What’s wrong with REVENGE?
1st July 2007
Item. These two guys have entirely too much fun talking about economics,for heaven’s sake.
Key point: “My point: Bring up revenge, and most people get upset and speak in platitudes. I’d like to know: What’s wrong with revenge?”
Indeed. What is the most common way of expressing the desire to do dirty to someone who has done dirty to you? “I want to get even with so-and-so.” There appears to be a deeply-rooted appreciation in almost every human being that an injury requires an equal and opposite injury going the other way. That “balance” seems to be what most people intuitively think of as “justice”. So I would agree with Bryan that sometimes justice = revenge. But that’s just me.