Violence is directly related to meaning.
We have probably all heard sayings about how dangerous a cornered animal is, or that violence is the last resort. The thing is that when we think of desperation, and how it often leads to violence, what we are really talking about is resolving cognitive dissonance.
That is a big fancy way of saying a crisis of meaning.
If you look back at almost every period of violence you will see that something huge was on the horizon. Back in the day when empire's ruled the world, the most violent period was when the barbarians were at the gate. Taking Rome as an example, because they are our cultural ancestors, there was a time when the barbarians were at the gate.
Almost before anyone realized just how precarious their future was, the culture began to become more violent. Crime rates soared; violent spectator sports like gladiatorial games gained prominence; and sexuality became a bigger and more confused part of daily life.
Almost without the populace knowing it, they were living in a state of confusion because the world was changing around them in ways they could not, in the moment, recognize.
But do you realize that the 20th century was also the most violent century of human history?
Over 100 million people were killed in two world wars. Many smaller wars claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
In fact, a survey completed for research at the Harvard medical school puts deaths during war at 378,000 people every year from 1985-94.
An estimated 170 million civilians were murdered by their own governments during this century. Places like Afghanistan, Rwanda, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Chechnya, along with others, experienced unimaginable violence and bloodshed. Words like holocaust, genocide, terrorism, and mass suicide entered our common understanding for the first time in the last few decades.
In America, the later portion of the 20th century witnessed a dramatic increase in violence. From 1960 to 1993, violent crime increased by 560 per cent. In 1987, the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that eight out of 10 people will be victims of violent crimes at least once in their lives. Even more alarming, violent crimes committed by children ages 10 to 17 increased 400 per cent since 1960.
Canada actually has had a more stable couple of decades in terms of violent crimes; with the exception of the rate of murder, which is increasing every year.
All of this is not even including domestic and international terrorism.
The rhetoric of the politicians tells us that we must fight a war on terror, that violence as political act is increasing; but what we never hear any discussion of is what is behind the increasing desperation of people that leads to horrendous acts of violence.
What must have gone wrong with the world around you to lead you to the conclusion that the best possible next step is to kill as many people as possible.
And no, before you jump in with an answer, these people are not crazy. They have a genuine belief that there is a problem with the political and societal world and they must draw attention to it in such a dramatic way that change actually occurs.
Just to give a tamer example, next time you encounter someone with piercings, tattoos, a Mohawk, or some other counter-cultural expression of self, remember that this is the exact same thing they are trying to draw attention to; something about our culture is so wrong that it needs to be shocked out of its present state of being.
It is all about a crisis of meaning.
The American Civil War, or, if you own property south of the Mason-Dixon line, the War of Northern Aggression, was one of the most violent wars ever; it was fought between friends and family, because the definition of "America" was changing. Was it a collected band of individual states, or was it a unified nation with central government?
The two World Wars did not "just happen" to occur at the end of one of the longest periods of western colonialization. All of a sudden having colonies was no longer possible, so how did you define yourself as the biggest and best?
And what about right now; not only are there violent wars happening all over the place; plus genocide in two or three countries lately; but violent acts are up everywhere. People are walking into schools and shooting, there are terrorist bombers, and suicide rates are skyrocketing.
In the middle of that, every current economic system has dissolved. First the socialist economics of communism failed, and after the whole world became capitalist, that system is also dissolving around us.
I do not often agree with the current Pope. Well, that is an over statement, I think I have never agreed with anything he has ever said, until now.
The Pope, of all people, has called on the governments of the world to consider that this might signal the time for a major sea change. He concludes in his latest encyclical on the economy that we should be looking at "the very foundation of our system -- and to build on the bedrock of ethics rather than the sand of determinism."
I don't know what he has in mind, nor do I have a better idea than the way things are. But I do know that any casual student of history would be a little wary about the future.
To quote another great philosopher, Bob Dylan, "The times, they are a changing."
What we have to keep in mind is that our way of thinking about things, our way of feeling about the world, and the meaning we derive from things is all in a state of change.
It is a scary time, but it is also an exciting time. If we are creative enough, the future could be extraordinary.
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