I have to admit there are times when my own brain goes that route. I get so frustrated with people not seeing or hearing that I would be tempted to blow something up to get their attention, but like my friend's mother, I couldn't bear the thought of taking an innocent life.
I've always considered violence as the recourse of the lazy and the cowardly. It's much easier to shoot somebody than to try and work out your differences and possibly have to admit you were wrong about something. We have glamorized violence as the great problem solver through out most of our culture.
With the ‘settling it like a man’ in the boxing ring ethos when it comes to a dispute instead of talking it through, we are instilled with a ‘might makes right’ attitude to problem solving from an early age. We live in a society where intellect and reason are disparaged as being oddities and our heroes solve their problems with their fists and a weapon instead of their brains, compassion, and wisdom.
If I, with my attitude towards violence, can actually consider for even the briefest of moments using it to attract attention to a problem, how difficult would it be for someone else to cross that line? I will never condone the use of violence as a tool for problem solving, but I can see how seductive it could be as an option for those who think they have no other choice.
What surprises me is not that people have resorted to violence in an attempt to enact social change, but that more haven't done so. I only hope this continues to be the case.
Article comments
1 - Elvira Black
Great piece, Richard. This puts me in mind of a book called "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin deBecker (if memory serves)--one of the leading experts in stalkers, serial killers, et. al. In order for him to get inside the mind of even the most depraved criminal, he has to be able to imagine the world through the killer's eyes. This kind of empathy, if you will, is a positive force, though it "embraces" an evil one.
The author also challenges readers to think of the most horrible things one person could do to another--and then says if you can imagine it, there is someone out there who has done it--and worse. The point being we all have the capacity to think violent thoughts, as well as commit therm--but only some of us have the empathy and insight to turn that terrible knowledge into something constructive and positive--despite the horrific frustrations.