(The introduction to the Violence or Peace series was posted on 9 July 2020 as A Concluding Introductory Summary with an Introduction to the Next Theme.)
Once we need force, it cannot keep us safe
Force can help us stay safe only when violence occurs only at the periphery of our community – the physical periphery or the social periphery.
As violence moves closer to the core of the community, as violence begins to develop within the core of the community – the physical core, the social core – then force can no longer keep us safe.
In an environment of increasing violence, responding with increasing force feeds a cycle of ever-increasing violence.
Beyond a certain low threshold, responding to violence with force only perpetuates and increases cycles of violence.
Force does not and cannot establish peace.
Violence Leads to More Violence
We have been responding to violence with violence for so long that we are well on our way towards being overwhelmed by violence.
The violence that we experience today is overwhelming, but with each new violent response to the previous violence, the violence in the world increases – and will continue to increase even more.
In the moment when we experience violence from others, a violent response in turn seems to be the only reasonable action.
“We can’t let them think they can get away with this. Take that!”
And every time we respond in this way to violence done to us, the other side has the same response.
“We can’t let them think they can get away with this. Take that!”
Neither side ever thinks they started the violence.
What do both children always say when the teacher separates them from fighting?
“He started it!”
Each side thinks that their next act of violence should settle the matter.
However, each violent response prompts the next violent response.
Even though we have thousands of years of evidence to the contrary, we still believe that our next act of violence will be the one which will finally put an end to violence.
“The War to end all Wars.”
There is, of course, no such thing.
For all our efforts to use violence to reduce the level of violence, the level of violence keeps rising.
Hmmm. Why is that?
Maybe it is because violence leads to more violence.
Each act of violence intended to reduce violence, by its very nature, increases violence because it is itself . . . violent. And because it will prompt a violent response from others.
Our act of violence intended to stop violence comes in response to a previous act of violence, itself intended as an act of violence to end some sort of violence previously experienced.
In addition, our act of violence intended to stop violence prompts the same sort of response that prompted our act of violence to stop violence: “We can’t let them think they can get away with this. Take that!”
The “that” which comes in response to our act of violence, is, no doubt, intended to reduce or end violence on our part.
We are, however, more likely to think, “We can’t let them think they can get away with this. Take that!”
Our response, no doubt, will be intended to reduce or end violence on their part.
What do you think will happen next?
About the image for this post: A friend of mine owned this book. Whenever he showed it to me I enthused about how beautiful it was, especially italic font used for the body text. About the fourth or fifth time I expressed admiration he told me, “You should just buy this from me.” So I did!
It is a book about land surveying, of all things, but it was printed in the early days of movable type printing. Not early enough to qualify as incunabula (if you know about that) but it shares the beauty of books produced by people whose work absorbed them and was meant to be beautiful.
Above you can see the first page of text.
Other posts in this Violence or Peace series will feature woodcuts from this book.
Now you know!