Revenge

[Jaymes]

I'm hesitant to say that revenge is never justifiable. I'm sure there's some situation where it would be, I just can't think of it.

In a best case scenario, people would realize they'd done wrong and learn from their mistakes without people feeling the need to exact revenge. That's rarely the case, though.

 

[!Fluffy!]

Oh, I have to strongly disagree. I much prefer a calculated and carefully exacted personal revenge...think Count of Monte Cristo.

Ohhh, that is a classic. I was thinking more along the lines of Les Miserables. And then there was Office Space...

 

[Ðanisty]

Revenge is never justifiable because it is basically taking the law into your own hands and meting out presumed justice. We are flawed and passionate and sometimes act irrational in the heat of anger or hate; although being an executioner may satisfy someone for the moment...

Who said anything about execution?

 

[Sunstone]

Hey , don't shoot me , I'm only an ogre . Just pointing out that while most say that revenge is wrong , our soceity and laws are based upon the concept , for the most part .

Now as for being " justifiable ". Merriam-Webster defines " justifiable " as " capable of being justified ". { and defines justify as " being showned to be just , right or reasonable ; shown to have sufficient legal reason }.

Now , considering our laws , I would have to assume that revenge is justifiable . But please , don't stone me for that assumption .

When you say our laws are based on revenge, you might have in mind criminal law. I'm not sure about that, but I am sure that two of the biggest areas of the law, contract law and tort law, are not based on revenge. The law does not recognize a right to sue someone to exact revenge, for instance, but only to remedy a wrong. An operating principle of tort law is to restore, as much as possible, the situation as it was before the wrong took place. But there is no principle of exacting revenge for a wrong. Since contracts and torts make up about 90% of all legal cases, it is problematic to say that the law is based on revenge.

 

[coberst]

Reveng works against civilization.

 

[Willamena]

I'm hesitant to say that revenge is never justifiable. I'm sure there's some situation where it would be, I just can't think of it.

In a best case scenario, people would realize they'd done wrong and learn from their mistakes without people feeling the need to exact revenge. That's rarely the case, though.

That's the thing: feeling a need. That's what makes revenge always unjustifiable, it fulfills a personal need to do malicious harm to another person.

 

[ladyhawke]

i think it depends on the nature of the revenge,whilr i would never advocate stuff like vigalantism or anything like that..i personally have dealt out my own style of revenge on an ex of mine...

When i was in my 20s my relationship broke up and i had to move out of the flat we shared,so on the wkend i was to move he had gone away, so i packed all my stuff and then procceeded to scatter mustard and cress seeds on the carpets gave it a liberal dose of water turned the heating up and left....can you imagine what he walked into...a carpet of living salad.....hey guys before you all condemn me for such a bad thing i had moved 200 miles given up my home and my job for someone i'd been with for 5yrs..he had it coming,and it still makes me smile to think of it.

 

[Smoke]

Oh, I have to strongly disagree. I much prefer a calculated and carefully exacted personal revenge...think Count of Monte Cristo.

That would be the most satisfying kind, but the count didn't, in the end, find it satisfying at all.

 

[kateyes]

First I have to say I think LadyHawke's vengance is clever.

I think revenge is a double edged sword. I think many people think of vengance because the person really does deserve some punishment but the question becomes is it my right to make that decision. I was taught from an early age to try not to make judgements on other people, and to try to treat everyone as equals. So is it my right to decide what another person deserves? If I say this person should get what they deserve or a taste of thier own medicine--I am acting as judge and jury--in essence I am carrying out a sentence that I don't have the right to carry out. Even if it is a relatively minor thing--any action I take in retaliation is vigilanteism. It is all a matter of scale-an eye for an eye--a prank for a prank--a slight for a slight. Is there really a diffence between a death for a death or a slight for a slight-not in my mind.

If you believe in karma (I do) and its principles of cause and effect--the offender will eventually get what they deserve. Logically this means I don't need to take any action, and indeed if I did--would I then not be deserving of bad karma? Maybe the original action was something I deserved due to previous bad behavior on my part. That could all become a rather vicious never ending circle. Better to let it go.


Having said all that I recognize human nature--and I know how hard it is "to turn the other cheek"--but in the long run doesn't it make you the better person--isn't there some satisfaction in knowing what you could have done and didn't--yes almost a holier than thou type feeling but in a positive way.

I said revenge is never justified in the poll.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

But how could we possibly know this up front?

Putting thought into it, and waiting until just the right time.

 

[PureX]

... If it will not cuase more vengance seeking, as in the target is humiliated, beaten, embarassed, etc., to want to try anything else, then it is justifiable.

But how could we possibly know this up front?

Putting thought into it, and waiting until just the right time.

I don't see how "putting thought into it, and waiting until just the right time" could tell us whether or not someone will be humiliated, embarrassed, and beaten enough to not want to retaliate. I don't see how anyone could possibly know what it would take to reach this point in another human being. In fact, I don't think even THEY would know until that point had been reached. And I suspect whatever point that is, it would require massive over-kill compared to the slight that you're trying to avenge, don't you think?