Violence, Part Two

Last month, I began our two-part look at violence with a look at what it is and what it can do to a person. This month, I will conclude by picking up where I left off and looking at what violence has done to society.


Violence is all around us, and it has regrettably become a part of the life of every single person on this planet (and anyone who denies it is either ignorant or full of shit). We can easily see what it does on an individual level, how it tears families apart, how it creates pain that could never be described in words. We watch as the innocent are forced to suffer and die because of the way our society has chosen to live. But why? Why has society accepted violence as a means to solve problems?

To answer this, we must first accept our violent and brutal nature. I spoke in the first post about the history of violence; indeed, violence has been part of this world since the dawn of time, and we humans have only exacerbated it. While it is true that all animals have the capacity for violence, it is only humans that conscientiously act on those tendencies. The “lesser” animals (and I put lesser in quotes because I don’t agree with the massive superiority complex that we suffer from, but more about that another time) act out of instinct, usually to protect young or a good food source.

With humans, this is different. We intentionally act violent towards one another, usually for no good reason. This goes back thousands of years, with greedy kings seizing land and killing the occupants at every opportunity; this continues to happen today. For some reason that I cannot fathom (this is a moot point, as I believe there IS no rationalization for such behavior) we insist on using violence as a method of getting what we want, as a means to solve a problem.

Take, for example, early European colonies in the Americas. European Kings sent men to these lands for two reasons: expansion of their empire and acquisition of wealth. Whenever the native peoples stood up against them, they were killed (and those who didn’t die in battle tended to die from the diseases introduced by the settlers). Even worse, the invaders were completely blind to the natural beauty and power of the lands they fought so violently to take. If a greater power wanted something, they simply took it, using any force necessary and showing how skewed their sense of values had become.

We like to pretend that we don’t act like that anymore, but we are just as brutal as ever. Industries and governments alike destroy lands and force people to relocate so that they can drill for oil or extract a few minerals because demand has deemed them valuable. But because our lust for blood has whittled our patience down to nothing, we don’t want to wait for diplomatic solutions to pan out. Instead, we simply take.

But this doesn’t only extend to foreign lands. For thousands of years, rulers have used violence and the threat of violence to keep their subjects in line, killing or maiming those who rebelled or disagreed (insert cry of “Off with his head!” here), and this is still used today. Look at all the protesting in the Middle East. People are being killed because they no longer wish to live under the greedy warlords who govern them. Twenty-two years ago, tanks rolled over students in Tianemen Square. During the Civil Rights Movement, demonstrators were often harassed, beaten, or worse; the abuse came not only from citizens, much of it came from law enforcement and even government officials (such as Alabama Governor George Wallace standing in front of the door to the University of Alabama to prevent black students from entering; thankfully, that particular event did not result in violence); hell, even our own civil war comes down to the Union forcing the rebels back in line.

This opens the door on what I believe may be the most common reason for violence (aside from self-defense): failure to listen. Actually, I’d like to revise that statement to say that I believe the failure to listen is the root of all violence. This seems like a very outlandish claim, so let’s first look at a dictionary definition of “listen”. Dictionary.com gives four definitions:

Listen

1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.

2. to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed by to ): Children don't always listen to their parents.

3. to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed by for ): to listen for sounds of their return.

4. Informal . to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound: The new recording doesn't listen as well as the old one.

Most of these describe listening in the purely physical sense, but look closely at number two, especially at the first three words: to pay attention. We’re all told to pay attention, but how many of us truly do it? I mean, ignorance is bliss, right?

Wrong.

Ignorance leads only to trouble, and it is magnified about a thousand times over when you are in a position of power. People become convinced that their point of view is the only right one and that no one else’s matters, hence the saying “in one ear and out the other”. At the least, this leads people to act like jackasses (I’m sure we’ve all known a few of those) while at the extreme, violent and destructive behavior can emerge, along with a large degree of smugness; in a person of power, this also creates fear and paranoia.

But there is more to this than just ignorance. Part of listening is to have an open mind, and frankly, most people do not. We are a remarkably close-minded species, and this is not limited to any one culture or place or even time. Our minds are more open than they once were, yes, but when faced with something we don’t understand, we retreat like a turtle into his shell. If something doesn’t mesh with our beliefs, instead of trying to understand it, we become defensive (due in part to the aforementioned lack of patience). We become ignorant and derisive of all points of view contrary to our own. Can you see now how a simple failure to listen results in virtually all violence on this planet (excepting those acts that are part of nature i.e. killing for food)?

But this doesn’t just affect one side of the coin. When someone fails to listen to you, you also become irate and lose patience. When diplomatic communications break down, the results can often be disastrous. Countries can end up going to war, the ultimate illustration of what a failure to listen can do. Countless lives could be lost, and many more could suffer untold horrors and pain. It has happened thousands of times in our history, it is happening now, and if we don’t change, it will continue to happen.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Above all else, we must open our minds to other points of view. We continue behaving so arrogantly and pretending that we know everything, because, simply put, we are fucking stupid. In a previous entry, I compared the current state of the human race as being analogous to that of a teenager. Extending this analogy, we can see just why we are so violent to each other; we need only look at an average high school to see how cruel teenagers can be to each other. The human race is just like this, torturing one another out of ignorance, lack of patience and an inability to accept those who are different.

There is, regrettably, one other reason that we act with such violence and cruelty towards each other and that is that some people actually enjoy it; in the recent film “The Dark Knight”, Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred sums it up by saying “some men just want to watch the world burn.” In some people, the lust for violence has become so thoroughly ingrained that they no longer need any kind of reason for it, they just do it for entertainment. They enjoy watching people squirm. Such people are rare, but they can cause great damage nonetheless; think of brutal dictators like Hussein and Trujillo. Such people revel in destroying the world around them.

But now we are seeing a fascinating change. People are standing up to such dictators. They are sending a clear message that they no longer wish to live in a violent, oppressive society (ironically, through the use of violence, which in this instance I will neither condone nor condemn). As more and more peoples and nations begin to stand up for what is right, perhaps we will finally begin to usher in the era of peace we’ve looked for so many centuries. If we can continue down this path, we can finally begin to eliminate greed and corruption.

This will not be an easy path, nor will we be able to traverse it quickly; it is bound to be fraught with further horrors and will likely take several more generations in the least but it will all be worth it. The first step is to educate. Education will combat ignorance, which in turn will create acceptance, patience and understanding. If we can simply learn to listen, we can throw away the need for violence. Set an example for your friends and neighbors and for our children. Pass down a legacy of acceptance and kindness instead of one of ignorance and cruelty. Stop fighting over ridiculous things like resources and religion.

The greatest value is not in the ground, it is in life.