Standing Up Against Cruelty

 

Cruel Behavior

I was listening to a report about the 5000 children separated from their parents at the border under our government's zero tolerance policy in 2019. Many of these families came here to seek asylum. None of them got to declare their intentions as they were oimmediately taken into custody. Then in an act of cruelty, their children were taken away from their parents. 

A sizeable portion of them were lost. According to Yale law, as many as 1,360 children have never been reunited with their parents six years after the United States government forcibly separated them at the U.S. border, according to the Department of Homeland Security. (Dec 16, 2024) 

The cruelty of the government's actions is the point.

The story motivated me to dig deeper, to find out more about what motivates cruelty.

Signs of a cruel person include a lack of empathy, a tendency to manipulate or control others, enjoyment of others' suffering, and a history of dishonesty and lack of remorse. Cruel individuals often disrespect boundaries, engage in constant criticism, and may resort to aggression, threats, or gaslighting to get their way. 

Taking joy in denigrating others reinforces the fragile ego of the current administration. It's called Schadenfreude. Schadenfreude is a German word that literally translates to "harm-joy." It refers to the feeling of pleasure or amusement that arises when someone witnesses or hears about another person's misfortune or suffering. 

Characteristics

• Pleasure at misfortune: The fundamental characteristic is experiencing joy, delight, or satisfaction when someone else suffers a setback.
• Lack of empathy: Schadenfreude is often associated with a temporary lack of empathy for the person in distress. The individual may "dehumanize" the other person, making it easier to feel pleasure at their suffering.
• Connection to self-esteem: It can be a way to feel better about oneself by seeing others fail, particularly if the person experiencing schadenfreude feels envious of the other person. 

Where do we go from here?

 Dr Bryan Sims wrote an article for the STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE last year on ways to reduce violent conflict through non-violent resistance.

"It is unsurprising that as the world entered its 18th consecutive year of democratic decline, it was also experiencing a record number of conflicts, with 2023 being among the most violent years since the end of the cold war. This year’s Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development successfully unpacked the complex intersectionality among factors driving instability and violence throughout the globe. Yet while the topic of authoritarianism was raised over and over again during the Forum, it was treated primarily as a governance problem. In fact, authoritarianism is a cross-cutting and fundamental threat to peace and security."

There's more

Non-violent resistance movements defend democracy and strengthen security 

Non-violent civil resistance movements have great, and underutilized, potential to help to secure sustainable peace by addressing the key drivers of conflict in their local and regional contexts. They are rooted in communities and led by and for people facing injustices. They use non-violent direct-action tactics to shift power. And they are twice as effective as armed struggles in advancing democratic aims. 

Non-violent collective action inspires dignity, agency and three ‘collectives’: collective responsibility, collective ownership and collective identity. Leveraged together, these enable non-violent resistance movements to demonstrate effective tactics that can be scaled and replicated both locally and transnationally. 

Change rarely happens without meeting fierce–and violent–opposition, as has been seen recently in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Iran, Myanmar, Sudan and Syria. However, while not always successful, non-violent resistance movements do in fact incentivize non-violent pathways to peace. And they can also reduce the risk of atrocities; research shows that armed uprisings are subject to mass killings nearly three times as often as non-violent campaigns.

Is Trump afraid of the massive, non-violent protest to his policies of cruelty? I think so. His rhetoric and actions against peaceful protests show his frustration. He would rather have riots so he could call out the troops and declare martial law.

The fact that the MAGA crowd in Washington labelled those protests “Hate America” events says a lot about their attitude toward people who do not share their goals or the way they are pursuing them.  -the hill

The court has ruled in favor of the protesters. "The Seventh Circuit stood up for the right to protest when it reminded the president that “political opposition is not rebellion.” It went on, as if offering a civics lesson to the occupant of the Oval Office, to explain, “A protest does not become a rebellion merely because the protesters advocate for myriad legal or policy changes, are well organized, call for significant changes to the structure of the US government, (or) use civil disobedience as a form of protest.” -the hill

The Motivational Riff

The off year election results are encouraging, but they should be motivation to keep going. Carrying on is motivated by the golden rule, "Everything you should do you will find in this: Do nothing to others that would hurt you if it were done to you." "Do not offend others as you would not want to be offended." "The successes of your neighbor and their losses will be to you as if they are your own."    

"You should respect each other and refrain from disputes; you should not, like water and oil, repel each other, but should, like milk and water, mingle together."

- Buddha