Living In The Real And The Ideal

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Immanuel Kant has said, "Out of such crooked timbers man was made, nothing entirely straight can be fashioned." People live in this world and they are continually faced with tension between the two worlds, namely the real world and an ideal one. The real world with all its atrocities seems to be not a very pleasant place to live in and that is why there comes a desire for a better one. How can these two befriend each other in the aftermath of violence, especially in the cases of extreme traumas?

Roots of violence

Violence has its roots in the feeling of shame. James Gilligan in his book Preventing Violence writes that "the basic psychological motive, or cause, of violent behavior is the wish to ward off or eliminate the feeling of shame and humiliation – a feeling that is painful, and can even be intolerable and overwhelming – and replace it with its opposite, the feeling of pride" (29). Here it is seen that when the person is ridiculed or bullied, his or her self esteem experiences injury, which needs to be cured somehow. When self esteem is damaged, person loses his or her ability to function in a normal way. In this state he or she takes whatever means he or she has in order to restore the self-respect. The ones, who resort to violence as these means, think that they have no other ways to do that. Ordinary people have their resources of dignity in education, status within family and community, and "whatever minimal degree of wealth or income they need in order to feel that their "net-worth" (in the accountant’s sense) reinforces their sense of "self-worth" (in the psychological sense) (Gilligan 37). However, others do not have such resources, as they usually belong to marginal groups of society and lack skills, which could earn them respect.

Sometimes such people may feel an inadequate feeling of shame. According to Gilligan, "The more a person is shamed by others, from childhood by parents or peers who ridicule or reject him, the more he is likely to feel chronically shamed, and hypersensitive to feelings and experiences of being shamed, sometimes to the point of feeling that others are treating him with contempt or disdain even when they are not" (35). This shows that constant and repeated psychological abuse leads to unrealistic expectations of being shamed by people around him or her. The feeling becomes imprinted so deeply that it seems to be a part of personality; without the feeling of inferiority he or she does not see himself or herself as an integral whole. In such a way the person is doomed to constantly experience this state and then use violence as the closest means at hand to alleviate it, and gain some sense of control over his or her life.

For people, who do not have nonviolent means of regaining their self esteem, author suggests that government should take action and promote free education, especially for those who are prone to become violent criminals, so that they would be more aware of the society they live in and would be able to find a well paid legal job. As for the article Political Economy, Past and Present, John Maynard Keynes has similar views on unemployment. He confronts neoclassical economic theory, stating that unemployment is voluntary and temporary state, when "people move between jobs" (81). Keynes argues that government has to intervene and "regulate total demand for output" (81) so that employment would increase. In such a way more opportunities for people to boost their self-esteem are created.

As for violence, according to Gilligan, violence cannot be stopped by violence. In fact, violence promotes even more violence. So, the prisons, which are created by the governments, do not act as deterrents from future aggressive behavior. The prisons may even be called the "school of violence", because there the criminals experience such humiliating treatment that encourages them to seek for revenge, when they become free. This revenge is a form of getting self esteem restored in the eyes of both their prison related people and the rest of society. This shows that current government stands on jails are not really doing any good both for society and criminals.

Government officials usually are far from these prisons and the real life in them. When criminals are not related to officials’ families, the latter ones also do not show much concern about their destiny or healing. In article Anti-Globalization: Why? author says, "humans affection radiates outward from oneself, diminishing as distance grows from oneself and increasing as proximity increases to oneself" (18). Here it is seen that people, who are closest, are treated with the biggest empathy, which decreases as much as the distance of relationship increases. Empathy diminishes "from our nuclear family to the extended family, to our local community, to our state or country, to our nation, to our geographical region, and then to the world" (18). Thus, the least compassion is directed to the nations, which are the farthest on the globe. One may be even unaware that such nations exist.

This is why globalization has become a positive movement. Article The promise of Global Institutions tells that "Globalization has reduced the sense of isolation felt in much of the developing world and has given many people in the developing countries access to knowledge well beyond the reach of even the wealthiest in any country a century ago" (4). Clearly, then, if knowledge can give more power, then the developing countries have gained more resources of power. These are not only information flows, but also connections, when activists from one country can unite with activists from other ones and in such a way have a greater impact. Isolation and knowledge also are useful in prevention of abuse by more powerful nations, which may do that if they would be sure that no one will know about that. So, globalization has opened the ways for developing nations to develop their self-respect and a more positive self-image.

Violence in Nazism

Such nations as Germany during the Nazi times have had a distorted self-image, which have led to terrible disasters. Nicholas Goodrick – Clark in his book The Occult Roots of Nazism writes about the "prehistoric golden age, when wise Gnostic priesthoods had expounded occult-racist doctrines and ruled over a superior and racially pure [German] society "(2). This shows that certain people in Austria and Germany have believed in the superiority of Germans, namely Arians, over other races. These people have pointed back to the past of German nation in the times of Gnosticism. They have sought for revival of esoteric Gnostic knowledge and the ancient German nation. In order to do this Ariosophists have founded secret religious orders. The fact that some people have desired to bring back the past of Germany shows that they have not been happy about the present. Ariosophists have not been contended with their current conditions, and thus, they have turned to past times in order to find satisfaction and fulfillment of their desires.

