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What is the purpose of revenge?

RiverDad

RiverDad

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The deed is done. What do you gain by seeking revenge? Discuss.
 
Satisfaction. It's an indulgence, nothing more.
 
How about revenge as a tool to enhance reputation. If you're known to be a person, or clan, which will never rest until justice is done, then that probably protects in the future as people steer away from tangling with you.
 
RiverDad said:
The deed is done. What do you gain by seeking revenge? Discuss.
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I think people do it to have the last word. In their mind, revenge is justice. If it can't/won't happen in the courtroom,n vengeful people aren't patient enough to wait for karma. People who use revenge to solve their problems have more problems than revenge will ever solve.
 
It is a primitive form of so-called justice, to inflict the same or greater level of pain on an enemy, the core kill or be killed. It is the 'final victory', a comeupence for the wrongful deed doen, that deed being deemed wrongful, of course, by the victor. It has been refined over the ages from beheading to crucifiction, to hanging and lethal injection. It has at times been justified by the need to remove true evil from the face of the earth, protect society; necessitating in genocide, slavery, and wholesale slaughter.

Interesting is the fact that most first world traditions carry this "eye for an eye" belief, while most Native American cultures did and do not; there is no evidence first nations even had jails and lore and spoken tradition indicates law and order was kept through no more than peer pressure.

There is a Tusing'ah phrase that translates "to hold vengeance in the heart is to consume an burning coal."...kind of a "turn the other cheek" way of thinking.

So in answer to the question? None, it serves no useful purpose than this mythical thing called "closure", the new neologism for getting even.
 
Fearandloathing said:
It is a primitive form of so-called justice, to inflict the same or greater level of pain on an enemy, the core kill or be killed. It is the 'final victory', a comeupence for the wrongful deed doen, that deed being deemed wrongful, of course, by the victor. It has been refined over the ages from beheading to crucifiction, to hanging and lethal injection. It has at times been justified by the need to remove true evil from the face of the earth, protect society; necessitating in genocide, slavery, and wholesale slaughter.

Interesting is the fact that most first world traditions carry this "eye for an eye" belief, while most Native American cultures did and do not; there is no evidence first nations even had jails and lore and spoken tradition indicates law and order was kept through no more than peer pressure.

There is a Tusing'ah phrase that translates "to hold vengeance in the heart is to consume an burning coal."...kind of a "turn the other cheek" way of thinking.

So in answer to the question? None, it serves no useful purpose than this mythical thing called "closure", the new neologism for getting even.
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"Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else, you are the one burned." ~Buddah
 
What happens in international affairs when national honor is invoked and irrational defense of national honor is implemented? What was Pearl Harbor? It was a mosquito bite of an attack that COULD have been dealt with in a more COST EFFECTIVE way. That though was not the American way. We're not cold-blooded bean counters.

What happens to nations that are cold-blooded bean counters, where revenge and honor don't play a role in international affairs? They absorb slight after slight and people don't get riled up. What happens to countries like that?
 
Ikari said:
Emotional satisfaction.
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I've always thought that people who need revenge for emotional satisfaction are lacking something in their personalities...feeling inferior...whatever.

Your boyfriend cheats on you, so you break out all his car windows. People who have a beef with someone so they puncture their tires. Why would someone do that? I just don't understand the mindset. I think they're some form of loony.
 
MaggieD said:
I've always thought that people who need revenge for emotional satisfaction are lacking something in their personalities...feeling inferior...whatever.

Your boyfriend cheats on you, so you break out all his car windows. People who have a beef with someone so they puncture their tires. Why would someone do that? I just don't understand the mindset. I think they're some form of loony.
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There's that. But there's also killing the pedophile rapist that raped your kid. That's revenge, and that's for emotional and psychological satisfaction.
 
Ikari said:
There's that. But there's also killing the pedophile rapist that raped your kid. That's revenge, and that's for emotional and psychological satisfaction.
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I understand the urge to do that. What I don't understand is the "doing". Why would a parent risk going to prison and being unavailable to their child for the rest of her little life in order to exact a revenge that the court's going to take care of anyhow?
 
