Violent by nature

Am I violent by nature? Are human beings born violent?

I’ve been trying to answer this question, somewhat naively believing that someone ‘out there’ must know. It turns out that many people claim authority on the subject, unfortunately they don’t all seem to agree with each other. Looking at various articles and writing I concluded that the majority of these ‘experts’ believe  violence is a relatively recent phenomenon and war, as a manifestation of that, started extensively only around 10,000 years ago.  Before that, there’s little evidence that we killed each other. Not everyone accepts  this, but it seems that the ‘killer ape’ version of our roots is not as generally accepted as it was up to 40 or so years ago. I particularly like this article by Alfie Kohn

When I look at the state of the world we’ve created (as seen through the mass media) it seems that violence is all around. In most entertainment forms and in the actions of our governments, there’s a streak of violence running through. Even walking around my neighbourhood, watching and listening to people, I might conclude that it’s in our nature. Violence – gross, subtle, physical, emotional and psychological – is everywhere. Victims and aggressors abound.

But this conclusion doesn’t make any sense. Nonviolence is even more common but it just doesn’t attract the same attention. For every violent interaction, I can surely find vastly more nonviolent actions. It’s the angry exchange in my local shop that attracts my attention rather than the hundreds of peaceful and pleasant exchanges. I don’t notice the things that are natural to me. Violence attracts my attention and I doubt it would if it was in my nature.

I realised, though, that this whole question is a dead end. It only matters when I justify violence by hiding behind the argument that ‘it’s in my nature’. Many people, communities and nations hide behind a notion of ‘noble savage’ meets ‘killer ape’. The reasoning goes something like this. ‘We are peaceful and enlightened. ‘They’ are not. They haven’t found a peaceful way of getting their way so we have to protect ourselves (or educate them). Difficult, painful and costly as it is, we need to act violently before ‘they’ do – even though we don’t want to.’ Hmmmmmm !!!!!!

Well .. ultimately there is no ‘have to‘. Violence is a choice. Moment by moment I have a choice and it’s the same wherever I start. If I think I’m violent by nature .. then my choice is to overcome that and get my way peacefully.  If, on the other hand, I think I’m peaceful by nature (and violence is learned) then my choice is to overcome my education or socialisation. The path is different though the result is the same – peaceful action.

I want to take responsibility for my own actions and choose peaceful methods to get my way (which means also taking into account what others need as well). I don’t want to hide that responsibility behind either my nature or how I’ve been nurtured.

I’d enjoy hearing your reaction to any of this.

Similar Posts:

• Sting Of The Scorpion
• Feeding the wolves
• Doomed to be violently entertained
• You don’t have to do anything
• You cannot do anything wrong
• But I’m not violent …