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minerva
Member
1034 Posts |
 Posted - 25 May 2006 : 1:15:55 PM
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What Is An Insult? ::: Definition and Nature of Insults
The power of an insult can be devastating. Historically, insults have packed a powerful political, social and cultural punch. They have caused wars, civil disturbance (such as when an ethnic group is disparaged) and been central dynamics in great works of literature and art. Beyond their power on the group level, they have devastating power on the individual level. An insult can provoke an extreme reaction in its recipient such as an act of violence, a resulting feud, a suicide, a resignation, etc. On a less extreme level, it can cause anxiety, depression, erode confidence, etc. Surprising, then, that there is so little understanding about what an insult actually is.
According to Dictionary.com, the definition of an insult is "to treat someone with gross insensitivity, insolence, or contemptuous rudeness." However, this definition is flawed for three reasons: 1. It implies that an insult is an action/event, not allowing that an insult can be an inaction/non-event such as something not said or done. 2. It implies that action/event is deliberate, not allowing for the fact that the 'insulting' party can be wholly unaware of the insult. 3. It is simply inadequate in its grasp of the complex nature of what an insult actually is. I define an insult as: An action or inaction, which a person perceives as demeaning to his or her status; usually intentional.
There are two basic types of insult: pragmatic and cathartic. The pragmatic insult is usually methodical and delivered with precision as a means to any one or more of a multiplicity of premeditated ends: offence, humiliation, provocation, rebuke, organizational, distraction, dominance, scapegoating, etc. The cathartic insult involves an ad hoc release of emotions (anger, hostility, frustration, etc) and is essentially 'venting one's spleen' at someone.
Insults can be verbal, comprising of invective, negative stereotyping, and rudeness or swearing, etc. They can take the form of an action, such as a valued object damaged, a cheap gift, a door not held open for you or intentionally slammed in your face, symbols desecrated, gifts returned or invitations refused, even foul smells, etc. They can take the form of an inaction, such as an invitation or get-well card not sent, a phone call not made, a date or time not kept, a custom or convention not observed, etc. They can be visual, such as offensive or indecent gestures e.g. pulling faces/sticking out one's tongue, "Obscene" artworks, or any of countless other visual gestures designed to insult.
An insult is any expressed assessment of a person that is not in accord with his or her own favorable self-assessment. It doesn't have to be a deliberate attempt to insult, but merely the expression of the assessment. Moreover, the unfavorable assessment can be a forced self-assessment, such as seeing someone doing a task better, driving a more expensive car, or dating a prettier girl. Here, contrasting the success or superiority of another can perversely be seen as accentuating a sense of inadequacy, and consequently, perceived as an insult. For example, a former girlfriend who engineers her former boyfriend observing her with a new boyfriend who drives a better car than he does, where the purpose is clearly to insult her ex-boyfriend by the technique of forced contrast and resultant unfavorable self-assessment.
An insult can have an immediate impact, a deferred impact or no impact at all. A verbal confrontation involving an exchange of insults intended and perceived as such by both parties is an obvious example of a situation where an immediate impact occurs. A deferred impact is where the insult (intentional or not) is not perceived as such at the time of its occurrence but later it 'sinks in' and the insulted party then reacts. It not a requirement of an insult that the insulted party perceives or reacts to it; nor is it required that the insulting party intended the insult. Thus, we can have an apparently absurd situation whereby the insulting party intended no insult and the insulted party perceived none, but an insult still occurred! It is not required that an insult has two parties to be an insult. An artist may create a work of art with the clear intention of expressing something considered blasphemous or taboo by a particular faith; even though it may never be seen, his work is still an insult. Likewise a blasphemy can be expressed, or a taboo broken, unwittingly; and an insult arise with no intent.
Insults and jokes are closely related. An insult, however, is not a joke. Generally, a joke stimulates positive emotions such as pleasure, laughter, etc, while an insult stimulates negative emotions such as anger, humiliation, etc. You might wonder then, what constructive use humor is to the purpose of an insult. If the insult is public (has an audience), humor can further compound the complexity of the insult by soliciting laughter. The insulted party will see this as others laughing at him or her and feel negative emotions - typically humiliation, isolation, situational impotence, etc - in addition to the specific impact of the insult. Tactically, therefore, humor is highly constructive to a public insult. In a private insult (no audience other than the target), humor can serve as a display of ingenuity, undermining the insulted party's ability to retaliate with an equally witty or cutting retort, thereby compounding his or her distress by generating additional feelings of inferiority.
In group dynamics, insults can be inclusive, ritualistic or exclusionary. They can reinforce shared group identities and values and enable interpersonal bonds between members of the group. Insults can, paradoxically, signal status within the group by being aimed at those who are robust enough to withstand them by others of similar elevated status. Ritualistic insults are often used as a form of initiation into a group - for example, the "rites of passage" or humiliation rituals used in armies. Exclusionary insults are aimed at unpopular members, and both reinforce the group's identity and elevate its status by devaluing others who are not members of the group. Insults are too dynamic in nature to be used as a formulated group strategy, but their cathartic and ad hoc nature can be a useful technique in allowing for the discharge of pent-up emotion or the introduction of a specific criticism in a 'jocular' or semi-confrontational manner.
If the kernel of an insult is the belief that one's status has been diminished, then the art of insult is in diminishing the status of another. That implies that an insult is a weapon used to inflict psychological injury. However, it is healthier to understand an insult as being a tool, rather than a weapon. Nevertheless, if insults are to be understood as a weapon, then they are a weapon that can be used for good or for bad; for attack or for defense - just as a knife or any other weapon can.
We've all heard the old schoolyard taunt, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Actually, a word can inflict a more powerful injury than a stick or stone - especially when written on a bottle and smashed over someone's skull!
- Insultmonger.com Webmaster
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Insults
