Why do we condone violence? [View all]

[malthaussen]

Around 25 years ago or so (god, has it been that long?) a friend of mine -- he happened to be a white kid -- had his back broken by a group of gangbangers -- they happened to be black kids -- who worked him over with two-by-fours because, apparently, he had wandered onto their block. It was a mistake on his part, as it happens -- he didn't know it was their turf -- but regardless, there were many who told him it was his fault for going onto their block. (Yeah, he survived. He even got to walk again after a term of rehab)

A few years later, watching ESPN, I saw a professional athlete punch out an announcer right in front of the cameras. Now, it is certainly true that the announcer was provoking the athlete, and virtually dared him to attack. The poor schmuck paid for it, anyway, and the curious thing is that he was made to apologize, and forthwith lost his job, while the athlete went about his smirking way. Don't mess with the MAN!

Recently, we have seen another in a long series of kids -- who happen to be black -- being killled in cold blood by men -- who happen to be white -- and as should surprise no one, the media and the authorities are doing everything in their power to demonstrate that the poor schmuck "asked for it," and that the homicide was not just justifiable, but in some way commendable.

And we have also seen, numerous times, that when a woman is sexually assaulted by a male, everything from the clothes she wears to the cereal she eats for breakfast is cited as a reason the poor schmuck (schmuckette?) "asked for it," and the poor helpless attacker couldn't control himself.

Many have asked, why do we blame the victim? And that is a worthy and important question. But I'd like to flip it, and ask instead: why do we go to such great lengths to condone violence? I am admittedly weird -- I've never understood why "provocation" was an excuse for an attack, as if words were so much more injurious than GBH or death. Which is why, when incidents like this crop up (as they do on a daily, if not hourly, basis), I tend to shut my ears to all claims of what the victim did to "deserve" his injury, and ask myself rather why we condone and support the person who commits the violent act. There are those who will claim we have a "rape society," and those who will claim we have a "bullying society," and whatever the value of these claims may be, it is certain that we have always used violence to work our will on those from whom we want something. War, after all, is nothing more than killing people until they do what you want. It does not require much imagination to consider that our society promotes and encourages violence because we want to continue to execute violence on everyone not lucky enough to be "us."

-- Mal