The Personal is Political. The Political is Personal.

 
Is vengeance sometimes a form of mourning?

Compare and contrast:

MSM in aftermaths of deaths of:

JPII vs. T. Schiavo

RW Reagan vs. inhabitants of WTC

Why do we mourn, in general?
Why do we avenge, in general?

Why do we do one or the other, under certain circumstances?

Can we ever do both simultaneously?

Can we do one while thinking we're doing the other?

Do we ever do one when we ought to be doing the other?

Can the latter be a manifestation of the former?



Can the latter sometimes be the only way we know how to do the former?
If so, under what circumstances? What kind of losses put us there?

What goals do each seek to achieve?
Are not at least some of their respective goals the same? Different means to the same end?

Can a society develop such that, over time, after some kinds of grievous loss, it learns to view the immediate quest for targets of retribution as a normative practice? Become accepted as standard?

Can a society develop formal rituals to make vengeance a standard part of the mourning process? To make retribution against someone, somewhere, some way, something that citizens should feel honored to be a part of, even duty-bound to participate in?

[ ("Don't mourn, organize!" - "organize")+ ("Don't get mad, get even." - "Don't get mad,") = ???
(you do the math)]

What would a society like that look like?

[The above embarrassingly amateurish pseudo-questions were inspired by reading a review of this new book by Judith Butler.]

posted by TiR at 7:29 PM