Their fantasies have become almost fulfilled during Third Reich. Clark writes that "the appeal of Nazism was based on powerful fantasies designed to relieve acute feelings of anxiety, defeat, and demoralization" (203). Clearly, then, Germany after the First World War has been defeated and humiliated by some other nations. The shame of Germans has been such a strong and undesirable feeling that they have tried to get rid of it in every way that has been possible. The easiest prey has been Jews, who have been hated for a long time of almost all the nations in the world. The vulnerability of Jews has attracted Germans, who vented their frustrations and violence on the former ones. Germans have not been able to attack such strong nations as Great Britain, which have been the real causes of their frustrations. As a result anger of Germans has been sent unto Jews. The latter ones have been seen as having a secret plot to destroy the German nation. So, Jews as well as other inferiors to Arian god-men have been sought to be exterminated.

Holocaust and other forms of this extermination shows "systematic social deprivation, intolerance" mentioned in the article Political Economy, Past and Present. Amartya Sen in the latter article has had an idea that such intolerance and oppression are the sources of unfreedom, which prevents the country from development. Third Reich really has not prospered because of its repressive politics towards minorities. The country ruled by Hitler has become so weak that it has been defeated by foreign powers in Second World War. Another reason of this defeat is the apocalyptic hysteria held by leaders of Nazi movement. Clarke writes, "The Nazi crusade was indeed essentially religious in its adoption of apocalyptic beliefs and fantasies including a New Jerusalem (cf. Hitler’s plans for a magnificent new capital at Berlin) and the destruction of the Satanic hosts in a lake of fire" (204). Here it is seen that Nazis have sought an apocalyptic change of their society, where all their enemies would have been killed and where only their nation would prosper. In such a way Hitler and others have tried to overcome their feelings of inadequacy and shameful results of lost First World War. They have looked into the future, when their self-esteem would be restored at the expense of other nations.

However, the vision of the future held by Nazis involved exaggerated sense of self-respect. They have not been concerned only about maintaining their face again, but about having a face that is superior to all others. This has caused much damage to many parts of Europe. Thus, Clarke tells, "With the growth of religious nationalism in the late twentieth century, an understanding of the preconditions for such apocalyptic remains a crucial factor in the maintenance of global security" (204). This shows that the security structure, mentioned in the book Introduction to International Political Economy, has to be aware of the roots of Nazi violence and their ideology. In such a way other nations would be prevented from acquiring similar apocalyptic point of view, which could otherwise cause the same or even bigger than Nazis’ damage to the world. The prevention can be done through mass media and other forms in knowledge structure.

Traumas

As for the social violence, according to Judith Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery, it is the "primarily experiences of adolescence and early adult life" (61). Author gives examples of army, taking seventeen year old men, and rape, which occurs mostly in late adolescence for young girls. Adolescence and young adulthood is the period both of the biggest vulnerability and the biggest exposure to traumatic experiences. Herman tells that "rape and combat thus might be considered complementary social rites of initiation into the coercive violence at the foundation of adult society" (61). Here it is seen that violence permits society, and takes both visible and invisible forms. No one is protected from it, but children, adolescents, and young adults are ones of the most vulnerable parts of society, because they still do not have firm grounds and enough social support to stand on their own and to protect themselves or to seek protection from others.

The victim in the act of trauma is helpless. Herman writes, "Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning" (33). Here it is seen that victims, who do have the internal locus of control, see themselves as not capable to do anything in the face of perpetrator. In such a way the power of the latter one is embraced and compliance is reached. Victim surrenders his or her own will to the aggressor, who then is able to vent all his or her anger onto such a weak person. This anger may be manipulative and hidden in the form of pleasant talk or other forms of hypocrisy. Then it is hard to understanding whether the perpetrator is really friendly or whether he or she is only acting guided by selfish motives.

When the victim cannot change the situation, he or she changes his or her way of thinking. Firstly, the sensations are altered. Herman tells, "The person may feel as though the event is not happening to her, as though she is observing from outside her body, or as though the whole experience is a bad dream from which she will shortly awaken" (43). Clearly, then, victim dissociates from his or her body and from the reality as it so that she or he would not feel such a huge physical and psychological pain. Author further writes that "these perceptual changes combine with a feeling of indifference, emotional detachment, and profound passivity in which the person relinquishes all initiative and struggle" (43). Here it is seen that the victim stops being alert, responsive, and conscious that he or she is being harmed currently. She or he does not think about the ways he or she can stop the traumatic behavior; victim ceases thinking about reality. When the person feels indifferent and passive, he or she does not acknowledge the responsibility, which lies in his or her hands, too. Not only are the perpetrators responsible for traumatic events.

