Why are you screaming for justice?
Your not going to like this. We scream for justice, not because we are righteous soldiers with superior moral convictions, but because we are slaves to our biology.
Turns out that almost nothing, short of illicit narcotics (cocaine), stimulates the dopamine reward system more than punishing those we view as morally inferior. Not an easy pill to swallow, but it appears to be true. I myself get a charge when someone gets what's coming to them. It seems as if karma has caught up to restore the balance of nature. However, more likely, I'm just feeling superior and getting a charge out of another's misfortune.
In prehistoric society this rush of dopamine reward had a valid purpose. Having some sense of satisfaction when a violent criminal is expelled from the community could be necessary for maintaining a civil and functional group. We simply need the dopamine hit to offset the fact that we just sent a person into the wilderness to live a lonely, miserable, short life. Psychologically, kind people must have a mechanism to counteract the fact that a great deal of suffering is justified given the situation.
That a rapist or murderer gets exiled and fated to certain death is something I can wrap my head around, but what happens when the crime is not going along with the moral convictions of the group. If someone disagrees with the majority on something as trivial as word usage, should they be subjected to the same punishment. You know where I'm going ... should doing something as slight as using the wrong word warrant a punishment as severe as being shunned by your peers and loss of your livelihood. More importantly, what kind of monster would deprive someone of their job for simply uttering a single vibration from their face. Turns out that collectively, "we" are this monster.
Please, before you get on your high horse and sling moral judgments, take a moment to think. Right now, your brain is anticipating a rush of reward in the form of dopamine. The anticipation is huge if you believe you are acting to punish the wicked. I mean who would be so evil as refusing to call someone what they wish to be called? Well, if you were paying attention, I have not actually called anyone anything. In the rush of anticipation that a moral coup would soon be yours, the brain ramped up a dopamine reward. But take a look at the above paragraphs, I did not use the word "pronoun" and the only personal pronouns used were "We", "You" and "I". Be honest, you labeled me a misogynistic, biased, bigot for no substantive reason. Time to take it like an adult, if you were condemning in the absence of a serious cause, then you are the problem.
Let me clarify. If I refuse to address somebody by their preferred pronoun, after being politely asked, then I'm an ass. But, if I respectfully address someone as mister, and they prefer miss, then I have simply made an error. Should the addressed person then decompensate and pitch a public fit? I submit that, if they do, then they are now the ass. I'm from the south, and we show respect to others by addressing them as Mr. and Mrs., and if you then vilify a person for showing you respect, I think you are manipulating the situation and using a person's kindness against them. I know this is an emotionally charged issue for some folks, but maybe try asking politely to be address by your preferred salutation, and then escalate if, and only if, someone maliciously refuses after being asked.
Oh, you don't know what its like. Correct, I don't know. But, I taught freshmen in college for many years and never chastised a student for addressing me as "Mr. Freeman" when my preferred salutation from students is "Dr. Freeman". The students were showing me respect as the head of the class and simply needed some time to get use to the new university norms. Yeah, yeah, it is not the same as being mis-gendered, but maybe we should afford the population a bit of time to get used to the new norms as well.
So, we are biologically programmed to perceive a sense of reward from moral superiority when punishing the wicked. What on Earth are we to do? I'm going to suggest an exercise. Make a list of the moral sins against society. Then rank the offenses from worst to least. We science types call this a ranked-ordered list. Because the most important items will rank high, and the least important items will rank low, you now have a priority list for what problems should be addressed first and what items should be addressed last. This will be less than perfect, but you should be able to do this. If you believe all problems are of equal magnitude, then I can't help, and you are advised to seek professional counseling (seriously, I would be concerned if you did not view violent rape as more of a moral problem than double parking). After making the ranked list, I propose that you maximize your effectiveness by focusing on the top three items on your list that you have the resources to impact directly and affect change. In all likelihood, the items at the bottom of your list are trivial and don't merit action in the real world.
June 11, 2023
"Why would you do that [bring an orchestra with the death squad]?" "To make it more beautiful of course."
"Few things activate the dopamine system more than the prospects of righteous punishment."
Robert Sapolski: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
"We say grace, and we say mam, and if ain't into that we don't give a damn."
"He was killed by a man with a switch-blade knife, for forty-three dollars my friend lost his life."
Hank Williams, Jr. -- "A Country Boy Can Survive"
"She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie."