Violence

War has no Future

by Laszlo Gyula Jobbagy

draft only

Protecting One's Commitments

by Sylvia Burrow

Forthcoming in the International Journal of Applied Philosophy

Living in a culture of violence against women leads women to employ any number of avoidance and defensive strategies... more Living in a culture of violence against women leads women to employ any number of avoidance and defensive strategies on a daily basis. Such strategies may be self protective but do little to counter women’s fear of violence. A pervasive fear of violence comes with a cost to integrity not addressed in moral philosophy. Restricting choice and action to avoid possibility of harm compromises the ability to stand for one’s commitments before others. If Calhoun is right that integrity is a matter of standing for one’s commitments then fear for safety undermines integrity. This paper extends Calhoun’s view through arguing that integrity further requires resiliency to protect one’s commitments. My account shows that self-defense training is a key source of this resiliency because it cultivates self-confidence. The practical point is that self-defense training directly counters fear and other passive responses to violence that undermine integrity. The theoretical significance is that violence against women is a social condition threatening integrity. Hence, integrity requires self-protection for more socially minded reasons than moral theorists have previously recognized.

Preying on Victims: Radical Christianity and Exploitation of Tragedy in the Name of God By Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

It is our moral responsibility, whether we identify as Christians or not, to pray for not prey on the victims of... more It is our moral responsibility, whether we identify as Christians or not, to pray for not prey on the victims of tragedies.

Over the last month, dare I say years, society has witnessed or been subjected to an all out war from radical Christians across America deploying the wrath of God and reveling in the tragedy of others to perpetuate their apocalyptic message of rhetoric and terror.  As I hear the news over the last few months, an old Billy Joel song starts to play in my head “We didn’t start the fire.”  Whether we started the fire or not, we should not feed the flames of hatred but figure out a way to extinguish it.

Here is a brief synopsis of current events that reflect this hatred and radicalism perpetuated in the name of God – examples of Christianity terrorizing or preying on victims through their actions.

The Westboro Southern Baptist Church: Preying on Victims at Funerals and Thanking God for their Tragic Deaths

What is complexity governance and how can this be implemented in a world complexity observatories grid?

by Andrés Ginestet

What is complexity governance and how can this be implemented in a world complexity observatories grid?
more What is complexity governance and how can this be implemented in a world complexity observatories grid?

Complexity governance is the governance of any human
relation (complexity pattern) on a peer-to-peer (complexity expression) level.

This peer-to-peer relationship gets massively monitored and deformed by the influence of the system of violence. The system of violence is based on trauma and its effects on human behavior. Trauma is automatically regulated and activated within
society by the system of violence, as a complex system. As humans do not regulate voluntarily their complexity, nature cares for the regulation of human complexity by the means of the violence system. Nature regulates human complexity for the sake of the balance of all natural systems. This interest is not contrary but also not in favor of human species.

First priority in order to take over control of this natural function is to behave as to reduce trauma influence on human social construction worldwide (complexity symptom caused by complexity patterns). Consequently, human beings need to start
regulating their complexity at the same speed at which they reduce trauma rates. In order to achieve the goal of reducing the influence of violence on society, trauma needs to be driven below the necessary critical level leading to war. The necessary
critical level is defined in clinical/medical terms. The estimate is that this level is 30% of traumatic experience and epigenetic aberration in any human population. How can we best attain this goal? Establishing a grid of complexity governance run by civil population, by normal citizens, because they are the complexity producers.

For this purpose, people will have to be trained. The training will follow a guidance described in 7 steps1. Every citizen on the planet will have the possibility to undergo complexity governance training within the next 50 years. Volunteers are on their way, and this is a very natural procedure in civil society. The situation is different for state forces like Military and police. They would like to be involved and encouraged to be the first training in complexity governance. Their job is to maintain security and to reduce violence world wide, and their role will have to be enforced by law because they act within institutions. They are in fact the first ones who need and wish to take on the mission and lead a war against the violence system, systematically and with full conviction. But, they need to redefine their enemy as defined by laws that are not yet designed for this purpose. For this reason, legal systems defining democracy need to incorporate the understanding for the existing violence system as a system, as to back up state forces mission. This can be done in agreement with Global Civil Society, if citizens take on their responsibility in the process.

The South Carolina – Clemson Football War of 1902

by John Nauright

This paper was originally published in the American football history magazine GRIDIRON GREATS in 2005.

Estudio sobre el Comportamiento y Salud en los Jóvenes Escolares de la República Dominicana: Resultados de 2009

by Elián Cabrera-Nguyen

Co-authored with Dr. Juan B. Peña, Rosa Fernández, and Diana Chaves.

This scientific report on youth risk behaviors was prepared for the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Education.more This scientific report on youth risk behaviors was prepared for the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Education.

We administered a modified YRBS to a nationally representative sample of public high school youth in the Dominican Republic. The survey asked about mental health, sexual risk behaviors, substance use, and violent behavior. Findings are presented at the national level and for each educational district. I analyzed all data and assisted with preparing the report. I also helped present the results to a delegation from the DR's Ministry of Education.

Dr. Juan B. Peña, assistant professor at the Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, is the prinicpal investigator and first author. The remaining authors are presented alphabetically; contribution is equal: Elián P. Cabrera-Nguyen, Diana Chaves, and Rosa Fernández

Last wake-up call

by Sardar Anwaruddin

Taking it to heart: Girls and the meanings of violence

by Susan Batchelor

A view from the girls: Exploring violence and violent behaviour

by Susan Batchelor

Amok, Folter, Hooligans. Gewaltsoziologie nach Georges Bataille und Victor Turner

by Werner Binder

Wiith Bernhard Giesen, Werner Binder, Marco Gerster und Kim-Claude Meyer. Published in: Michael Riekenberg (ed.). Zur Gewalttheorie von Georges Bataille. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2012, pp. 73-102.

