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    Understanding Violence: The Understanding Series
    Understanding Violence: The Understanding Series
    Understanding Violence: The Understanding Series
    Ebook182 pages1 hour

    Understanding Violence: The Understanding Series

    By Belinda Tobin

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    About this ebook

    "Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding." – Albert Einstein.

     

    Understanding Violence is a heartfelt exploration born from the author's continued distress at the family and domestic violence crisis that has been continuing for decades. To solve the problem of violence, we must first fully understand it, not just one part, but its totality. This book goes beyond the headlines, delving into the varied and often hidden ways violence manifests in our society—from the overt to the subtle, from the physical to the psychological. It shows family violence as one traumatic symptom of a much larger disease. Reducing violence in society then is not just about pointing fingers at "bad people"; it's about understanding the culture that allows violence to thrive and recognising that we all play a role in its perpetuation.

     

    Drawing from research, personal reflections, and expert insights, the author emphasises that understanding is the first crucial step toward change. By calling out violence in all its forms and unpacking the beliefs, emotions, and systemic issues that underpin violent behaviours, Understanding Violence invites readers to reflect on their own actions and the world around them. It challenges us to look honestly at how violence infiltrates our everyday lives, whether through media, politics, entertainment or unexamined attitudes.

     

    This book is for anyone who believes in a more compassionate, peaceful world. Whether you're a policymaker, a community leader, or someone seeking to make a difference in your own life, Understanding Violence offers insights to help break the cycle of harm at the source. By fostering a deeper understanding, we can all contribute to meaningful change—starting with ourselves.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUnderstanding Press
    Release dateOct 8, 2024
    ISBN9781763706200
    Understanding Violence: The Understanding Series
    Author

    Belinda Tobin

    Belinda Tobin is a researcher, author, producer, and avid explorer of the human experience with all its challenges and complexities. Her works span fiction, nonfiction, poetry, TV series, and film. However, they all share a common purpose: to foster a more conscious, compassionate, courageous, and connected future. Find out more about Belinda and her projects at www.belindatobin.com.

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      Book preview

      Understanding Violence - Belinda Tobin

      Introduction: Understanding Violence

      Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. – Albert Einstein.

      Yet Another Crisis

      This book is born out of the latest domestic violence crisis, but let's be honest—it's a crisis that's been simmering for decades. For over fifty years, successive governments have developed policies and programs aimed at preventing violence against women and children, punishing perpetrators, and supporting victims. Yet, the results have been underwhelming. This lack of progress suggests that decision-makers may not fully understand the nature of the disease they're dealing with. Or it could also be that the interventions applied need more time to take effect.

      I suspect both are true. The roots of this crisis are deeply embedded in a systemic sexism that has festered for centuries. It will take sustained, dedicated effort to reverse the attitudes that are creating this tide of abuse. But I also believe that there is a simplistic and short-sighted view about the violence that is preventing effective change.

      It's Not Just About Bad People

      Much of our current approach to violence rests on the belief that it's bad people doing bad things, as if violent individuals are somehow fundamentally different from the rest of us. This oversimplification is not only dangerous but also prevents us from fully understanding and addressing what is, in reality, a culture of violence.

      The people whose actions shock us in the news may be extreme cases, but they exist within a society where various forms of violence are normalised, even celebrated. Focusing solely on those who need punishment or protection is lazy policymaking when the underlying problem continues to be perpetuated within the society in which we all live.

      We Are Violent

      By definition, violence involves the use of force—physical or psychological, intentional or unintentional—that results in harm or suffering.

      When we take a closer look at our society, we see that many forms of violence are not only tolerated but also glorified. We cheer at tackles and punch-ups on the sports field, gamble on boxing matches, and consume endless streams of rage-bait content on social media. Our entertainment is steeped in violence, with TV shows that succeed because of bad behaviour and video games only popular because of the ability to kill and maim other characters.

      Racism, bullying, and cyberbullying are also regular occurrences in our educational facilities and workplaces and, just like family violence, can have fatal consequences. There are limitless examples of workplaces that have been found guilty of breeding toxic cultures, where people live in fear and experience psychological injury. What is this, if not violence?

      This issue is further complicated by the hypocrisy we see from those in authority. While political leaders may publicly denounce violence against the vulnerable, some of these same individuals engage in aggressive behaviour in parliamentary debates or support policies that cause harm, like offshore detention centres. Such behaviour from our leaders sets a troubling example and a confusing contradiction.

      While addressing gendered violence is essential, we must also recognise that violence is not a male-only issue. Women and girls, too, can be violent, often in more subtle, psychological ways. Focusing solely on male-perpetrated violence is not only misguided but also dangerous.

      Our younger generations are also facing an epidemic of self-harm, including cutting, purging, and binge drinking. These acts are forms of violence directed at the self. If we fail to recognise self-harm as a form of violence, we miss a crucial aspect of the problem and the bigger picture view of violence within our communities.

