It appears that blogging is therapy... for the blogger as well as the commenters.
Blogging, at least in my case, is akin to a public health service. It helps keep some people sane. Rather than kick the dog, or slap the girlfriend/boyfriend, they click on a JA blog and unleash their inner rage in cyberspace. Or, if they need to check just how high their blood pressure can rise without causing a health problem, they visit my blog and let the rising anger test the limits of their blood pressure. Of course, it doesn’t work for everyone. Christine, for example, had this to say a few weeks back: “I must be a masochist - reading even the little I do of your work makes me feel slightly ill.”
Causing the odd illness aside, mostly I detect a healthy need to vent anger among so many who comment. Like a good cry, a decent vent of emotion can leave you feeling much better. Even the masochist Christine surely felt a little better.