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Their self-defense claim is one thing, but it's a whole other thing to brag about it, claim to have a trophy and to have desecrated the bodies.
by papercrane 9y ago
Their self-defense claim is one thing, but it's a whole other thing to brag about it, claim to have a trophy and to have desecrated the bodies.
- pmarreck 9y agoCould be a rationalization to cope with the trauma/horror of having killed someone, similar to "inappropriate" wartime or gallows humor; depersonalizing your victim is one way to avoid the full guilt of what you did and is a common psychological coping mechanism (that's not saying it's good...)
- hsod 9y agoI admire your dedication to the principle of charity
- pmarreck 9y agoI was a Psych major. Apparently the essence of what it taught me was "empathy for others" and "intolerance for bullshit" :) I am now seemingly surrounded by the un-empathetic (and the uncritical-thinking...) Probably the one piece of information that would make one more empathetic is reading up on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_bias#Fundamental_attribution_error https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_bias#Fundamental_a...
- papercrane 9y ago> I am now seemingly surrounded by the un-empathetic (and the uncritical-thinking...) Then you cite fundamental attribution error... Perhaps what's really happening is other are recognizing that the statement "it was kill or be killed" is not enough to determine what exactly happened, and does not necessarily mean the miners were attacked. Even if the miners were attacked and had to kill in self-defense the other claims would still be crimes. If they were a "psychological coping mechanism", that would not absolve guilt, but only be relevant for determining punishment.