What is Moral Injury?

     Donald Trump, before his election bragged that he wouldn't loose a single follower if he pulled out a gun in Times Square and shot someone. Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Phillipines, repeatedly brags about having murdered several suspected drug dealers, and encourages his people to do the same. Trump and Duterte have a lot of supporters at home and abroad. 
     How do you feel when you hear about such things?

     "The sorrow, grief, and rage you feel is a measure of your humanity and your evolutionary maturity. As your heart breaks open there will be room for the world to heal."       Joanna Macy

      “… moral injury is an essential part of any combat trauma that leads to lifelong psychological injury. Veterans can usually recover from horror, fear, and grief once they return to civilian life, so long as ‘what’s right’ has not also been violated.”
        Jonathan Shay. “Achilles in Vietnam. Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character.” Scribner, NY, 1994.

     "Moral injury is 
     • the damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress their own moral and ethical values or codes of conduct
     • disruption in an individual’s confidence and expectations about one’s own or others’ motivation or capacity to behave in a just and ethical manner
     • the inability to contextualize or justify personal actions or the actions of others and the unsuccessful accommodation of these … experiences into pre-existing moral schemas
     • a deep soul wound that pierces a person’s identity, sense of morality and relationship to society."
       The Moral Injury Project - Syracuse University http://moralinjuryproject.syr.edu/about-moral-injury/

     See also: "Ignoring 'Soft Skills' & Moral Injury": http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2016/03/ignoring-soft-skills-moral-injury.html

Alexia Foundation http://www.alexiafoundation.org/stories/tradition-womens-rights-and-circumcision-in-guinea-bissau-africabr

Misogyny, Dental Students & "the Good People"

     "Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women. Misogyny can be found within many mythologies of the ancient world as well as various religions. In addition, various influential Western philosophers have been described as misogynistic." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misogyny

     Bruce MacKinnon's cartoon in the Jan 6, 2015 Chronicle Herald newspaper shows a female dentist and her male patient, wearing a Dal Dentistry 2015 shirt. They're both looking at his X-ray, while she tells him "No cavities, but we did find significant moral decay."

     Those of us who call for quick, severe punishment for these foolish men's online behavior are, like fundamentalist extremists, unable to self-regulate - unable to see, accept and appropriately manage our own deficiencies & emotional problems. At this level of hysteria, it's just a power struggle between "perps" who've been caught and "self-righteous" who've not yet been caught. It has nothing to do with morals, ethics, justice etc. and everything to do with widespread psychosocialspiritual immaturity.
     When we do mature out of adolescent / emerging-adult black-or-white thinking, we no longer see others as "evil" (or sexual objects) and ourselves as "good" (or 'gentlemen') ie no longer project our own shadow onto scapegoats. We see how all of us are both flawed and wise, in need of understanding, kindness, boundaries, and yes, at times corrective measures. But how should we discipline our own beloved children - no matter how terribly they've messed up? Our own children are not disposable sacrificial lambs. We'd want our own loved ones rehabilitated to become decent, mature, productive members of society. Treating each other like this actually models "morality."
     Colonialism in India, communism in Europe and apartheid in South Africa, with their millions of tortured murdered victims, were all dismantled without bloodshed. Dalhousie university will deal with these 13 emerging adults' online stupidity in a mature civilized manner.