My final thoughts on violence
Entering this class my views on violence were pretty limited. I’d be lying if I said this class hugely expanded my views. But it definitely was an eye opener to all types of violence. With all the discussions and presentations done a lot was learned. Especially the presentations, as they gave a slight overview on a certain dimension of violence, then it was narrowed down into specifics. The papers we wrote on a type of violence were spectacular as well.
Upon entering the course the topic the types and dimensions of violence was sort of an unknown to me. I was thinking violence was a very general topic with not very many specifics. But now I realize it is a huge topic with thousands of specifics underneath this umbrella known as violence. Before I saw it as “a physical or emotional attack on someone else” ( direct quote from first reflection paper). Of course it’s not wrong, but it’s also not right. By that I mean it is an extremely general statement. There’s so much more, like the dimensions. Whether it be social, economic, psychological or ethical. Ethical reasons behind violence is what my group did a presentation on for this class. Specifically I did war. The “Just War” theory. The theory that gives circumstances and criteria when it is “just” or “right” to go to war. Which I found really interesting because what you see in certain medias is that war is always bad and never a good thing. But in reality it can be a not so bad thing.
The violence in my life is still at a bare minimum, with only 2 physical encounters since my last paper. But they were more of a macho competition. A friend and I wanted to see who would win in a fight (it was me of course). Which had me thinking, this is somewhat of a social dimension on violence. Fighting each other to see who is the manlier one. This is something that we talked about in class. Being a male I never said anything because I thought it was ridiculous that it could happen. But nope, there I was fighting someone to show how “manly” I was. Looking back at it I laugh to myself because there was nothing to prove. There is no denying it was fun though. I’m not saying someone who is “manly” isn’t someone who fights or doesn’t though. I think it is subjective to define what being “manly” is.
Back to ethics, there is spanking. I used to never put thought into spanking because I was spanked as a kid and I like to think I’m an ok human being. But seeing everyone’s different point of view really made me think about it. Hitting a child is something you do out of anger is one side of the coin. The other is they won’t listen to any other forms of discipline. It really has me caught up because I think it does work on the basis of no other forms of discipline working. Some people will say a 3 year old won’t understand why you spanked them, but I believe they will. Dogs apparently have the intelligence of the average 3 year old and can be conditioned to not do something when struck. Not that I condone animal violence. But the same thing will happen with that child, they’ll understand why they’re being hit. They will learn not to do a certain action or say a certain thing because of the fear of being hit. However saying fear opens up a new can of worms and making your child fear you is never a good thing. So I believe if it is ever necessary, I will spank my future kids, if I get tricked into having any that is.
I’m thankful I took this class, the things I learned and the discussions we had made it very much worth it. What I can take away from this course is that violence is a much bigger and broader topic than thought previously. It has most definitely impacted my views on violence and the world, especially coming from a life where violence is really only something seen on TV or in games.
