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levite · 02-23-2009, 12:02 AM

In contrast to your definition of violence, which seems to presume the word being loaded with a context of malice and controlled intent, I tend to think that "violence" is a comparatively neutral term. In other words, it implies an act of injury or aggression against someone else-- which can be negative-- but leaves unspoken and unclear the motivation for said action, whether it was ongoing or singular, and the results thereof.

Violence can be justified, though quite often it isn't. It can be defensible, even as a first option. For example, there is, IMO, a difference between my beheading someone in an open fight, with a sword, in order to stop them from killing a bunch of defenseless, innocent children; or beheading someone who is tied up, with a machete, because I don't like their skin color, or religion, or the country that issued their passport.

But whatever the cause or motivation, violence is a choice. It is most often an instinctive choice. Humans are omnivorous, and our ancestors hunted as well as gathered. Animals are not violent with malicious intent, but they are violent. They stalk, they hunt, they kill. They rend and tear and eat. They fight each other over territory and dominance. They fight to survive. We have predator within us, and thus deep down, violence is a part of our nature. But the fundamental premise of every lasting higher social ordering, whether secular philosophy or religion, is that human beings are capable of rising above their primal identities by using force of will backed by knowledge-- whether scientific/rational or mystical/arational or both-- and in doing so can transcend the limits of where they came from.

There is still plenty of violence in the world. Far too much of it, for my taste, and I think many would agree with me. But in the scope of human history, violence is slowly beginning to be controlled, if we look at the past couple of hundred years. Yes, there has been quite a lot of violence-- a horrid amount of it, to be honest-- but it has almost exclusively been in the context of war. Even Hitler, whose worst violence was reserved for those not currently taking up arms against him-- cloaked his genocides in the mask of war, knowing that without that garb, such mass-scale violence would be impossible to achieve in modern Europe.

Slowly, violence is being reduced by means of the requirement that it be justified. Right now, this reduction is hard to see-- indeed, it may be statistically so minor as to be meaningless-- so far. But I think it is there, and it is growing. Wars are protested now, where before in history they never have been. Terrorism has a name, and is condemned, whereas before it was simply another martial tactic, and a fact of life. Even the terrorists these days refuse to acknowledge that they are terrorists: it's "bad PR." These kinds of semantics are depressingly minor details, I know, but they are something! The fact that there is a United Nations, with most of the nations of the world belonging, which admits that it ought to be doing something about bringing about world peace-- to my mind, from the historical perspective, almost completely outweighs its actual ineffectiveness. All of this represents a beginning. The whisper of a coming motion forward. The murmur before the groundswell.

I think that there will come a day when the bulk of the human race learns to master our impulse to violence, and most human quarrels and confrontations will be settled with reasonable debate and negotiation. Depending on the natures of the other beings we encounter once we move out into the universe, perhaps one day in our very far future, the entire human race will be so, and violence amongst humans will be the subject of visits to museums and libraries alone. Human beings may always have that primal impulse to violence, but I think that for the most part, this can be rechanneled and sublimated.

None of this will happen in any of our lifetimes. That, I am sure of. But the beginning will continue. Maybe, just maybe, in our grandchildren's lifetimes, or those of our great-grandchildren, this will begin to become perceptible to the majority of people.

02-23-2009, 12:02 AM	#3 (permalink)
levite Minion of Joss Location: The Windy City	In contrast to your definition of violence, which seems to presume the word being loaded with a context of malice and controlled intent, I tend to think that "violence" is a comparatively neutral term. In other words, it implies an act of injury or aggression against someone else-- which can be negative-- but leaves unspoken and unclear the motivation for said action, whether it was ongoing or singular, and the results thereof. Violence can be justified, though quite often it isn't. It can be defensible, even as a first option. For example, there is, IMO, a difference between my beheading someone in an open fight, with a sword, in order to stop them from killing a bunch of defenseless, innocent children; or beheading someone who is tied up, with a machete, because I don't like their skin color, or religion, or the country that issued their passport. But whatever the cause or motivation, violence is a choice. It is most often an instinctive choice. Humans are omnivorous, and our ancestors hunted as well as gathered. Animals are not violent with malicious intent, but they are violent. They stalk, they hunt, they kill. They rend and tear and eat. They fight each other over territory and dominance. They fight to survive. We have predator within us, and thus deep down, violence is a part of our nature. But the fundamental premise of every lasting higher social ordering, whether secular philosophy or religion, is that human beings are capable of rising above their primal identities by using force of will backed by knowledge-- whether scientific/rational or mystical/arational or both-- and in doing so can transcend the limits of where they came from. There is still plenty of violence in the world. Far too much of it, for my taste, and I think many would agree with me. But in the scope of human history, violence is slowly beginning to be controlled, if we look at the past couple of hundred years. Yes, there has been quite a lot of violence-- a horrid amount of it, to be honest-- but it has almost exclusively been in the context of war. Even Hitler, whose worst violence was reserved for those not currently taking up arms against him-- cloaked his genocides in the mask of war, knowing that without that garb, such mass-scale violence would be impossible to achieve in modern Europe. Slowly, violence is being reduced by means of the requirement that it be justified. Right now, this reduction is hard to see-- indeed, it may be statistically so minor as to be meaningless-- so far. But I think it is there, and it is growing. Wars are protested now, where before in history they never have been. Terrorism has a name, and is condemned, whereas before it was simply another martial tactic, and a fact of life. Even the terrorists these days refuse to acknowledge that they are terrorists: it's "bad PR." These kinds of semantics are depressingly minor details, I know, but they are something! The fact that there is a United Nations, with most of the nations of the world belonging, which admits that it ought to be doing something about bringing about world peace-- to my mind, from the historical perspective, almost completely outweighs its actual ineffectiveness. All of this represents a beginning. The whisper of a coming motion forward. The murmur before the groundswell. I think that there will come a day when the bulk of the human race learns to master our impulse to violence, and most human quarrels and confrontations will be settled with reasonable debate and negotiation. Depending on the natures of the other beings we encounter once we move out into the universe, perhaps one day in our very far future, the entire human race will be so, and violence amongst humans will be the subject of visits to museums and libraries alone. Human beings may always have that primal impulse to violence, but I think that for the most part, this can be rechanneled and sublimated. None of this will happen in any of our lifetimes. That, I am sure of. But the beginning will continue. Maybe, just maybe, in our grandchildren's lifetimes, or those of our great-grandchildren, this will begin to become perceptible to the majority of people. __________________ Dull sublunary lovers love, Whose soul is sense, cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove That thing which elemented it. (From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)