      I Am Violent

      How do we understand the violence that we see being played out across our society? Perhaps the best way is to first understand how violence plays out in our own lives.

      The uncomfortable truth is that we are all capable of violence, and many of us may have already engaged in it today, even if unintentionally. This statement is not made to diminish the severity of physical assault but to emphasise that violence exists on a spectrum. In some ways, we are all complicit.

      Mark Kulkens, a Clinical Psychologist who works in the field of domestic violence, once told me something that shook my world and inspired this book. He said simply,

      I am violent.

      Mark was not confessing to episodic physical outbursts but rather acknowledging the many ways we can and do inflict harm on others, either intentionally or unintentionally. His words reflect a deep self-awareness and courage, and they offer powerful insight into how we, as a society, can begin to reduce the prevalence of violence by starting with ourselves.

      Mahatma Gandhi captured this idea beautifully:

      We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. We need not wait to see what others do.

      Gandhi reminds us that self-awareness and individual behaviour change are crucial first steps towards creating a more peaceful society. Like Mark Kulkens, we can all play a role in understanding and taking responsibility for our actions, allowing the ripples of change to spread throughout society. However, we must also consider the context in which we operate. Change must occur at both the individual and cultural levels. If our societal mirror is cracked, it's easy to accept this brokenness as normal. But just because something is normal, it does not make it right.

      Understanding Violence

      As Einstein wisely said, peace cannot be imposed; it must be achieved through understanding. We must truly know what drives people to act in harmful and destructive ways. We must examine our culture and our own behaviour with honesty and courage; only then can we create effective solutions.

      This book aims to help you understand violence, how to recognise it, and what drives it. My hope is that after reading it, you will be more aware of how violence manifests in your life and more equipped to take action to reduce it. With this knowledge, you can find power and become a real agent for change, both in your life and in the lives of your children.

      This book also takes a holistic perspective, examining the culture in which our anti-violence policies operate, and the hypocrisies and inconsistencies in our approaches. My wish is that by doing so, we can all begin to see more clearly the inherent conflicts and contradictions in our strategies for addressing violence and work towards aligning our policies and practices for maximum effect.

      1. What Is Violence?

      What do you think of when you hear the world violence? My mind immediately turns to physical brutality: a person being beaten and an accompaniment of loud, angry, hateful words. Only when I came to research this book did I realise that this is but a very extreme example of a broad spectrum of behaviours.

      Firstly, though, it must be made clear that violence is a behaviour. This recognition will become more important in the coming chapters when we discuss all the contributors to making the choice to act with cruelty.

      According to the United Nations, violence is a behaviour where there is an:

      Intentional or unintentional use of force or power* whether physical or psychological, threatened or actual, against an individual, oneself, or against a group of people, a community, or a government, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.[1]

      This definition is quite lengthy and complex, so let's break it down into its components.

      Intention

      This definition does not discriminate against those actions taken wilfully or those occurring by accident. Therefore, violence spans the range from someone purposely punching another to a parent unexpectedly disparaging or pushing their child out of frustration. The first example involves a deliberate and perhaps even pre-meditated action. In the second, there was an unintentional reaction, a slip, a snap, and still, it can cause psychological harm.

      Form

      The form violence can take ranges from the physical to the psychological. That is, violence can be both seen and unseen and can be inflicted on our bodies and our minds. Examples of psychological violence include verbal aggression, coercive threats and intimidation, control, harassment or stalking, insults, humiliating and defaming conduct, as well as acts that render another person isolated from family, friends and other sources of support.[2]

      Manifestation

      It does not matter if the harmful behaviour is undertaken or is merely threatened; it all falls under the banner of violence. Threats create an atmosphere of fear, anxiety, and emotional distress, which can have profound psychological impacts and, therefore which can, cause significant harm.

      Target

      As this definition makes clear, violence can be targeted inward to oneself, outward to one another, to a group, or to complete communities. What we currently call self-harm fits under the category of violence, as does racism and discrimination based on belonging to any specific group of people.

      Outcome

      Violence can have immediate and short-term outcomes, such as an acute injury. The results can also cumulate over many years, creating chronic conditions. For example, detaining people, especially children can have horrendous effects on their physical and psychological development. Using discriminatory policies in a workplace can also deprive individuals and entire groups of the ability to provide for their families and be financially stable.

      Violence Is a Vast Concept

      When you think about each of these components, violence becomes an incredibly vast concept, with each event resting somewhere within the range of the following variables.

      Figure 1 - The spectrum of violence

      Please note that this diagram is only a very simplistic representation of all the varied ways in which violence can play out. For example, a violent act may be a single acute attack, but there can be severe psychological effects that reverberate from

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