An appeal to spite is a way for an individual to get "even" with another person to justify their reasoning for doing such actions. These actions are embedded with bitterness and hatred towards the other person.
For example:
Fidel: Mitch's birthday party is this Saturday. Have you gotten anything for him?
Charlie: I am still looking for a gift. I was thinking of buying him a Powell Brand skateboard for him.
Richie lightly speaking to Charlie: Hey man, remember at your 20th birthday bash, Mitch didn't even get you a present. Why are you even bothering to get him one?
--> Richie argues that Charlie shouldn't buy a gift for Mitch's birthday because Mitch did not give a present to Charlie when it was his birthday.
A stronger premise to this argument would be, "You should not give others gifts if they did not give one to you." Even so, I don't find this to a rational reason to justify not giving a gift. It's a bit selfish to me in my opinion. Just because Mitch didn't give Charlie a gift on his birthday, it does not make it legitimately right for Charlie to turn back and do the same thing to Mitch, instead it would be due to intentions of spite.
It’s amazing to me how long people can remember little things or incidences to then use them later to get back at someone. People who are spiteful are all about “getting even” and making things fair. They feel it is their responsibility to get back at people for the things that they have done wrong. I say let karma take care of that- if someone does something you don’t agree with, it is not your place or anyone’s to intentionally get back at them for no reason other than evening the playing field. However, that’s just how some people think unfortunately, enough of them even that there is a section in our book about it.
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