The Desire for Revenge is Harmful

"A tyrant... is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader." -- Plato - "The Republic" (c. 380 B.C.)

Revenge is part of one of the seven deadly sins, wrath. It affects our reasoning. We will kill for revenge, even if we only believe. We will seek satisfaction against any innocent member of a group who we believe someone from that group has harmed us.

It a tribe is wronged it is easy for the tribal chief to accuse another tribe he does not like of the wrongdoing. This false accusation will enrage his own tribe and raise their wrath. His tribe will be willing to go to war to seek revenge, even if it means the killing and torture of innocent members of a distant tribe.

After the 9/11 highjackers died in their own crime, Americans were not satisfied. They wanted revenge, even if it meant killing innocent women and children.

We tend to hate all members of a race if one member from that race has harmed us. If a white person has wronged a black person, the black person tends to want revenge against all white people.

If a Jew harms a Muslim, the Muslim tends to want revenge against all Jews.

Some men become serial killers and kill innocent women simply because they perceive they were harmed by one woman.

A woman who is raped by a black man may identify an innocent black man as the rapist just so she can get revenge. She cares only that a black man is punished.

I suspect if the world was all one race, religion, gender and tribe, the desire for revenge would still exist in the human psychic.

The desire for revenge is harmful.

Bilbo Baggins