Victims often also can do something either to relieve or to stop their negative experience. Herman says, "One form of resistance is refusing to comply with petty demands or to accept rewards" (79). This shows that taking control and responsibility into one’s hands reveals that something is wrong. When the victim opposes and disobeys the perpetrator in some way, the latter one understands that he or she has done an injustice and then even the way for a change of relationships is opened. If there is no hope for such a change, then at least the perpetrator’s wrongdoings are revealed. The author gives an example of a woman prisoner who celebrated Yom Kippur in the Nazi concentration camp.

Another example is of a political prisoner Sharansky, who has told, "As soon as I announced my hunger strike I got rid of the feeling of despair and helplessness, and the humiliation at being forced to tolerate the KGB’s tyranny… The bitterness and angry determination that had been building up during the past nine months now gave way to a kind of strange relief; at long last I was actively defending myself and my world from them" (79). This shows that even in the fiercest conditions victim can regain the lost sense of self control and oppose the perpetrator in order to regain the lost autonomy of the self. This autonomy has been lost through continual shaming and manipulation, especially when the victim becomes pathologically dependent on the perpetrator. In addition, the division between us and "them" shows that Sharansky has seen soviets as his enemies and has understood what they have done for him.

However, not always victims are aware that they are being violated. When perpetrator seeks to gain control over the victim, he or she repetitively inflicts trauma on the latter person. One way of doing this is unpredictable outbursts of anger, which seek to "convince the victim that the perpetrator is omnipotent, that resistance is futile, and that her life depends upon winning his indulgence through absolute compliance" (Herman 77). Clearly, then, the fear of being the object of anger makes the victim subject to the wishes of the perpetrator. The victim obeys, because he or she is afraid of uncontrollable aggression. Besides fear, perpetrator seeks to control victim’s body and bodily functions so that the latter one would lose his or her sense of autonomy. What the victim eats, where she or he goes, where she or he lives are controlled. Author tells that "even when the victim’s basic physical needs are adequately met, this assault on bodily autonomy shames and demoralizes her" (77). Clearly, then, bodily control robs the victim of sense of self-control, which is one of the most important ingredients of positive self-image and self-esteem.

In addition, the mind of victim is also tried to be changed. Herman cites George Orwell, saying about the motives of totalitarian leaders, "We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us; so long as he resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul" (76). This shows that when the leaders are seen as the ones, who have the ultimate truth, their words are accepted and not questioned, especially poor common people with little education blindly follow the rules given by totalitarians.

During Soviet times, Lithuania experienced isolation, which prevented the country from getting information outside communist regime. Western countries also have not been able to get all the truth about the life in Soviet countries. Without any support from Western nations, Lithuania and other occupied countries have become objects of perpetrator’s violence. Nobody has checked how moral the behavior of communists has been, and thus, they have been able to define morality by themselves. Danutė Gailienė in the book Ką jie mums padarė writes that there has been no freedom of press and speech. "Double life", when one thing is declared and another is thought in reality, has become usual so that Lithuanians year after year have become used to such abnormal life and have started not to feel that it is actually abnormal. In such a way Lithuanians have become changed in their minds.

In schools there has been a similar restriction of freedom and equality. Bertrand Russel in his book called Power writes that "military autocracies, including Soviet Republic, have suppressed all freedom in schools, and have gone back to the old drill, and to the practice of treating the teacher as a miniature Fuhrer or Duce" (245). Here it is seen that not only uneducated have been the easiest prey of Soviet propaganda. Author further tells about the change of thinking that can be done most easily to the victims from young age. Russel writes, "The beliefs are instilled, not by giving any reason for supposing them true, but by parrot-like repetition, by mass hysteria and mass suggestion" (246). Clearly, then, when young people do not have their values strongly formed, they accept almost everything whatever it is told for them, especially in schools, where education is seen as a means for creating a more virtuous person. If the form of teaching suppresses all freedom of inquiry and doubt, then the students become like machines, hypnotized and living unconsciously under the rules and assumptions that have been forced into their thinking.

Thus, there is much violence in society. People harm each other and usually no one tries to stop this cycle of violence. They have the ideals, which remain only in theoretical thinking. Then victims do not stand for their rights and the perpetrators abuse their power. No one tries to live according to the values of the world as it should be in the world as it is. In order to do this, victims have to become self-conscious and take the responsibility for their lives into their own hands and the perpetrators have to use their power wisely. Russel gives examples of such leaders as Jesus, Buddha, Pythagoras and Gallileo. He writes, "No one of the four would have affected human life as he has done as he has done if power would have his primary object. No one of the four sought for the kind of power that enslaves others, but the kind that sets them free" (223). So, the real and the ideal can be combined in a creative and free atmosphere.