MaggieD said:
I understand the urge to do that. What I don't understand is the "doing". Why would a parent risk going to prison and being unavailable to their child for the rest of her little life in order to exact a revenge that the court's going to take care of anyhow?
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Live Not A Lie.

A life that is lived has to have meaning.
 
MaggieD said:
I understand the urge to do that. What I don't understand is the "doing". Why would a parent risk going to prison and being unavailable to their child for the rest of her little life in order to exact a revenge that the court's going to take care of anyhow?
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Emotional response is not always rational.
 
MaggieD said:
What? Where's "Grasshopper" in there?
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People do need to have meaning to their life. Meaning doesn't always have to equate with being rational. Knowing that your child is dead and that the killer is alive can ruin some people, make them empty shells. They need to balance the books. They know that this will ruin their own lives but it's still something that they need to do. They can sleep peacefully after the books are balanced, no matter what is done to them or what they've given up to achieve this outcome.

Those people who smash in the car windows of their cheating ex. They've balanced the books, corrected an injustice. It doesn't matter to them that outside observers can't make sense of it, it makes sense to them.

Futile gestures are ever popular because they do bring some kind of meaning to those who engage in them.
 
RiverDad said:
The deed is done. What do you gain by seeking revenge? Discuss.
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Depends on the deed. Some stuff you just let slide while other stuff requires that appropriate justice be exacted...forcefully if necessary.
 
MaggieD said:
I think people do it to have the last word. In their mind, revenge is justice. If it can't/won't happen in the courtroom,n vengeful people aren't patient enough to wait for karma. People who use revenge to solve their problems have more problems than revenge will ever solve.
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Karma does not exist.
 
There's no general "purpose". We simply feel an urge to retaliate against those we feel have harmed me and mine. Period.

How we came to have an emotional response like that can be explained by evolution, is that what you're getting at? Caveman Ugg steals a mammoth leg from Caveman Zog. Suppose Caveman Zog reacts on an urge to punch Caveman Ugg. Caveman Ugg, and anybody else who was watching, will probably be less likely to steal Caveman Zog's mammoth legs in the future. This allows Caveman Zog to grow bigger and stronger, making him more likely to produce successful little baby Zogs to carry on his genes, which code for an urge for revenge. Or something like that.
 
It's a matter of respect. When someone insults you, you must retaliate, or else everyone will know that it is safe to insult you and the insults will never end. If the person who insulted you gives you recompense, honor is satisfied, because he has shown you respect; everyone else will regard you as someone who must be shown respect, and will be careful not to insult you.

Of course, you have to balance your honor against your wealth and keep your vengeance in proportion.
 
I saw a guy who I didn't get along with who had wronged me in the past broken down on the side of a country road.

I had at least three options.

I could drive by, hit a puddle at high speed and splash him, and laugh. Muuuhhahahah!

I could just go psycho. Pull over and slice his throat and leave him bleed to death in the ditch. And nobody would ever know about it. I could get away with murder! AAAAARRGH! Serves you right for stealing my homework in 5th grade!!!!!

Or just be a decent guy, see if he needs any help.
 
MaggieD said:
I've always thought that people who need revenge for emotional satisfaction are lacking something in their personalities...feeling inferior...whatever.

Your boyfriend cheats on you, so you break out all his car windows. People who have a beef with someone so they puncture their tires. Why would someone do that? I just don't understand the mindset. I think they're some form of loony.
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To reclaim a little piece of myself.
 
MaggieD said:
I think people do it to have the last word. In their mind, revenge is justice. If it can't/won't happen in the courtroom,n vengeful people aren't patient enough to wait for karma. People who use revenge to solve their problems have more problems than revenge will ever solve.
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Revenge IS justice. It is also a dish served very very cold. The colder the better. Too many people serve it hot which makes for a mess and the potential for being caught up in and caught by the heat of the moment great.
 
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