Thread: Is Revenge Ethical?

I think revenge is good; it's the way it happens is what is questionable. In my own life, I have found that when someone has done me wrong they always get what's coming to them. It happens even if I never have a role in them getting it.

Real life example ...

I had this chick friend that I used to work with and party with on the weekends. Slowly after she burned me at work, literally, our friendship started to break apart. The real head turner that broke us apart was ridiculous and un-called for. What happened was that she was having a get together with a bunch of people and our mutual friend called me up to the party and demanded my presence. I, myself, being a usual patron of the parties at this girl's house obliged and drove over to the house to see everyone. Well, the host was out and the girl that invited me over had to step out to pick up some take out. So, I chilled out at the house with everyone until the "hostess" arrived. When she walked in she took a look at me and with a sarcastic tone of voice welcomed me and asked me what I was doing there. I let her know that I was invited by our friend and she proceeded to throw an immature fit for a 24 year old about how no one asks her if they can come over and made a spectacle out of not only herself but me as well. She humiliated me while she was in the other room. So, I texted my other friend to prepare her for the news and to let her know that I was silently stepping out to go where I was welcome.

So, revenge you ask? Well, I'm pretty passive about getting back at other people because you never know when it'll get back at me. A lot of legal ratifications go into revenge these days. People are sue happy.

It's not the first time that this "woman" has just tossed people to the side like they weren't worth the same rights as other people. I guess she had built up a lot of bad "karma" you might say.

What's her punishment? Well, recently she was out joy riding with some of the people in her life that she has chosen to keep around for a lengthy period of time for whatever reason she has to use them. Joy riding on four wheelers. She was riding with a passenger and going pretty fast and hit something while riding. She was thrown into the air and hurled into a creek stream. Something entered her body and punctured a lung. She's been in the hospital in intensive care for some time now.

My point is that you don't have to sully your own hands on behalf of revenge. It only makes you feel like a bad person just like they are. If you're patient and have a heart that allows you not to dwell on the bad things that people have done to you, you will see in the long end that their own misdeeds will catch up to them somehow, someway.

So, my friend. It'll be okay. Just remember that if they really have done something so bad to you, you no longer have to keep them in your life. Out of sight, out of mind. It'll be off your immediate memory soon enough. You'll forget all about it and live you life again with happiness. Sure, you'll remember it in the future from time to time but each time you remember it, you'll care that much less in the future each time.

So, some unwarranted humiliation from a friend begets life-threatening harm? Are you even listening to yourself?

Revenge, to me, has nothing to do with karma. Revenge is a retaliation against someone BY YOU, because of a something that happened to you personally. It's as selfish as it is justified, and not even close to ethical. I can scarcely think of a case wherein revenge is quote "ethical". I can tell you the example above, if you can even call that a real example, is a far cry away from being revenge to begin with, and certainly not justified.

for me revenge isn't an ethical issue its a matter of doing it or forgetting the person who crapped on you its as simple as that , and evil really is a point of view because to me strapping someone down pulling there toe nails out then slowly skinning them on one body part at a time then pouring salt on there skinned body . that would/t be evil to me it was be revenge.


though it takes a whole lot to make me want revenge because i pretty much ignore jerks that think its funny to mess with me on a personal level they will get theirs in the end. but that's just me im sure thee are nicer ways f revenge but im more direct and they will only mess with me one time. and just in case any one does think that's not a good thing or a revenge thing in what i just said
that was just how i see revenge and what i don't think is evil which is what he was asking.

I used to wish for revenge on people I hated, but since then I've decided that it's not going to solve anything, and it'll probably make everything worse

I think it depends on the situation, however my mom told me something that made me think about revenge that had led me to this philosophy. To me, vengence; revenge; and justice are all similar but different. To me vengence is the knowing that someone is guilty of some "crime" or "slight" or whatever and making sure that they pay for it. Revenge is similar, however, it all to often leads to innocent ppl getting caught in the crossfire and hurt. Vengence can lead to revenge, this is why we have justice. Justice allows us to punish those who are guilty w/o innocent ppl usually getting caught in the crossfire, because it is based on evidence and not instinct. You can prove or disprove evidence, you can't do that with instinct.

However there are things that occur, in our lives, that are not strong enough for us to require the services of justice. In this situation vengence, not revenge, is perfect. So long as one doesn't go to extreme nor involve those that have nothing to do with whatever event or slight that occured with you to cause you to seek vengence. And I feel that if you are seeking vengence, don't let it consume you and make sure that you are in the right. If it started with you then it should end with you, there is no point in seeking vengence if you are the one to blame for it starting in the first place.

This is just how I feel on the matter and I'm sure that not all would agree with me.

Originally Posted by HolderOfTheDarkChalice

evil really is a point of view because to me strapping someone down pulling there toe nails out then slowly skinning them on one body part at a time then pouring salt on there skinned body . that would/t be evil to me it was be revenge.

Do you not understand what revenge means? Revenge is inherently ill-willed, what you just described is an act that you know is unpleasant, otherwise you wouldn't consider it revenge in the first place. Even if you justify your cruelty through revenge, it doesn't take away from the fact that you performed an action you knew very well would be unpleasant ("bad") against the person you used it against; worse, you did it knowingly.

I still have yet to see an example that promotes revenge in a good light. Even if everyone in the world wishes you to have revenge on someone, it doesn't make it anymore ethical, nor good. When you let your personal feelings drive your reason, especially reasoning that could wind up with an unethical outcome, you're no better than the person you wish revenge on in the first place. If anything, you're lower than them.

My tone reading this seems to suggest that I don't support revenge, which isn't true, I've wished ill on many people, many times, for many reasons selfish or otherwise. However, I'm also smart enough to recognize no matter how much I wanted it, it didn't make it any more justified or right.

i know what revenge means and i think what you do to others always comes back on you 10 fold so im not as stupid as to go out and get revenge on some moron who took my cookie from me when i was a kid or some guy who took the last fishing rod in the store they knew i was gonna get but they got it first because they though it must be a good rod for me to be staring at it for so long.

and i also think vengeance is a last resort method because of you read where i said it was just the way i see revenge it isn't anything i would do personally. its just how i see revenge because there are all sorts of bad things that come from hurting someone and you have to be willing to take what comes with it .


and i don't think anyone would be dumb enough to test fate like that