fired up about?"
"Does it matter? One thing yesterday, something else today. She really just likes arguing. She's such an indignation junkie"
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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.