“Anger begets anger”
The title is a quote from the 19-year-old girlfriend of the ex-husband of the star of the movie “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri “written by Martin McDonagh. It is also a quote by Mahavira on Brainyquote.com. That full quote is “Anger begets more anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love.”
It is not surprising that the mother of this movie is angry following the brutal rape and murder of her daughter, especially when it seems to her that the police are not doing all they can to identify and capture the person who committed this brutal act,
Neither is it surprising that another character in the movie, a policeman, with an angry, alcoholic mother and his own acceptance issues turns to anger in the form of racism, homophobia, and sexism.
It is a “shock” when the seemingly airhead, 19 year old girlfriend of the ex-husband says to the mother, “Anger begets anger”. She claims she read it on a bookmark while reading a book.
It is perhaps also surprising when the parents of one of the young children who was killed in the Newtown shooting are working to stop violence by identifying the neurological roots of violence and antisocial behavior (Morning Edition, December 11, 2017, reporter Tovia Smith.) Although just as sad and grief stricken as the family in the movie, they believe and are documenting how many factors affects how the brain functions and, thus, how decisions are made and executed by humans. More and more scientists are identifying how the brain of humans works and why decisions making is a lot more complicated than many of us would like to accept. For example, on NPR on December 11 is a story on All Things Considered by Jon Hamilton entitled “Why Your Brain Has Trouble Bailing Out of a Bad Plan”. Research is showing that stopping a planned action “requires three key brain areas to communicate with eight other areas of the brain” and all within “one tenth of a second”.
Other studies are identifying how specific drugs such as meth amphetamine affects the decision making part of the brain. Still other studies are identifying other factors which affect the brain which in terms affects other functions of the body which in turn…
The film The Gatekeepers documents the assertion by 6 former heads of the Israeli internal security service that once a military action starts the goal quickly becomes punishment and not just stopping an action.
One could go and on with the results of research, which increasingly validates what everyone already knows – Anger begets anger.
Sadly, unlike the time-limited movie the play in which we are all actors continue with individual, community, national and international validation of the use of anger to make decisions. From the judicial system to the defense system the goal is to punish because we are angry. One can often present a cogent argument that one is acting in response to someone else’s angry action. That person(s) very often states that he/she is responding out of anger because of some previous action. Some have observed how often we make laws and send people to prison because we are angry. We seem to give little thought to all the research, which suggest that punishment is not going to heal or change an individual. As parents we know this. Our children might quit an action because of punishment but not because they have internalized the belief their action was wrong or immoral. More likely they will get angry or sneakier.
Written December 11, 2017
“Anger begets anger”
The title is a quote from the 19-year-old girlfriend of the ex-husband of the star of the movie “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri “written by Martin McDonagh. It is also a quote by Mahavira on Brainyquote.com. That full quote is “Anger begets more anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love.”
It is not surprising that the mother of this movie is angry following the brutal rape and murder of her daughter, especially when it seems to her that the police are not doing all they can to identify and capture the person who committed this brutal act,
Neither is it surprising that another character in the movie, a policeman, with an angry, alcoholic mother and his own acceptance issues turns to anger in the form of racism, homophobia, and sexism.
It is a “shock” when the seemingly airhead, 19 year old girlfriend of the ex-husband says to the mother, “Anger begets anger”. She claims she read it on a bookmark while reading a book.
It is perhaps also surprising when the parents of one of the young children who was killed in the Newtown shooting are working to stop violence by identifying the neurological roots of violence and antisocial behavior (Morning Edition, December 11, 2017, reporter Tovia Smith.) Although just as sad and grief stricken as the family in the movie, they believe and are documenting how many factors affects how the brain functions and, thus, how decisions are made and executed by humans. More and more scientists are identifying how the brain of humans works and why decisions making is a lot more complicated than many of us would like to accept. For example, on NPR on December 11 is a story on All Things Considered by Jon Hamilton entitled “Why Your Brain Has Trouble Bailing Out of a Bad Plan”. Research is showing that stopping a planned action “requires three key brain areas to communicate with eight other areas of the brain” and all within “one tenth of a second”.
Other studies are identifying how specific drugs such as meth amphetamine affects the decision making part of the brain. Still other studies are identifying other factors which affect the brain which in terms affects other functions of the body which in turn…
The film The Gatekeepers documents the assertion by 6 former heads of the Israeli internal security service that once a military action starts the goal quickly becomes punishment and not just stopping an action.
One could go and on with the results of research, which increasingly validates what everyone already knows – Anger begets anger.
Sadly, unlike the time-limited movie the play in which we are all actors continue with individual, community, national and international validation of the use of anger to make decisions. From the judicial system to the defense system the goal is to punish because we are angry. One can often present a cogent argument that one is acting in response to someone else’s angry action. That person(s) very often states that he/she is responding out of anger because of some previous action. Some have observed how often we make laws and send people to prison because we are angry. We seem to give little thought to all the research, which suggest that punishment is not going to heal or change an individual. As parents we know this. Our children might quit an action because of punishment but not because they have internalized the belief their action was wrong or immoral. More likely they will get angry or sneakier.
Written December 11, 2017
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