The following quotation from Stéphane Hessel sheds light on the reasons for indignation, distinguishing between those that are justified (injustices, violated ethics) and those that are unjustified (particular, partisan interests):
It seems to me that there are two quite distinct classes of motivations (or motives) for indignation. (…)
The first motivation is the defense of private interests. (…) Anything that impedes, thwarts or harms the clan’s interests, however selfish or unjust, will arouse indignation. These interests can also cover a wider circle of people (companies, political parties, teams, churches, institutions, ethnic groups, regions, nations, etc.). (…) undermining the group’s interests immediately arouses the indignant reaction of its members. Partisan indignation, (…) in that, firstly, it defends particular, non-universalizable interests (…).
Partisan indignation, secondly, in that it designates enemies with whom it would never be possible to get along, as defenders of divergent, opposing and incompatible interests. Indignation rises up against adversaries whom we wish to weaken or annihilate in the name of free competition.
The second motivation for indignation has two other faces, which give it more consistency, more legitimacy, and therefore more strength for long-term commitments.
- First face: indignation is based on the fundamental rules of justice, or on a well-considered conception of what is right (…).
- Indignation arises to protest against serious breaches of the principle of equity: discrimination, inequality, abuse of power, exclusion, broken (political) promises (…). It is (…) a properly ethical indignation, which in this case refers to values recognized as fundamental and non-negotiable, including, for example, the Charter of Human Rights (…).
Legal and ethical indignation have surprising, paradoxical characteristics in comparison with (partisan) indignation: they have no enemies to exclude! Of course, there are enemies of freedom, equality and respect for human dignity, but legal and ethical indignation do not reduce these enemies to the rank of wild beasts. On the contrary, they include them in the regime and in the benefits of the values they promote: isn’t it in the name of justice that, once arrested, tyrants, dictators and war criminals are not executed on the spot, but benefit from due legal process (ICTY)?
Source: Stéphane Hessel, “Indignez-vous!”, Édition Indigène, 2010.