Cruelty Justified
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I’ve been the target of violence, anger, hate, and people wanting to take me down a peg in response to personal insecurities. We’ve all been there. Justifications for such actions are myriad, yet the same. They are assertions of power, privilege, dominance, position, right, superiority, or personal worth. The violent deem their actions justified—they are self-defense. "I'm just defending" my land, people, family, position, authority, self-worth, superiority, ownership, understanding of reality, place in the world. "You are a threat" to my sense of worth and all the things on which I build my sense of security, value, or belonging. It's how we justify rape. It's how we justify war. It's how we justify business decisions, slavery, human-trafficking, subsistence wages, imprisonment, profits, borders, tariffs, the Second Amendment, armored police vehicles, nuclear weapons, murder, capital punishment, and condemning people who challen...