How Far is Too Far?
The creditor and debtor relationship in Western society normalizing the culture of revenge that invites violence within through the legitimization of the justice system.
In Western Society, we have created what Friedrich Nietzsche labels as a creditor and debtor relationship, to where we justify enacting revenge on the debtor as a form of justice. We have built a system where we gain pleasure from causing our debtors pain and suscepting them to a world of vulnerability to violence. My question is how far in revenge is too far and why is it that we feel we are owed this pleasure in dehumanizing another individual?
There is a controlled relationship within the creditor and debtor that points back to the basic forms of purchase, sale, exchange, trade, and commerce. Nietzsche states,
“The criminal has earned his punishment because he could have acted otherwise.” Throughout the greatest part of human history, punishment was definitely not imposed because one held the evil-doer responsible for his deed, that is, not under the presupposition that only the guilty one is to be punished.
Crazy to think revenge is a natural feeling when it is socially produced. A world of creditor versus debtor, you screw me over I am going to screw you over twice as hard, is justified not only within Western society but by the one defining structures we have, our government. Nietzsche says this is done through our legal system. Through the justice system we are able to label, try, and punish the debtor and suscept them to more violence within the system while simultaneously retaining our revenge.
While writing this article and researching the topic, I gave a friend a scenario about their mother being murdered along with their entire family to interpret their response on revenge and distinguish the entire creditor and debtor relationship. They responded with, “I would want their entire family to die first so that person could watch and have them suffer as I have, with the ending being their death after some time.” When asked why they felt this act was justified they replied, “because, an eye for an eye.”
How does making someone suffer make you feel good?
Some have replied that in the highest degree to the extent the injured one exchanged what was lost. Violence, Nietzsche explained, is the opposite of compassion and is here to make sufferer (debtor) feel the counter of pleasure and to have compassion is to suffer with someone. Why do we even have this desire to make people feel bad? Is there agency in revenge? Does it matter that you cannot get an equal amount of suffering?
In September 2017, a Daytona,Florida mother, by the name of Connie Serbu, took matters into her own hands when her daughter revealed to her that when she was only six years old, a teenage boy in the neighborhood raped her on several occassions. She devised a plan to murder the teenage rapists by lurring him into the woods under a false job posting around her home. When asked about the murder, she replied that she felt no remorse. Nietzsche would describe her non-repentance as lacking conscious. He would feel that she needed to allow her suffering to occur and not become a creditor.
The creditor in almost every situation is granted satisfaction and an enjoyment of violence as repayment of pain and compensation being permitted to vent his power without a second thought on one who is powerless, the carnal delight. The creditor gets pleasure through inflicting pain from punishment and in not caring about the other person, you are reaching a higher status with the power you are stripping. Pleasure as you perceive yourself as winning, satisfaction of wining or being above the person.
At one point do you get even?
Most believe if there is not a severe punishment what is going to stop them from doing it again and it also sets an example for others to fall in line. The creditor uses its power to instill fear in the debtor and fear itself is a major driving force.
Why would you want to feel like you are more powerful than someone else?
In a patriarchial society, feeling better than yourself and becoming powerful is rewared. There is no amount of pain you can give someone as satisfaction fro debt paid, but there is an amount of power you can strip to make yourself feel better.
In July 2014, NY Daily News reported of another instance of revenge, yet this act occured instantaneous. A father comes home to find his 18-year old babysitter molesting his 11-year old son and beats him to an almost nothing of existence. This father brought the nature of violence into this creditor and debtor relationship as he felt this man owed him his revenge and was not satisfied until the pedophile was beaten enough to end up in the hospital.
The father called the police to contact an ambulance and stated that he was probably going to need one. He showed a sense of remorse and compassion as he tried to get the abuser help even after all that he saw and did to the man. He did show some guilt; however, in the end he still beat the rapist to a pulp and felt completely justified in his position. To phone the police department after what the beating he gave showed he knew the court would be on his side and legitimize his revenge.
How does this change the nature of violence?
Through the creditor and debtor relationship, violence is now invited and almost always reflected on the debtor. Violence is about power, strength and exemplifying the status you have over another. We begin to see how we accept violence, especially in institutions. If we accept violence as apart of justice, we accept it in our lives.Anyone that determines if another person is bad is probably acting on a state of resentment and that resentment is that weaker person issue and equals to it not being a real thing.
Nietzsche would argue that there is no neccessity for revenge, nor is there a basis because it is socially created and could easily be removed from thought. Why do we need to hurt someone when it is not even real? Revenge is fiction and that forgetfulness is the thing we need to do. We need to look the other way and the ultimate conclusion is that laughter is the key to life. Through laughing we can forget all the things.
