Modern attitudes to conflict

[pyraxis]

OMG.

He's taken the things I've been theorizing but thought I was alone and haven't been able to talk about, and he's put brilliant words to them. This is it!

Marc MacYoung, "Conflict: the 21st Century Taboo":
Current dogma is that conflict is bad. Physical violence is viewed as evil, abhorrent, traumatic, out of control and something that must socially engineered out of existence by policies, laws and legal retribution.

And yes we intentionally used the word 'dogma.' Much of what are being promoted as unquestionable 'truths' on these subjects are not only unproven, but in many instances demonstrably false (e.g. "Violence never solved anything"). Offering a different point of view is risky. Daring to question the veracity of popular 'truths' about violence is often an invitation to a tirade worthy of a religious fanatic.

At Conflict Communications we contend popular denial, condemnation and ignorance don't protect people from the trauma of conflict and violence. They instead leave people vulnerable and more traumatized. Simply stated, teaching abstinence does not instill coping skills regarding a normal human behavior.

(the rest of the article)

Just had to share that with somebody, while I'm sitting here all elated that anti-violence neurosis really, truly, is wrong. And there's a logical case for it.

Comments

[jaywalkermaybe.livejournal.com]

nice points :)

well, there's the pernicious myth that violence is a "primitive" instint which would spiral out-of-control if not for authoritarian reprsessive measures practiced by "civilised" modern humans

and then, there's an abundance of evidence that the members of anarchic hunter-gatherer communities are amongst the most gentle people on earth.

i would think that your bowhunting club is a lot closer to that "primitive" social model than a govenment office is.

of course, repression doesn't work. in the civilisised enviromnent, the repressed emotions find outlet in whatever subtle form escapes regulation; at which point they're beyond any form of social regulation, and do, indeed, spiral out-of-control

i've noticed that irish people are not just more accepting of violence than we english. they are also more cultered. they are more literate. They wrie better poetry, and they find it natural to read and appreciate poetry (whilst we english tend to regard that as the exclusive domain of the middle class... once you're old enough to have outgrown nursery rhymes). they sing and dance and make music, whilst we have been largely dispossessed of these things.we are relegated to the auditorium, unless we prove to have a special talent(in which case we're evelated above the common masses, so as to always retain a clear distinction)

i've had the privilege and pleasure, of working alongside africans, in a factory environment. most of them hail from small villages, where people still run around barefoot. they have more dignity than the rest of us. they have more native intelligence, seeminlgy. they lack a work-ethic and only do what needs to be done, no more (so they often get put down as "lazy"); they are non-judgmental; they sing as they work.

i think what the africans share with the irish is a personality and social structure, relatively undistorted by urbanisation and the powerful centralised hierarchical structures that come along with that; and the slavery and wage-slavery that come along with that. they retain their sensitivity, their creativity, their sense of automony, their self-respect. it is a bigger thing altogether than mere attitude to violence.

which is not exactly what i meant to say. but worth saying anyway, i think *grin*

[tigerweave.livejournal.com]

this is interesting stuff! My only main quibble is - is Irish society really like that still? The Irish Australians (dad's side of my family, mum was born in England) are kinda the immigrants that brought their culture here from the 19th century (or really late 18th century). A lot of the english that came here ended up "more English than the english" from clinging to old traditions etc while the real England has moved on.

I always wondered if Ireland has done that too? Are our Irish-Australians playing out a relic of a culture that has long ago moved on?

Interesting too about the african people. Exactly what Tim Flannery was saying on the radio in an interview I heard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Flannery

A note on the bowhunter's club. The Northern Territory ie my home! is notoriously a lot less regulated in this kind of area (hunting etc) than the rest of Australia, and is a large part of why the NT appeals to hunters. I wonder if that has any bearing on the social interactions, if people who are comfortable with that style are drawn here more than ones who aren't? I have no experience of southern hunting clubs so hey... Although Weaver (our hunter) just reminded me the other hunters she talked to in Canberra seemed cut from the same cloth.
Things to ponder huh!

Wanna be lj friends?

- Leonie

[jaywalkermaybe.livejournal.com]

hey leonie :)

i followed your link. seems like an age ago..oops it was. my first visit to LJ in ages, though i did make a mental note to reply to your "Wanna be lj friends" with an enthusiastic "YES"

huh. guess that sounds a bit insincere after such a long interval

you'll get used to me (i hope)

walkie :)

[tigerweave.livejournal.com]

lol, no worries!

We'll go friend you back, if we didn't already.

- Imoh (Leonie is asleep atm)