Breaking Bad Syndrome: When A Normal Person Becomes Heisenberg
Many violent acts are the result of the desire to “do good” as explained by two anthropologists in their provocative book called ‘virtuous violence ‘. “Violent acts may seem unacceptable to the majority of society but they make sense and are necessary for those who practice them. These people feel they have to make someone pay for their evil, teach a lesson, or instill obedience. ” argue its authors.
The book has its origins in an investigation of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) headed by Alan Page Fiske and Tage Shakti Rai. Both researchers maintain that the majority of criminals and people who commit acts of violence follow the same pattern of behavior as the protagonist of the famous television series. “Breaking Bad” and carry out violent acts motivated by the desire to do good. That is to say, It is quite common to exercise violence against others because you think that you are defending a moral cause.
Breaking Bad syndrome: the influence of personal beliefs and violence
In the television series that inspired them, the protagonist Walter White He becomes a drug dealer after learning that he suffers from cancer. In his mind, his father’s duty makes him enter the world of drug trafficking since he feels obliged to leave a good economic legacy to his family and obtain the money necessary to pay for his treatment.
“Self-morality not only consists of being good, polite and peaceful, but also includes the feeling that, in some cases, there is an obligation to do something without taking into account the practical consequences,” he explains in an interview with BBC World Alan Page Fiske, of the UCLA anthropology faculty.
The research data
According to the BBC article, Fiske and Rai’s conclusions are a consequence of the analysis of hundreds of studies on violence carried out in different parts of the world. These, in turn, were made up of thousands of interviews with criminals. After reviewing all the data they had, They found moral motivations even behind suicide, war and rape although they admit that there are exceptions that confirm the rule. “Except for some psychopaths, almost no one harms another with the intention of being bad,” explains Fiske. The researcher clarifies, “that his study does not justify those who commit violent acts, but rather exposes the reasons why they carry out them.”
In their book, Fiske and Rai give the example of people who abuse their children or their partners. Even though they are wrong from society’s point of view, they are convinced that they are doing the right thing. The perception that their victims must obey them is the result of their beliefs.
An example of the influence of beliefs on violent acts: the Nazis
Before becoming chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler he was obsessed with ideas about race. In his speeches and writings, Hitler contaminated German society with his belief in the superiority of the “Aryan race.”
When Hitler came to power, These beliefs became ideology of the government and they were disseminated on posters, on the radio, in movies, classrooms and newspapers. The Nazis began to put their ideology into practice with the support of German scientists who believed that the human race could be improved by limiting the reproduction of those people they considered inferior. The truth is that the events that occurred during the nazi holocaust, They were produced by normal people who were not particularly bad citizens. Hitler, with his anti-Semitic campaign, made the German people believe that the superior races not only had the right but had the obligation to exterminate the inferior ones. For them, the race struggle was consistent with the laws of nature.
This shows, therefore, that much of human violence has its roots in the beliefs. If the key to eradicating violent behavior is to change beliefs, by changing them, we will also be changing the perception of what is right or wrong.
