Below is a quote I came across while reading the "Communication that Blocks Compassion" chapter of Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life.
“I have thought for a long time now that if, some day, the increasing efficiency for the technique of destruction finally causes our species to disappear from the earth, it will not be cruelty that will be responsible for our extinction and still less, of course, the indignation that cruelty awakens and the reprisals and vengeance that it brings upon itself…but the docility, the lack of responsibility of the modern man, his base subservient acceptance of every common decree. The horrors that we have seen, the still greater horrors we shall presently see, are not signs that rebels insubordinate, untamable men are increasing in number throughout the world, but rather that there is a constant increase in the number of obedient, docile men.”
This quote in Marshall's book was embedded in an explanation about how we deny responsibility through a language he calls, Life-alienating Communication (as opposed to Life-connecting Communication).
He claims that we deny responsibility for actions when we attribute the cause to,
- vague impersonal forces
- our condition, diagnosis, personal and psychological history
- the actions of others
- the dictates of authority
- group pressure
- institutional policies, rules, and regulations
- gender roles, social roles, or age roles
- uncontrollable impulses
"Life-alienating communication both stems from and supports hierarchical domination societies...[and] has deep philosophical and political roots."
More on Nonviolent Communication soon.
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