JUSTICE, CONTROL, HARMONY & EUPHORIA

A post I wrote earlier about films such Deliverance inspired a comment from a reader that revenge resonates with him and he considers it a noble motive - unlike the rest of society.

REVENGE - OR JUSTICE?Justice requires an independent view of the situation. Simply restoring the see-saw to a level position. An eye for an eye means an eye for an eye, not two eyes for an eye.

Pay the money owed or return the goods stolen. That satisfied the feeling of jealousy, that another has more than you have. It restores the status quo.

FAMILY JEALOUSY, JUSTICE & INJUSTICE
See what happens in families at your supermarket. Toddler wants six-year-old's toy, doesn't get it and slaps six-year-old. Six-year-old chases toddler. Mum turns and sees six-year- old hit toddler - so Mum hits six-year-old. Toddler, forgetting original grievance, enjoying winning this game, laughs.

Or Dad sits down and asks who hit who first and reasons with both of them. But we've all seen injustice. We've all wanted to hit the naughty one. (Origin of the urge to play dom? Or to get revenge?)

Feeling guilty? Worried when we'd get caught? Relief to get the punishment over? That's a recipe for a sub's role.

TRIBAL TRIAL & PUNISHMENT
Moving from the family, to the larger group, the tribe. The tribal leaders at the gate of the city have a public court.

First you check the identity of the person who is accused. No sending in a hit man who kills some innocent bystander or tenant who answers the door.

An independent judge decides. Usually some time after the event when tempers have cooled.
Then both sides are allowed to speak.

Now let's see what happens in civilzation, in a big Western city. The jury system allows a dozen people.

To be sure you are not swayed by the person who gets the last word, the last word goes to somebody who sums up. Before the prisoner is led away the judge explains his verdict.

Revenge says that is not enough. The person who started the quarrel must be punished.

I'll repeat what I said earlier. Justice requires an independent view of the situation. Simply setting the see-saw level. An eye for an eye, not two eyes for an eye.

Pay the money owed or return the goods stolen. That satisfied the feeling of jealousy, that another has more than you have. It restores the status quo.

GROUP PUNISHMENT
Revenge can lead to feuds - collective responsibility - excessive punishment involving bystanders - from the bar room fight to entire family, tribe or country wiped out because of the act of one.

However - we also have the concepts of deterrence and punishment.

Increasingly, we see the public agitated that crimes in the UK are not sufficiently punished because the crime rate is increasing.

Wars are increasing.

CONTROL
A sociologist would say that this is simply what happens when you get overcrowding.
An egalitarian would say we have not distributed the cake fairly. Grab from those who have, even if you do not give to the have-nots, and the desire for revenge will go.

Control freaks will demand more control. Stoics will say it's a cycle, up and down of population and economy and weather and just go with the flow. Confucians run families and society with a hierarch. So does the Roman Catholic church.

The government makes excuses for the criminal. Except when it can claim taxes and fines. So the penniless man who commits a murder can be excused. But the motorist must be fined. Not just fined, but by an excessive amount as a deterrent. And a punishment.

PUNISHMENT PLAY
In role play we allow ourselves to re-enact or fantasize that we are the victim or the revenger. That we punish or are punished.

The game or story can be that the 'victim' is simply in the right place at the right time. Or that they deserved the punishment. Or that they have done nothing wrong but must be 'taught' and trained to be obedient. Or that they have angered the dom and must suffer excessive punishment.

TEAM-WORK & WRITING ROLE PLAY
Because it is role play, and both parties are willing participants, the person acting as victim is allowed to opt out at any point. Especially as the scene may take them in new directions and it has to be satisfying and enjoyable on one level for it to continue on that occasion and others.

The complication in violence or mock violence as in sex is that the victim has to work out how much pleasure the dominant needs or wants. The dominant has to work out how much pain or rough play the submissive can accept, without the submissive being endangered or simply not enjoying it and opting out.

We allow the day's stress or annoyances going back to childhood to be revenged by the Alpha male or dominatrix on the sub male or female.

Another person takes the other role. It can be permanently (24/7 as a slave). Or temporarily as submissive or brat - as short as five minutes, or in two seconds of repartee over dinner.

Clearly for safety we need to know that the dominant partner can come out of the situation - even if the sub is out of it in subspace.

Real life marriages are often one of these scenarios. But sometimes you need an outsider. A marriage guidance counsellor.

FILMS /MOVIES
Let's go back to films. In films, we can let the fantasy run riot. Hopefully no actors or animals are hurt in the film. Although one of the actors in Deliverance claims that it left a lasting effect on him.

For some people films are dangerous or upsetting. For others they are enlightening. For others they are merely an hour or two's satisfying amusement.

EUPHORIA
Whether you watch a film or play-act, the perfect end is to be left in the joyful state which we are all seeking, relaxation, calm, contentment and happiness, even euphoria, a feeling of being in control of ourselves and the world.

***Author's Amusing footnoteFor the benefit of all I used the ABC spell checker below. It wanted to turn the word have-nots into have nits.:))

Feel free to comment, friends - and enemies. To get publicity all writers need a vociferous, if daft, enemy.