However, cruelty is evolutionarily obsolete. We have accepted better ways!

A number of quotes, readings and events over the past months triggered this short essay on cruelty, believing it is one of the main root causes for evil in this world. If we can understand cruelty, we can do something about it and make this world a #fairerworld. That’s why I am writing this!

My curiosity for the topic awakened last May when reading a quote on Facebook from the very stunning and controversial Portuguese writer, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, Jose Saramago. In an interview, while defending Love as an instrument to improve the human condition, he also said “We humans invented cruelty”.  

I use the quote in a Twitter message a month later after reading an article in The New York Times about Sarah Hegazi (say her name), a gay Egyptian arrested for waiving the rainbow flag on a concert, who took her own life while being exiled to Canada. In a short, poignant handwritten note she wrote to her persecutors: “To the world, you have been greatly cruel, but I forgive”. Her final words reverberate across Egypt amid an outpouring of grief over her suicide.

Understanding cruelty.

The question has captured the interest of scholars for centuries. To answer the question, one obstacle to overcome is the conflict between the inherent immorality of the topic and the scientific goal of unbiased neutrality. Personal values cannot cloud judgment, because it can impede the impartial search for truth. 

The sense that there is evil in the world is widespread, however, most people who commit evil acts do not themselves regard their actions as evil. Therefore, to understand their perspective is to understand the actions in a way that somehow diminishes their evilness.

To refuse to understand the perpetrators in their own terms is ultimately to abandon the project of scientific understanding in favor of moral condemnation. These people are, after all, people, not evil monsters. They are human beings like the rest of us!    

There is nothing as random as cruelty.

Edoardo Albinati describes cruelty in his novel The Catholic School in the following way:  

“Cruelty is all that could be saved for the one who goes through it. Cruelty is the abundant thing that goes beyond pure purpose. Cruelty is all that might as well not be done. Cruelty is what someone who cannot defend himself is done. Cruelty is what does not provide for the right of reply. The weakness is her favorite target. A man gets cruel because he smells other’ people’s weakness. Cruelty is the way their subordination is referred to. Cruelty is crazy because she likes it. The cruelty is produced by the inequality between those involved, and has no other reason or intention but to reinforce that inequality, however temporary or permanent it may be, and whether it complies with an immutable natural law or an accidental social circumstance or just an accidental situation that means that you are now suddenly in my hands, in my power.”

The Storybook of Pure Cruelty. (*)

What is cruel? Most people think that intentionally harming someone who is innocent and undeserving of such treatment constitutes evil. However, as said, most people whose acts are condemned as cruel do not see their own actions as cruel. Most perpetrators believe the action is justified or that the victim deserved to be treated that way. If we would only focus on actions that everyone including the perpetrator agrees are evil, we would have almost nothing to study. It is therefor necessary to define cruelty as in the eye of the beholder (!), who may be victim or observer but is probably not the perpetrator. This means evil or cruelty is defined in a way that is not strongly tethered to objective reality. Hence, what is our perception of cruelty? 

• Cruelty is the intentional harming of another person, harm done deliberately and intentionally.
• The perpetrators of evil are typically portrayed as enjoying the harm they inflict.
• The victim is typically depicted in accounts of evil as innocent and good, the victims bear no responsibility for what happened to them. It is random violence.
• The perpetrators of evil are often seen as not like us. This reflects the common desire to think that people like ourselves could not possibly perpetrate cruel crimes.
• Evil is usually presented as having always been that way. Terrorists were that way almost from the start of their lives.
• Alongside intentional harm, a second meaning of cruelty is chaos. Everywhere people strive to create a social order with peace, harmony and stability. Cruelty is the loss or thwarting of that order.
• Perpetrators of evil often have inordinate egotism and poor self-control, most commonly evident in their proneness to rage and violence.

Root Causes of Evil. (*)

I turn now to the basic, fundamental causes of violence, oppression, exploitation, and cruelty. 

• Instrumentality. Cruel acts are often merely a means to an end. People turn to violence as one means of getting what they want. What they want is typically not so different from what other people want. They want money, land, power, sex, and the like. They turn to violence because they cannot get what they want by more accepted, legitimate means. Instrumental cruelty is ineffective in the long run. It is in some aspect a hangover from an earlier stage in evolution, as a first adaptation to social life, because it was an effective means to resolve the conflicts that social life makes inevitable. Aggression enabled the biggest and strongest to survive and hence reproduce better than their weaker rivals. Human beings have developed culture as our biological strategy. The progress of culture has been to offer alternative, nonviolent means of resolving disputes and conflicts. Aggression (Cruelty) is thus evolutionarily obsolete. We have accepted better ways of resolving our conflicts.
• Threatened Egotism. Narcissists are more aggressive than other categories of people. For many narcissists, cruelty emerges as a strategy to rebut criticism and avoid a loss of esteem, in their own or other people’s eyes. The function of aggression as a rebuttal to criticism may also have roots in our evolutionary past. In many species, alpha males defend their superior status by fighting off challengers. In humans, at least, threatened egotism is not limited to individuals. Violent, aggressive nations and other groups often show the same pattern of believing themselves to be superior to others and also believing that they do not get the respect to which they are entitled. Tyranny and government-sponsored violence are typically perpetrated by elites who believe in both their superiority and in the failure of others to accord them the respect they deserve.
• Idealism. In some ways this is the most disturbing and tragic, because the perpetrators are motivated by the belief that they are doing something good. The worst body counts of the twentieth century were perpetrated by people who believed that they were doing what was necessary to create a utopian society. 
• Sadism. Defined as sincere enjoyment from inflicting harm. There are widely scattered signs that it does occur, at least sometimes. Some people really do seem to enjoy inflicting harm. Sadism is often linked to psychopathy. Psychopaths lack empathic identification with others and therefore are perhaps less restrained than others by empathic distress. They may get feelings of self-efficacy from the signs of pain and suffering they elicit, and these may increase over time. 

