Comments on: Two Slaves and the Capacity for Indignation http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/05/two-slaves-and-the-capacity-for-indignation/ Informed reflection on the events of the day Wed, 15 Jul 2015 17:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.23 By: Rafael http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/05/two-slaves-and-the-capacity-for-indignation/comment-page-1/#comment-8220 Tue, 17 May 2011 16:52:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=5237#comment-8220 Thank you Gary. Yes, sometimes it is not clear where moral indignation should be directed; but the point I had hoped to make is that often enough, it is actually crystal clear: pedophilia, the incarceration of artists and activists –or being enslaved. And yet, clear as these things appear to be, they often fail to elicit moral indignation, as Pope Benedict may agree. Similarly with Israel: the problems in the region are of course very ambiguous, but it is nonetheless clear that Israel perpetrated specific atrocities, and that, when these took place, the sense of indignation in the West, particularly in the U.S., was lukewarm, in general and save exceptions. Consider Sabra and Shatila, for example, where Lebanese Christian Phalangists, directly aided by the Israeli Defense Forces, killed an indeterminate number of unarmed men, women and children, one by one, one house at a time. In Israel, citizens massively took the streets to call for an investigation. The General Assembly of the UN condemned this act as genocidal. Yet, many western countries abstained. And others, such as the U.S., actually grew indignant about the use of the word “genocide,” in the end redirecting their indignation towards the UN. Consider also http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/: an organization of Israeli soldiers, financed by Jewish and Arab organizations, as well as European governments, where the soldiers themselves denounce excesses by Israel. My point here is that such initiatives, which are abetted by the capacity for indignation, can help lessen the brutality of the conflict. And that, by contrast, jadedness is an undemocratic sentiment that often leads to excesses. Jeff spoke about the problems with a cynical society. Similarly, it seems to me that it will be hard for a jaded society to become truly democratic.

You are right about Syria. And I see your point about how governments sometimes manufacture moral indignation to abet atrocities. This is an excellent point which corrects aspects of my post.

]]> By: Gary Alan Fine http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/05/two-slaves-and-the-capacity-for-indignation/comment-page-1/#comment-7951 Mon, 16 May 2011 20:28:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=5237#comment-7951 Rafael Narvaez commentary is, in many ways, quite splendid. And, yes, moral indignation is a tool that deserves more use than moral disengagement. However, the question of where moral indignation should be directed is not so easily determined; nor is the question of how moral indignation should be turned into action an easy one. Narvaez lightly uses the case of Israeli massacres, but surely both now and in 1947 there was plenty of potential moral indignation to go around. When opponents are each ready to watch rivulets of blood flow, how can moral indignation be used to plague both houses. And when one has a government who treats popular moral indignation as an excuse for repression – Israel’s neighbors in Damascus being a case in point – how should indignation be translated into action.

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