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Why it’s time to start treating revenge as the potentially deadly addiction that it is
NY Post ^ | May 31, 2025 | James Kimmel, Jr.

Posted on 07/09/2025 8:50:56 PM PDT by P.O.E.

We don’t usually think of anger and resentment the way we think about drugs or alcohol. But growing evidence suggests that, for many people, the craving for revenge follows the same patterns as substance abuse and addiction, triggering powerful biological urges that can spiral out of control and destroy lives.

Recent neuroscience discoveries show that your brain on revenge looks like your brain on drugs. Real or imagined grievances (perceived mistreatment, humiliation, shame, victimization) activate the anterior insula — part of the brain’s “pain network.”

In response, your brain activates its reward circuitry, causing dopamine to flood your brain, producing short-lived bursts of pleasure.

(snip)

But an even more powerful revenge addiction strategy exists inside our brains — forgiveness. 

Recent neuroscience studies show that when you simply imagine forgiving a grievance, your brain’s pain, craving, and reward circuitry shut down and your self-control circuitry activates. In other words, forgiveness takes away the pain of past trauma, eliminates revenge cravings, and restores smart decision-making.

James Kimmel, Jr. says that forgiveness acts as “an even more powerful revenge addiction strategy.

It’s not a gift to the person who hurt you — it’s a gift to yourself.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: forgivenesstruth; revenge
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To: logi_cal869

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRcfqpyuk9k&ab_channel=BarrySwift

yep, justice deserves to be served (above clip - Language warning)


21 posted on 07/09/2025 9:25:18 PM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: asinclair

I would quibble with that. We all die eventually. I would say the greatest revenge is being more revered than your adversary.


22 posted on 07/09/2025 9:25:55 PM PDT by Windcatcher
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To: P.O.E.

Sounds good...right after I get even with that SOB...


23 posted on 07/09/2025 9:31:52 PM PDT by bigbob (Yes. We ARE going back)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Dems have been playing that game of starting the fight then playing victim. Much of their playbook is rooted in the seven deadly sins - greed, envy, sloth, etc.

Look at Antifa - a switcheroo if ever there was one. Justifying their hateful actions by claiming it’s because the other side is so hateful.


24 posted on 07/09/2025 9:31:59 PM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America.)
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

Perfect.


25 posted on 07/09/2025 9:41:46 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -')
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To: fidelis

WHO DOTH QUESTION HIS SERVANTS???

/s


26 posted on 07/09/2025 9:43:44 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -')
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To: GLDNGUN

Wire me fifty grand as a retainer and we can talk.

“consulting services”

/s


27 posted on 07/09/2025 9:47:19 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -')
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To: Political Junkie Too

It’s not just you...


28 posted on 07/09/2025 9:48:30 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -')
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To: P.O.E.

Revenge is good if justified, in years past. Kill my family member in a unjustified reason and I will kill you. This is a deterrent to more crime and makes society safer. Today the judicial system assume this role. Many times they get it wrong.


29 posted on 07/09/2025 9:55:53 PM PDT by cpdiii (cane cutter, deckhand, oilfield roughneck, drilling fluid tech, geologist, pilot, pharmacist ,MAGA)
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To: cpdiii

I was referencing the West Texas region of the 1850’s. There was little governmental law but some.


30 posted on 07/09/2025 10:01:21 PM PDT by cpdiii (cane cutter, deckhand, oilfield roughneck, drilling fluid tech, geologist, pilot, pharmacist ,MAGA)
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To: asinclair; Windcatcher
The greatest revenge is outliving your adversary.

And pouring a whole pint of premium Irish whiskey over his grave...

...After passing it through your kidneys.

Regards,

31 posted on 07/09/2025 10:13:29 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: P.O.E.

,,, JFK had a buck each way when he said “forgive your enemies but don’t forget their names.”


32 posted on 07/09/2025 10:16:17 PM PDT by shaggy eel (A long way south of the border.)
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To: logi_cal869
Thanks for the confirmation.

-PJ

33 posted on 07/09/2025 10:34:16 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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being wasted isn’t a requisite for despising Islam — solve that inconsistency


34 posted on 07/09/2025 10:57:52 PM PDT by Gene Eric
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To: P.O.E.

Yes, well, life is not all shoot-shoot, bang-bang, you know.


35 posted on 07/09/2025 11:00:25 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: ConservativeMind
“Nothing consumes a man more completely than a passion for resentment''.- Nietzsche
36 posted on 07/09/2025 11:07:14 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
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To: jmacusa; ConservativeMind

The left sells anxiety and resentment.


37 posted on 07/09/2025 11:08:52 PM PDT by linMcHlp
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To: linMcHlp
Yup. And it throws in dependence for free.
38 posted on 07/09/2025 11:12:24 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
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To: fidelis

I hate to ask this and I nearly did to a Christian call-in show——

God presents us with many things he shares with us and wants us to have. The types such as the “think on these things” in Philippians. Love. Peace.

When it comes to revenge, he reserves it for himself alone.

Does this mean revenge is the ultimate happy place element of the universe and we aren’t worthy of it like he is?

Or something he doesn’t us to suffer through and he’ll take over. Or we aren’t qualified to decide on true justice since we lack the infinite intelligence and knowledge beyond time that he alone possesses.


39 posted on 07/09/2025 11:24:02 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: P.O.E.

Bfl


40 posted on 07/09/2025 11:24:51 PM PDT by RoosterRedux ("There's nothing so inert as a closed mind" )
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