14th
Violence :: To Be Or Not To Be
I prefer non-violence.
And that’s what I mean.
However, many of my friends take this preference of mine much further and have actually made commitments to non-violence. Those commitments are often made out of a deep theological conviction, one that I basically can agree with.
But what I can’t seem to agree on with most of them is what exactly do we mean by “violence?”
This is where I get stuck in the conversation on non-violence. What is violence? Have we reduced it to merely physical expressions of assault and force?
I think we could stretch what we mean by violence out pretty far.
Is anger violence? It is a violent emotion? If you know me, then it wouldn’t come as a surprise to you that, from time to time, I can get a wee bit angry with bad drivers. Road Rage. I’ve had chronic road rage even before they had a name for it. Are my raving rants behind the wheel a form of violence? Probably.
And what about the use of force? Is physically retraining someone from harming another person an act of violence? Some of my friends who have made commitments to non-violence will even say that they wouldn’t use force to protect a victim of assault.
Could the unwillingness to help a victim, by restraining the assailant or perpetrator, be viewed as a form of violence? Or could we say that becoming a human shield by throwing yourself between a victim and the one perpetrating an act of violence toward that victim is a heroic, yet deliberate, act of violence against yourself?
What about attitudes? Are racist or sexist attitudes a form of violence? Can the way someone views another person be a form of violence against the intrinsic dignity of humanity? I do think racism and sexism are violence.
So if push comes to shove (violent?), then, though I prefer non-violence and am against war, racism, sexism and a long list of other things, I am still conflicted about the use of force and restraint to protect vulnerable victims. And I’m still wondering what we mean by “violence,” especially from those who have made commitments to non-violence.
If you can, hit me up (non-violently of course) and help me figure this one out—violence, what is it and what does it mean?
