hannahbanana Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Does anyone know if there is a specific word that describes the feeling you get when you experience or witness an injustice? Maybe it's just me being weird, but I've always felt like typical emotions like anger, frustration or helplessness just don't quite describe that feeling. It's almost like a mixture of all three. I found an interesting tidbit on Wikipedia about this feeling, applied to a culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_%28cultural%29 Does anyone have any thoughts?
MMX2010 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Indignation - the suffering of the innocent person. 1
autowagon Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 oppression's the word I'd use. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=oppression&searchmode=none
hannahbanana Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 hmm...but would oppression fit if the injustice is for someone else, not you? Would you be feeling the other person's oppression?
Kevin Beal Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I don't know if there is enough information to tell exactly what that emotions is. Maybe if you described the events it might be clearer. Contempt is a kind of anger that is mixed with repulsion or even horror, usually as a result of witnessing immorality. It's designed to get you away from injustice. Feeling contempt for victimizers is feeling compassion for the victims. Hatred is a lot like contempt, except that you don't feel repulsion so much as you do a desire to fight back and fuck their shit up. It's a lot like rage in that way, except that hatred is usually not as intense or immediate. Wanting to smash people's heads in who are unbelievable assholes is more hatred than contempt. I'm not sure about the helplessness though. Maybe it's overwhelming just how unjust or repulsive it is? Maybe you are simultaneously empathizing with the victims of the injustice who are themselves feeling helpless? Is it a single feeling? Often, we have a variety of perspectives that we hold simultaneously about an event, and each of those perspectives presents a different emotional state. I'm not an expert, but I think that it's a one to one relationship between perspective and emotional state. If two emotional states are present, I assume that means there are two different thoughts that you have about the situation. I may feel anger, frustration and grief simultaneously about the way someone talks to me, but these can be broken down into different thoughts that I have about that interaction. I am angry about that person's desire to humiliate me, frustrated by knowing it's meant to antagonize and knowing that I will only satisfy that by expressing that anger, and grief when I think about the times in my life that I've been attacked in that way before.
autowagon Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I feel that oppression is an encompassing thing, similar to being/feeling helpless. It's not a solitary thing. It's as you suggested, witnessing injustice. That's how I see it. Just read all the definitions and origins and geek out on it a while. Words are concepts in the mind and they grow.
hannahbanana Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 Maybe it is like a mixture of feelings, but it's such a unique mixture that I'm a little surprised there isn't one word to sum it up. Like if I had a list of all the feelings that go into it, it would be easier to just say one word rather than many, you know? I guess if I had to explain it, it's like a visceral feeling of wrongness. I'd feel angry, because it makes me sick to know that a person could be capable of whatever the injustice is. Even more so if I know in my gut that it's wrong, but am unable to explain it in such a way that the person could see that it's wrong. I'd feel helpless and frustrated because of that, too, since it may seem like whatever I say or do does not change anything. There's also a physical response that kicks in, a fight or flight response telling me to react. And maybe, too, a self-conflict going on between the part of me that wants to act, and the other part that feels like any response would only lead to more frustration. This would probably show up as a feeling of anxiety or restlessness... Maybe there's more to it, but that's the best I can come up with right now...I'm not the best at boiling down feelings to their pure emotions as it is. Needless to say, it feels like it's pretty complicated, and completely unique in my experience. I suppose that's why I started out so vague, because to me I couldn't mistake that feeling for anything else (so it would seem specific in MY mind, not necessarily yours). But maybe this clarifies a little?
autowagon Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 my paper dictionary which is always better than the internet ones saysoppress 1 to weigh heavilly on the mind, spirits, or senses of worry; trouble 2 to keep down by the cruel or unjust use of power or authority; rule harshly; tyranize over 3 to crush trample down to overpower subdueoppression 1 an oppressing or being oppressed 2 a thing that oppresses 3 a feeling of being weighed down, as with worries or problems, physical or mental distressOppressive 1 hard to put up with; causing great discomfort or fatigue 2 cruelly overbearing; tyrannical 3 weighing heavilly on the mind, spirits, or senses; distressing
Kevin Beal Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Oppression is a description of the state of affairs in the world, and not a description of the subjective emotional experience that oppression provokes, such as helplessness, anger, etc. Maybe there's more to it, but that's the best I can come up with right now...I'm not the best at boiling down feelings to their pure emotions as it is. Needless to say, it feels like it's pretty complicated, and completely unique in my experience. I suppose that's why I started out so vague, because to me I couldn't mistake that feeling for anything else (so it would seem specific in MY mind, not necessarily yours). But maybe this clarifies a little? It does clarify. Thank you. It could be that I've totally misunderstood, and I can appreciate the complex nature of such a feeling, but I'd like to propose an alternative description, just in case. If, as some have suggested, emotion's purpose is to cause you to act given your judgment of a situation, it would follow that if two very different emotions like helplessness and anger would not occur simultaneously, since they would cause you to act in mutually exclusive ways, or paralyze you. The bittersweet feeling that I sometimes get when I'm grieving is a combination of the grief and a joy I have about connecting with that grief, but technically, the two feelings of grief and joy don't happen simultaneously. First I feel the grief and then the joy comes in, and I may go back and forth between the two as new thoughts come up about it. So why would there be a feeling of singularity between the anger, frustration and helplessness, worthy of a name to describe this mixture? (Like the word "bittersweet", maybe?) What this reminds me of is sadism. For me, that one event, whenever I see it, quickly warrants certain and familiar judgments I have based on my experience of it and those judgments are something like: 1. Someone is intentionally harming my interests or those of someone I care about. 2. I have a desire to act to stop them, but I can't figure out how, or do it quickly enough. 3. I will be unable to convince them that what they are doing is bad and that they should not do it (or if I can it will be at too great a cost). 1 elicits my anger. 2, my frustration and 3, my helplessness. Whatever we have significant experience with gets those pathways in the brain reinforced, and whatever we don't experience that much gets weakened pathways. And since conscious states are realized in the brain, certain clusters of judgments and emotional states will be "linked" together. Some patterns are so involved and heavily reinforced that they result in dissociative personalities. Your mind/brain, probably like mine, has benefitted from having those things grouped together. Just my thoughts. Maybe they don't apply here. Contempt is a complex emotion that can be described as a combination of other emotions, so maybe the same rule applies here as well, but we don't yet have a name for it.