Proximal Cause of Cruelty. (*)

The impulses towards violence and cruelty are widespread and one begins to ask, why isn’t there more violence? Social psychologists have shown that aggression is increased by being criticized or insulted, by hot temperatures, by seeing violence in the media, and being frustrated. Who amongst us has not experienced insulting criticism, or heat, or media violence, or frustration? 

The explanation of why there is not more evil than there already is can most likely be found in self-control. Humans have a capacity for self-regulation that is at least as strong as that of other social animals. Culture relies heavily on self-regulation, because culture consists partly of a system with rules and standards, and it can only function if people alter their behavior to bring it into line with those rules and standards. More and more, that includes retraining violence and cruelty, which is mostly disruptive to the smooth inner functioning of cultural systems. The proximal cause of evil in many cases, is a breakdown of these inner restraints.

Cruel Pride.

High self-esteem is an important cause of cruelty. However, not all people who think highly of themselves are prone to cruelty. Men on average have higher self-esteem than women and are also more aggressive. Psychopaths are exceptionally prone to cruel, aggressive and criminal conduct, and they have very favorable opinions of themselves. Cruelty is the highest among narcissists who receive (insulting) criticism. One should beware of people who regard themselves as superior, especially when those beliefs are inflated, weakly grounded in reality or heavily dependent on having others confirm them frequently. Conceited, self-important individuals turn nasty toward those who puncture their bubbles of self-love.

Challenging your mind! A roadmap towards improved self-control and a better You!

If we improve self-control, we can make the world a better place! 

Everybody lives with Beliefs, Moral and Ethics. These Values lead us to strive in the direction of the happiness of the whole humanity through endeavoring to take control of our free will for a higher purpose. The ideal is harmony within yourself and with others, seeking own happiness and contributing to the happiness of others. 

There are a few wisdoms that can help:

• Meditation. The act of discovering your true self by developing mental concentration. Isolate yourself from daily activities, quiet the surface consciousness and open the door to your subconscious. Create the ability to reflect on yourself and become aware of your own foolishness (we all make many mistakes, every day).
• Transcendental Wisdom. Using your intellect to control your thoughts and deeds every day, to observe life and bringing a deep realization that you are “being allowed to live” and that the world exists to allow all of us to live. Everything in this world exists as material for learning and this world is valuable as a place to learn. You come to know your own essence and the essence of the lives of others. Acquiring wisdom is the most important objective living in the world. Wisdom overcomes ignorance.
• Spiritual Growth. Observe the rules of the world and study your relationship with others and how you should live in relation to them in this world. Learn the ability to distinguish between good and evil. An action is considered good if it works out harmoniously for everyone around it, but is considered evil if it causes disharmony. Harmonize your heart and mind and make a constant effort not to become proud or arrogant. You can feel happiness if you can see yourself growing.
• Egoless Perspective. The ego, or who you think you are, does not exist. Everything is transient, so do not become attached to anything. Illuminate yourself through your own efforts. When you are drowning amidst the swirling of human desire and the suffering of this world on earth, take refuge on the small island that is yourself (meditation).
• The Middle Way. Practicing “The Middle Way” is avoiding extremes. Blaming the outside world or yourself for distress and unhappiness are extremes, rather choose to do something. Try to feel truly grateful for what you have, focus on the dignity of being. We all have mistaken thoughts and actions.

We are closely linked with one another and we have to do something to create a better world.

(*) These sections are the summary of an interesting essay written by Roy F. Baumeister, called “Human Evil: The Mythical and the True Causes of Violence” and published by the Florida State University. 

Bibliography

• Edoardo Albinati, The Catholic School, Rizzoli Libri s.p.A., 2016, p460.
• Roy F. Baumeister, Violent Pride, Scientific American Mind, August-September 2006
• Roy F. Baumeister, Human Evil: The Mythical and the True Causes of Violence, Florida State University, xxxx
• Ryuho Okawa, The Challenges of the Mind, Time Warner Books, 2004