The function of the inner witness in interrupting screening mechanisms of perpetrators' language

Amir, Dana; HaCohen, Nehama

doi:10.1002/aps.1691

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Conceptualizing the experience of committing violent acts and exploring the related meaning-making processes presents a methodological challenge, as it is inherently difficult to assess such a complex phenomenon. However, previous studies that used retrospective testimonies to study perpetrators’ narratives have proven to be valuable in revealing authentic evidence that expanded our understanding of these inaccessible areas of research ( Meyer-Parlapanis et al, 2016 ; Amir and HaCohen, 2020 , 2021 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Caught in the crossfire” – women veterans’ testimonies regarding excessively violent acts committed in combat zones

HaCohen,

Amir

2024

Front. Psychol.

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As women in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are increasingly placed in supportive and combat roles in active war zones, they routinely encounter and participate in violent acts. This study focusses on the centrality of gendered inequality and oppression as a factor that shapes not only women’s experience in the military but also their responses in cases of excessive violence. The goal of this study was to explore the ways women veterans of combat or combat-support units conceptualize their stance regarding violent acts which they either committed or witnessed in war zones. Using a qualitative approach, we analyzed the retrospective testimonies of 58 Israeli women veterans from the archives of an NGO that documents veteran combatants exposure to excessive violence. Most women explained their violent acts as inherent to the military system and culture, which in our analysis was categorized as examples of either internalized gender oppression or as identification with the aggressor. A smaller number of women described their attempts to protest, as they took a moral stance rooted in a feminine perspective. The three explanations revealed through the analysis of the testimonies reflect the inner tension experienced by many women in the military, as they navigate between two extreme positions, either as victims of male dominance, or as aggressors that are part of a powerful military system. In this study, gendered inequality provides a framework for analyzing the data. Thus, this study contributes to the theoretical knowledge and methodological approaches concerning violent situations in combat areas, focusing on the various ways in which women veterans subjectively and retroactively conceptualize their participation in and responses to violent acts.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Caught in the crossfire” – women veterans’ testimonies regarding excessively violent acts committed in combat zones

HaCohen,

Amir

2024

Front. Psychol.

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“…The analysis of perpetrators’ testimony from the archive of Breaking the Silence 5 suggests a massive use of screening mechanisms (Amir 2017, 2020; Amir and HaCohen 2020, 2021): heavy use of passive verbs, as well as frequent use of passive rather than active constructions, and of the first person plural rather than the first person singular, camouflaging the speaker’s responsibility; creation of an alternative moral hierarchy in which espousal of a lower moral value comes to conceal breaches of a higher one; creation of a false causality that supposedly explains the sequence of events; overt description of concrete facts accompanied by covert denial of their moral and emotional meaning; displacement of the victim into the position of the perpetrator, as when perpetrators cast themselves as the “true victims” of the political regime rather than admitting their responsibility for its, and their own, actions; and, finally, various expressions of pseudo-regret and false gestures of contrition, producing an illusion of compassion in testimonies whose hidden agenda is to cover up or undo the evil rather than recognize it.…”

Section: Banal Evil and False Pardonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But the banality of evil is expressed not only in concrete obedience to the commands but also in retrospective testimony about injustices done in the name of that obedience, testimony characterized by language that makes extensive use of deceptive screen mechanisms. I have coined the term screen confessions to denote a common feature of perpetrators’ language (Amir 2017, 2020; Amir and HaCohen 2020, 2021). What are these screen confessions?…”

Section: Banal Evil and False Pardonmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Revenge, Pardon, and Forgiveness

Amir¹

2022

J Am Psychoanal Assoc

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Political violence has long been a focus of psychoanalytic writing. Jessica Benjamin’s concepts of the complementarity, or twoness, and that of thirdness can serve as a point of departure allowing us to challenge the dichotomy between positions of revenge and forgiveness (on the victim’s part) and positions of evil and remorse (on the perpetrator’s), and to suggest a spectrum of encounters between victims and perpetrators that includes four types of interaction: (1) between the position of extreme evil on the perpetrator’s part, and the position of revenge on the victim’s; (2) between the perpetrator’s position of banal evil, and the victim’s position of false pardon; (3) between the perpetrator’s position of guilt and atonement, and the victim’s position of full pardon; (4) between the position of remorse on the perpetrator’s part, and the position of forgiveness on the victim’s. A thorough analysis of various testimonies illustrates how these four positions manifest, with varying degrees of dominance, in every encounter (whether concrete or imagined) between victim and perpetrator.

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From mind‐deadness to mindedness, from collaboration to cooperation

Amir

2024

Appl Psychoanal Studies

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Looking at the October 7, 2023, events in Israel, this paper suggests a unique configuration of Bion's minus links, called "broken links." The broken links not only represent a negation of a connection—but also a negation of the object. When the link of Love is broken, it is replaced by a unique formation of Love without an object, in which the lack‐of‐object installs itself as the sole object, replacing the work of mourning with pseudo, blank mourning. When the link of Hate is broken, the result is a murderous version of hatred, one that exceeds any proportion or context. When the link of Knowledge is broken, what ensues is a language that functions as a sealing material: instead of signifying and making differences, it drives to overgeneralize, erase differences, and remove distinctions, losing its metaphorical qualities and reducing to its literal meaning. These broken links lead to another twisted link: the link of solidarity, turning positive solidarity, which is based on cooperation—into negative solidarity, based on collaboration. The discussion suggests the shift from the state of mind‐deadness, characterizing broken links on both sides of the conflict, to the state of mindedness, in which the links are reclaimed and restored.

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The function of the inner witness in interrupting screening mechanisms of perpetrators' language

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

“Caught in the crossfire” – women veterans’ testimonies regarding excessively violent acts committed in combat zones

“Caught in the crossfire” – women veterans’ testimonies regarding excessively violent acts committed in combat zones

On Revenge, Pardon, and Forgiveness

From mind‐deadness to mindedness, from collaboration to cooperation

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