Malice
So, I've been thinking.
It seems to me that the violence onboard the ship, and by extension, all violence everywhere, perhaps even all suffering, is a result of a particular emotional antagonism! For the sake of argument, the label I've been applying to this construct is "Malice," as that seems to be the emotion most often attributed to such an idea.
Stay with me now! Heeeeeeeeeere we go!
An invisible antagonist creates an atmosphere of malaise. In this way, even small group can be said to be acting as one, each in reaction to the general malaise of the group. Another word for this phenomenon is 'mob mentality.' Pervasive antagony gives meaning to this malaise while keeping its source amorphous.
But if that's the case in wider society, or even in an enclosed one, like the small network of relationships we're experiencing now, who causes this pervasive atmosphere of malice? Who is malicious?
Everyone.
This reflection of a malicious environment unintentionally forced me to examine my own personal conflicts and the nature of the “malicious” intents behind them. In one way or another, most conceivable actions seem to be at least partially selfish, done for personal gain, even if only by a roundabout method. The fact is, nearly every action taken since the day any of you got here has had some malicious intent! So don't you dare act all righteous about it!
The cycle of passing down one's own malicious intent begets another cycle of denying past defeats! That's not productive at all, right? Still, pride demands this kind of action as a matter of instinct. People antagonized in this way attack, thus justifying their own mistakes to themselves, and reinforcing their own malice!
It's possible to break free from that cycle, but the very act of being free from it seems to be cancerous to the personal vision of themselves built up by the previous two cycles! What a mess!
[sigh]
It's a Möbius strip of brutality.
But that doesn't really answer the fundamental question of it all! The question, “what is malice?”
It seems to me that the violence onboard the ship, and by extension, all violence everywhere, perhaps even all suffering, is a result of a particular emotional antagonism! For the sake of argument, the label I've been applying to this construct is "Malice," as that seems to be the emotion most often attributed to such an idea.
Stay with me now! Heeeeeeeeeere we go!
An invisible antagonist creates an atmosphere of malaise. In this way, even small group can be said to be acting as one, each in reaction to the general malaise of the group. Another word for this phenomenon is 'mob mentality.' Pervasive antagony gives meaning to this malaise while keeping its source amorphous.
But if that's the case in wider society, or even in an enclosed one, like the small network of relationships we're experiencing now, who causes this pervasive atmosphere of malice? Who is malicious?
Everyone.
This reflection of a malicious environment unintentionally forced me to examine my own personal conflicts and the nature of the “malicious” intents behind them. In one way or another, most conceivable actions seem to be at least partially selfish, done for personal gain, even if only by a roundabout method. The fact is, nearly every action taken since the day any of you got here has had some malicious intent! So don't you dare act all righteous about it!
The cycle of passing down one's own malicious intent begets another cycle of denying past defeats! That's not productive at all, right? Still, pride demands this kind of action as a matter of instinct. People antagonized in this way attack, thus justifying their own mistakes to themselves, and reinforcing their own malice!
It's possible to break free from that cycle, but the very act of being free from it seems to be cancerous to the personal vision of themselves built up by the previous two cycles! What a mess!
[sigh]
It's a Möbius strip of brutality.
But that doesn't really answer the fundamental question of it all! The question, “what is malice?”