Choosing violent solutions to solve our problems is the hallmark of our society.

Date:   9/18/2006 1:37:27 PM ( 18 y ago)

Violent solutions to our national and personal problems has been a hallmark of so-called civilised societies throughout history.

Is there any reason to believe that the political/cultural choices and personal choices to use violence are not linked? That the Montreal college shootings, several school shooting rampages, and even domestic abuses and violent deaths, are not directly related to our national obsessions with solving problems with violence?

Some would dismiss this relationship, citing different circumnstances, but it is often the very same person making the choices to use violence. Our politicians are also our fathers and brothers, sisters and mothers, some of whom are actually guilty of domestic abuse and perhaps on the same day will go to Parliament and choose to legistlate military actions. Or, they might just be influenced to use violent solutions as politicians because they grew up in violent homes, or even just grew up in a nation that honours its war dead as"the greatest heros of our nation".

The point is that violent solutions has been a way of life for many generations. We have never had a Canada with a few generations of citizens who have not been exposed to the mindset of violent solutions to our most urgent problems. Certainly the USA can be looked at as an example of how violent solutions becomes a way of life, and continues to be their primary choice, because it is re-inforced by government.

We could even examine the "behind the scenes" powers who might have a vested interest in continuing the choice to use violence solutions, and conclude that they have used immensly effective tactics to influence both politicains and ordinary people to make that choice. They have done it in directly by telling the politicians under their control [i.e."funded"] to use military actions where diplomacy was working, so as to thwart a peacfull resolution to whatever problem. Any government legistlated military action results in huge windfall profits for weapons makers, which all elite wealthy people [the "behind the scenes " powers] are invested heavily in. They have also created violent solution mindset in the public thru movies and television shows that constantly have leading characters who choose to use violent solutions to their problems.

Do the violent solutions work though? In the movies and television shows, the bad guys never seem to be able to shoot very well, so yes, violence works really well, especially gun violence. Also, the good guys seem to be able to take a blow without being injured, so it is also safe as long as you are on the good side. And the good side is allways violent. There has not been one show made yet that shows a non-violent person achieving success by leading the people to embrace a non-violent society. At best, there may a period of hope, only to be replaced with the more usual western society type of "happily ever after", but not a whole society that rejects military and other vilence,as if it cannot exist. That is not realistic, the more likely "to not exist" society should be the violent society, as we all kill of each other in great numbers and leave emotionally damaged people to pick iup the pieces. Oh ya, thats what we have now...

... and it does appear to be a society that might survive by using vioilence, because it does work in the short term, but because we are pre-occupied with military and other violence, we are not addressing global warming, so we might perish that way. Its not that violent choices are better than having a non-violent society - it is just the only kind of society we know, because violent solutions to problems are the only answer we have tried. Maybe thats why the politicans are stumped on how to handle global warming!!

Links:
THE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR EXPERIMENTS
http://www.cbc.ca/bigpicture/human.html
[K - under authority, people feel absolved of the morality of using violence]

Religion: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL?
http://www.cbc.ca/bigpicture/evil.html
[K -I am a proud athiest, for this reason only]

TORTURE QUESTION
http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyesunday/feature_190206.html
[K - see Human Behavior Experiments]

 

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