Violence # 2
At the beginning of this course, I was very naive to the concept of violence. I did not know that at the time, but as the course has gone on and we have had many difficult discussions, I see now all of the things that I was blind to. As seen in my last reflection paper, even in the few short weeks that the class had run, I had already noticed my ignorance of the subject. But now that the class is finished, I am able to recognize it even more so. I have to realize that there is no one definition of violence, and that it is defined not through a singular definition, but through various different scenarios and understandings of the word.
A topic that I touched on in my last reflection paper is how desensitized I was to violence in the media. That is not so much the case anymore. I watch a movie and I see brutal violence, murder, and sexual violence. Before my reaction was a simple thought, it’s just a movie. But after this class, and after all of the things that I have come to understand, it’s not just a movie anymore. These acts that we are seeing on tv, movies, video games, etc. are happening. They are someone’s reality, we have seen these things happen and have discussed them in class. And that, that thought, is one that I have trouble grasping.
During the duration of the class, we received insight to the various thoughts on violence from a variety of sources. One of those sources stood out to me more than the rest, and that was the perspective as given by Wolff. His idea of a wide definition, that violence encompassed more than just physical violence is similar to my own belief. In my opinion, motional and psychological violence must also be accounted for in discussion of violence, and sometimes that is not the case. I have seen psychological violence and emotional harm cut down a person just as effectively as if they were physically attacked. But, there were other perspective in class that were not so easy to comprehend. Many of the ideas presented I could not wrap my head around, and some of them just did not seem right to me.
One aspect that I focused on for my final project was the idea of animal abuse. Now personally, I did not attend the presentation on animal abuse because it is a topic that I have an extremely hard time visualizing. But, in terms of my research, one aspect that I focused on was the idea of an animal being less than a human. Who decides this? Who is the one who made the decision that these vulnerable creatures are somehow less than a human being, that they are worthless objects? One perspective that I read, pertained to the idea that all animals possess at least one trait that is similar to that of a human. According to this perspective, and if it is true, if every human and every animal have at least one trait in common, which trait is the one that defines humans as worth more? Worth protecting? Personally I do not understand how people can be so blatantly ignorant of animal rights, and have so little care for the life of another living creature. Anyways, this doesn’t explicitly relate to anything, I just thought that it was a very interesting frame of reference concerning animal abuse and cruelty.
One thing that I cannot seem to get out of my head as I am writing this, is can violence be stopped? Or that one day, in the future, will there be a world without any violence? Although it paints a pretty picture, I don’t think that this will ever be the case. Violence seems to be inherent, there are always violent people, no matter where you go. Nature vs. Nurture, genetics, animal instinct, etc: there are endless theories to why people are violent, and commit violent acts, and these are just a few. But one thing I can hope for, as I am always an optimist, is that violence will be reduced. That people will finally start paying attention, and stop violence before it happens. How? Parents stop buying their 7-year old children video games where they murder and pillage. Parents pay attention to aggressive tendencies in their children. Report animal abuse, whether it be child or adult, don’t be complicit as a bystander. There are so many ways that people can help to reduce violence, even in the slightest of ways, even with the smallest act. I know I sound like a bleeding heart, but this course has given me a awareness that I have never possessed before.
