“You can also see splitting used by the extremely angry environmentalist who I described in the last chapter, the hostile animal rights activist who fights to protect innocent creatures or the environment with intense hatred, directed at ruthless corporate polluters or evil laboratory scientists. They may feel and often are justified in their anger; but when splitting is excessive, their worldview becomes simplistic: cartoon-like bad guys versus the pure and innocent victim. They have split off their aggressive feelings and chosen an outlet they find more acceptable, but the price they pay is a lack of genuine intimacy in their friendships, as well as in their family and romantic relationships. Sudden, unexpected surges of powerful emotion, especially when it’s hard to explain the intensity of those feelings in the moment, often indicate the breakdown of splitting as a defense mechanism.”