PatrickC Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 The word I would use is "indignation". Yes I'm prone to think this as the best description. As is an often made response to that feeling regarding injustice, is referred to as a travesty of justice.
PGP Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 It may be what the Germans term fremdscham : http://betterthanenglish.com/fremdscham-german/ Embarrassment felt on behalf of someone else (often someone so ignorant to what they have done that they don’t know that they should be embarrassed for themselves); vicarious embarrassment. Also termed "vicarious shame". I related it to what I think is the oppostie first, that is schadenfreude, pleasure derived at the misfortune of others. I think it has to do with feeling shame at the wrongness of the action of an actor on another who does not resist or is unable to resist based on the standard that is thought right. You may be have emotion both toward the actor and the person acted upon. I think it relates to the powerful force of shame in establishing status. It is a primeval force and emotion that, as an establishment of status, placed the acted upon lower down the hierarchy and this could have meant death in a tribe setting in terms of food rights and mating rights etc. For me this relates to the threat of abandonment in childhood if conformity was not elicited.
Bradford26 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Deplore 1) to regret deeply or strongly; lament. 2) to disapprove of; censure. 3) to feel or express deep grief for or in regard to. Deplore works well because it addresses your feeling of regret for the injustice, disapproval of those responsible, and grief for those harmed.
J. D. Stembal Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 It is important to note that it is difficult to feel the various injustices others are feeling, so only worry about focusing on your own feelings to simplify the matter in discussion. In the recent UPB Animal Rights thread (and call-in show), we have been repeatedly told that consuming animal products shows a lack of empathy, is unjust, immoral or otherwise against the NAP. We have to be careful to determine whether or not the supposed injustice is real and rational or simply a matter of opinion (aesthetically preferable, not universally preferable). I would throw the word injustice out entirely because we would be forced to define what justice is before continuing. Real world justice is hardly equitable or efficient. I would describe the feeling of being wronged as powerlessness. If you can do something to remedy the situation, then you have an amount of power over it, no matter how small. If we are discussing our own childhoods, which is what the pro-animal rights FDR members are really describing when talking about UPB applying to animals, then defining the emotion as frustration over powerlessness is very accurate. Helplessness is close to defining the emotion, in my mind. Indignation describes something that makes you angry, but powerlessness implies that you have no way to personally right the wrongs endured.
Tservitive Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Honestly, it sounds like your awake or empathetic. Indignation is a good word too.
hannahbanana Posted March 11, 2015 Author Posted March 11, 2015 Really great responses from everyone, thank you so much! I think you've all given me a lot to think about, and maybe an answer to what I was wondering. I think that Kevin might be right in part that the mix of feelings that I described before might actually be due to separate reasons, but I think those reasons are so closely associated that they merge closer and closer to one feeling. Kind of like you could say that baking a cake is actually made of many separate actions, but you could also just leave it at "baking a cake." I also agree that I think the feeling changes depending on how you continually choose to respond. But I think this is common for any feeling; if I was afraid of something, for example, I could change that by facing that fear more and more until it is no longer scary. Maybe the feeling of "injustice" is really just me wanting to act, but also me making myself feel helpless in order to justify the times that I have done nothing. I'm not sure... Indignation sounds like it might work pretty well; I suppose I didn't think of it because I've always associated it as a slightly less powerful feeling, kind of like irritation. Deplore is interesting; is it really an emotion? Or is it more like a verb? Like I can hate something, and say that I'm feeling hate, but can I deplore something and also feel...I dunno....deplorement? Maybe it doesn't matter... Helplessness does seem like a strong part of it...helplessness due to circumstances, as well as self-imposed helplessness.
Ray H. Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Perhaps, horror? It seems to encapsulate a fearful, moral repulsion towards some act.
Bradford26 Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Deplore is interesting; is it really an emotion? Or is it more like a verb? Like I can hate something, and say that I'm feeling hate, but can I deplore something and also feel...I dunno....deplorement? Maybe it doesn't matter... You're right. It is a verb. The Dictionary.com definition starts with, "To express or feel..." so it still seems like a feeling word. Other forms are Deploration (noun), Deplorer (noun), and Deploringly (adverb).
MMX2010 Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Just my thoughts. Maybe they don't apply here. Contempt is a complex emotion that can be described as a combination of other emotions, so maybe the same rule applies here as well, but we don't yet have a name for it. Contempt is hatred plus the conviction that the recipient of your hatred is weaker than you in some important ways. You can hate above your social class, equal to your social class, or below your social class. You can hate someone above your intelligence level, equal to your intelligence level, or below your intelligence level. But you can only have contempt when you're convinced the other person is weaker than you in some important way, especially morally.
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