Violence

Why is violence acceptable?

Get off the gun ban bandwagon.

Get off of the noisome screeching that happens whenever there is a shooting. Guns are not the problem. You do not have to like guns, but you should realize that guns never have and never will cause a person to do violence upon another person.

Period.

The real demon, the real problem, is the act of violence. Why do people feel that the solution to everything is violence? Where is the breakdown that causes a person to believe that violence is the answer? It is not a recent thing, it did not just happen last month, or last week, or last year. This is something that has been building for a long time. The instances of domestic violence and spousal and child abuse has seen a tremendous increase in numbers. Road rage, retail rage, airline rage, all of these are increasing. 

And nobody seems to care unless it involves a gun.

Now, I KNOW that people care, but typically it is only if it is a particular violence that impacts them directly. Apparently nobody cares if someone drives a van through a crowd of people, or uses a knife to end a group of people’s lives. What about the guy that hit his two sons in the head with a hammer to knock them out, then blew up the house they were in that was filled with propane? So, cars and knives are acceptable methods of violence but guns are not? I do not see things that way.

A breakdown of weapons used to commit violent crimes shows that the most likely weapons used are hands, feet, and mouths. This followed by household items and then hardware tools. Yes, handguns are there next, but the list is filled with other weapons. The one single thing that is present in each of these crimes is violence. Someone at some point said that violence is the way to accomplish what I want or to get what I need. Why is it acceptable to have a bounty on a football player and the type of injuries you can inflict on him, until suddenly it goes too far. 

Why is it acceptable to tell rioters that they need to “Burn the city down!” or why is it acceptable to cry “Eat the rich!” or “Kill all cops!”? Is it the motivation that drives this? Is it truly okay to incite riots and violence, burning cities and looting businesses for political gain? 

Why is violence acceptable? So many people are crying that something needs to be done, and I cannot stress how much I agree! But that something is to treat the cause rather than the one part of the act that you do not like. Why are children thinking that they need to act out in anger, that violence is acceptable? Grade school teachers are struggling with this and they should not be! The public is expected to just accept that a child running around a restaurant screaming in people’s ears and slamming things off of their table just because mom did not buy him an ice cream cone. (This, by the way, was my experience just the other night.) There was no discipline nor even any attempt to reason with the child. If children are not being taught an alternative, then when, or even if, are they going to learn this? Why is violence acceptable? 

And in asking why is violence acceptable I do also know that there are times when violence is the answer. I will, and I will encourage anybody, to defend themselves and those who are unable or unwilling to defend or protect themselves without prejudice. A mother protecting her children, a person under assault, protection of your self, your family, and your property. But these are reactionary. “I want your “X” (X = money, car, property, body, etc.) and I am going to use violence to take it from you,” is not acceptable and never should have been. “You  are going to slow in the fast lane, so I am going to ram your car or shoot at you as I pass,” really is stupid.

Why is violence acceptable? 

Personally, I believe that by focusing on the one single aspect of violence (guns) it minimizes the entire problem that violence has become acceptable. Forcing someone to act or think a certain way or to take something you want from them, forcing them to do something against their will. Violence, or the threat of violence, needs to not be a thing.