The term Revenge Society has been rattling round in my brain for a few days now. I was doing my normal half-listening to the TV when it made it's way thru the fog of morning coffee. I don't know who said it, but I did hear a little of the context. The speaker was saying something along the lines of the Middle East, and how it lives for revenge, that revenge is a way of life, and that GW has built in the Middle East, not a Democracy but a Society of Revenge.
A look into tribal ways will quickly point out the truth of this statement. Revenge is what motivated most of the public in the events of 9-11. Revenge has allowed people to rationalize torture. In a deep almost reptilian way revenge moves society in to actions it should not take. In the converse, revenge also forms the basis of what we call Justice. It is a trap, dangerous to any who plan on revenge.
There are many old sayings about Revenge. " Revenge is a dish best served cold " Those planning Revenge, should dig two graves " and one of my favorites, " Thoses that sit quietly by the river will see the bodies of their enemy float by "
I won't go into if we should of gone to war in Iraq. We did. What did we do by doing so ? We stirred up a deeply tribal society, and in doing so we awoke tribal basics. If you think about what we know about tribes, we know they existed to take care of their own. To maintain that strength they had to avenge any wrongs done to the tribe. If the tribe was attacked either one or the many, unless wiped out, a counterattack based on revenge was sure to come. You can argue the difference between revenge and justice, but justice is a idea, and imho, revenge is cellular.
In a essay about the Death Penalty,"Thoughts on Revenge and Retribution",
J. Daryl Charles talks about these issues. I have looked at this essay while thinking about Iraq.
Whereas revenge is wild and "insatiable," not subject to limitations, retribution has both upper and lower limits, acknowledging the moral repugnance of assigning draconian punishment to petty crime as well as assigning light punishment to violent, heinous crime. Whereas vengeance has a thirst for injury and delights in bringing evil upon the offending party—the avenger will not only kill but rape, torture, plunder and burn what is left, deriving satisfaction from its victim's suffering—retribution has as its goal a greater social good and takes no pleasure in punishment. And finally, whereas the avenger will operate out of the retaliatory mode due to something done to him or to his group, retribution is impersonal and therefore demands impartiality, not subject to personal bias (for this reason Lady Justice is depicted as blindfolded).
http://pewforum.org/...
I would put forth that many in our country are guily of the first part of the bolded sentence, and have even reveled in our ruthlessness. The Religious Right while screaming for justice was actually seeking revenge. Revenge can blind a person to facts, and did so with many of the faithful real christians. What kept them from coming to theirs senses in time to prevent Iraq and the ensuing carnage ? The same thing that made so many ignore the facts. The tribal need to avenge, protect, survive, coupled with the wrong leaders. GW and the Neocons preyed upon our cellular needs and perverted the lessons we have learned over time about the differences of Revenge and Justice. They did this thru the use of the Crowd Psychology, and their religious base.
The first, and most obvious lesson to be learned is that when religion is viewed as being communal, it can be rapidly be turned into a highly destructive force. "Crowd psychology is a blind force," wisely remarked renowned Indian literary figure Rabindranath Tagore. "Like steam and other physical forces, it can be utilized for creating a tremendous amount of power. And therefore rulers of men, who out of greed and fear, are bent upon turning their peoples into machines of power, try to train this crowd psychology for their special purposes. They hold it to be their duty to foster in the popular mind universal panic, unreasoning pride in their own race, and hatred of others."
I highlighted that part because it is such a strong statement of truth. There are some universal insights about revenge we need to learn.
What are these universal insights? Revenge occurs when those who hold onto their hate, and have the ability to channel it into action, do so. Hatred and resentment prosper where there is no forgiveness. To seek protection from violent revenge, a person, family or country can try to suppress it through further violence, or work to create conditions for forgiveness. Essentially, there is no alternative to these two. The consequences of further violence are often quite certain: more violence. As Gandhi once famously remarked, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
These insights have already been demonstrated in Afghanistan since September 11. As soon as retaliatory violence in Afghanistan was initiated, bin Laden's followers immediately threatened further violence in return. The U.S. and its allies will try to crush them, but as many observers have tirelessly pointed out, a terrorist operation is extremely difficult to crush, and the violent response is an ideal recruiting drive for more terrorists. Terrorism in fact, thrives on revenge.
I found the above gems at a blog called Asian Reflection.http://www.asianreflection.com/...
We finally come to the point of what GW has done to us. Bush has created a Society based on Revenge in Iraq, or rather awoken one. He and us have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi. We have tortured them, starved them, raped their mothers and sisters, bombed homes and schools and so much more. We can expect them live for revenge. Democracy be damned, we created a monster bent on revenge, and from their point of view, totally justified. Justice if you wish. The next time a plane is run into a building, a plane is shot down, a soldier kidnapped and killed, do we wish Justice or Revenge ?
Whose justice ? I don't have answers, only questions about the future and how we, the world, will continue to react. Ghandi once warned us all about revenge.
"an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
Buddha went a bit farther, but doubt we are ready to hear this part, much less take it to heart.
"Hatred can never put an end to hatred. Love alone can."
Disclaimer : Yes I am a bleedingheart liberal with dreams of world peace. I also have no illusions it will ever happen.