Page 29 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 30
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revengeful violence and refers to an action Thomas Aquinas who preached vengefulness
taken to inflict a similar or greater pain on in the following manner: “The blessed in the
a person who wronged us. Our aim is not kingdom of heaven will see the punishments
restoring loss, but balancing loss by making of the damned, in order that their bliss be
the other suffer. Erich Fromm explains, more delightful for them.” So while Jesus
“It has the irrational function of undoing personified forgiveness through numerous
magically what has been done realistically.” allegories, the church authorities have
This reminds us of Shakespeare’s ‘The vengefulness in mind.
Merchant of Venice’. In this play, Shylock
A good example
of vengeful
violence is
starkly displayed
in groundless
riots that
passionately
destroy. Our
country supplies
abundant
examples of
such acts as
mobs destroy
precious human
lives. It is also
seen in the
demands to take the flesh of his debtor destruction of property by vengeful mobs
because the debt was not paid on time. The who find pleasure in death and destruction.
desire is to derive pleasure from the pain of They do not wish to possess but to destroy
others while being fully aware that the ‘debt’ others possession including life. This is
will not be paid. what Nietzsche labels ‘slave morality’ and
Vengeful violence is not reflected only in as Fromm expounds, “The impotent and the
personal vengeance but in laws that seek cripple have only one recourse to restore
vengeance. A typical example of vengeful their self-esteem if it has been shattered by
violence is found in the Law of Hammurabi having been injured: to take revenge. With
(Babylonian king who codified the laws this in mind, we proceed to another closely
of Sumer and Mesopotamia). This law is related form of violence.
famously known as ‘an eye for an eye.
Nietzsche in ‘On the Genealogy of Morals’ Compensatory Violence: This form of
explains how even some religious leaders as violence is found in the unproductive and
ISSUE 30 | AUGUST 2024 29
