"The lens of violent innocence highlights these kinds of events as an insidious performance of righteousness or helplessness when confronted with the suffering they're actively enabling. There's a refusal to see one's own power or responsibility. By insisting "we can't do anything," lawmakers disown their agency, making the harm appear inevitable when there are actual political choices involved. Thus, the innocence becomes the mechanism of the violence."
""People or institutions might insist on their own innocence despite being given information that their decisions or inaction cause harm due to a desire to protect or preserve their view of self," Cromer said. "Receiving feedback and a request for change is hard, but it is necessary." By clinging to the story of their own goodness or helplessness, individuals and institutions can sidestep accountability ― and in doing so, perpetuate the very harm they deny."
The lens of violent innocence names a pattern where claimed righteousness or helplessness masks active enabling of suffering and refusal to acknowledge power and responsibility. Decision-makers sometimes disown agency by insisting they cannot act, which frames harm as inevitable despite available political choices. Individuals and institutions may deny causing harm to preserve self-image and resist feedback or requests for change. Clinging to narratives of goodness or helplessness enables avoidance of accountability and perpetuates harm. Healthy, adaptive entities treat feedback and awareness as ongoing, practice active listening and documentation, and modify behavior to prevent future harm.
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