Quote taken from the Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict under the entry of Nonviolence: Theory and Practice - How Nonviolence Works: The Theory
"Psychologist Leroy Pelton claims that the idea of self-suffering ‘melting the heart’ of an opponent is a gross oversimplification and that it may even elicit negative reactions toward the victim. He points out that the psychological literature strongly suggests that we have an inbuilt desire to believe that good things happen to good people and serious suffering tends to befall bad people, and therefore we may even dislike, rather than empathize with, those who suffer. In other words, in many cases where moral jiu-jitsu is supposed to operate, it simply does not."
Any comments?
this is a test post
ReplyDeleteDoug here:
ReplyDeleteLeroy Felton's premise is not a new concept. About 30 years ago or more William Ryan's book, Blaming the Victim" became a best seller in the social work arena. His claim was that our capitalistic society (hard work ethics)is for the good of society and that underdogs deplete the system. This blaming the victim mentality has returned with a vengence and Leroy Fulton seems to be echoing this mode of thinking. I would like to think that an informed society is less likely to support this illogical thinking. In fact, it would seem to be the task of social workers and restorative justice folks to inform societies that we do this when we sense a loss of wealth or national stability
Doug