Football Is a Bad Religion by Barbara Ardinger

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

As soon as I read Carol Christ’s comments on football, I said, “Yeah! She’s totally right.” I keep asking people I... more As soon as I read Carol Christ’s comments on football, I said, “Yeah! She’s totally right.” I keep asking people I know who watch football games what is enjoyable about watching large millionaires giving each other concussions. I understand that some sports demand skills I don’t possess, but football? What skills? It’s a mystery to me.

The characters in my new novel, Secret Lives, agree with Carol and me about the Super Bowl. The following excerpt comes from Chapter 21, “A World at War.” The Norns, in disguise as the Wintergreen Sisters, have come to town with the intention of taking power over the heras of the novel, the grandmothers who live in Long Beach, CA, and do magic. Our crones, however, have no intention of being taken over, or even seduced by promises of power, but when they meet on Super Bowl Sunday, 1990, they don’t yet know that the war on TV will be only a tiny fragment of the larger war that the Norns will soon wage against them using gigantic ravens and thunderstorms as their weapons.

Let’s listen in on “the girls.” (Madame Blavatsky is the circle’s familiar, a talking cat.)

Emotions Elicited by Television Violence

by Juan Carlos Revilla

The effects of TV violence have been widely studied from an experimental perspective, which, to a certain extent,... more The effects of TV violence have been widely studied from an experimental perspective, which, to a certain extent, neglects the interaction between broadcaster and recipient. This study proposes a complementary approach, which takes into account viewers’ interpretation and construction of TV messages. Social dimensions influencing emotional experiences to TV violence will be identified and analyzed, as well as the way these emotions are construed in discourse, how they are linked to attitudes, ethical dimensions and courses of action. Eight focus groups (segmented by age, gender and educational level) were the basis of a discourse analysis that reconstructed the way audiences experience TV violence. Results show the importance of a first immediate emotional mobilisation, with references to complex emotions, and a second emotional articulation of experiences regarding repetition of scenes (type, classification and assessment of broadcasts), legitimacy (or lack thereof) of violent acts, and identification (or lack thereof) with main characters. In conclusion, the double impact (immediate and deferred) of emotions generates complex narratives that lead to a single course of action characterised by responsibility and guilt, which can only be taken into account by assuming the active role of viewer.

Broadcasting of violence on Spanish television: a quantitative panorama

by Juan Carlos Revilla

A quantitative analysis of broadcasted violence by the main television (TV) channels transmitting for Madrid (Spain)... more A quantitative analysis of broadcasted violence by the main television (TV) channels transmitting for Madrid (Spain) was carried
out using a novel method that randomly selects fragments of delimited duration from TV broadcasts. The device selects acts of
aggression shown in those TV extracts, and classifies them according to their type. There was a high incidence of aggressive acts,
especially physical (particularly leading to death), in TV fiction: films, serials and promos. The device also allowed examination of
the prominence of aggression in children’s programs, as well as showing minimal variation in the number of aggressive acts over
screened time intervals. The pattern of the collected data suggests that the broadcasting of violence on TV emphasizes the
conflicting elements of social reality, reproducing it in fiction, news reports and children’s shows.

Catharsis and Violence: Terrorism and the Fascination for Superlative Destruction

by Roman Meinhold

(2012) “Catharsis and Violence: Terrorism and the Fascination for Superlative Destruction”. Boleswa Journal of Philosophy, Theology and Religion. Vol. 3, No.3, 2012, pp. 172-184, ISSN 1817-2741

This paper investigates human interest in simulated, mediated and real violence, especially in the context of... more This paper investigates human interest in simulated, mediated and real violence, especially in the context of terrorism, by following a synthetic-transdisciplinary approach bridging research findings on aggression and violence from areas such as philosophy, religious studies, art theory, cultural critique, psychology, anthropology and ethology. The findings suggest that certain acts of superlative destruction, e.g. the 9/11 terror attacks, can be rendered as numinous acts and as imitatio dei. The paper claims that the fascination for superlative destruction (FSD) is an anthropological datum. Depending on the circumstances, the distanced experience of simulated, mediated or real violence may lead to an experience of catharsis, a discharge of particular suppressed emotions. But the relation of violence and catharsis is delicate due to the potential and evidenced risk of copy-cat effects regarding such aggression.

Terörün Sosyolojisi: Toplumsal Kökenleri Anlama İmkânı

by Uluslararası İlişkiler

Talip Küçükcan, "Terörün Sosyolojisi: Toplumsal Kökenleri Anlama İmkânı", Uluslararası İlişkiler, Cilt 6, Sayı 24 (Kış), 2009

Küresel ve ulusaşırı nitelik kazanan şiddet ve terör eylemlerinin, bölgesel ve uluslararası ilişkileri... more Küresel ve ulusaşırı nitelik kazanan şiddet ve terör eylemlerinin, bölgesel ve uluslararası ilişkileri gerginleştirerek güvenlik eksenine çektiği görülmektedir. Şiddet ve terör eylemlerini analiz eden çalışmaların çoğu, ağırlıklı olarak söz konusu eylemlerin güvenlik boyutu üzerinde durmaktadır. Terörün toplumsal kökenleri üzerinde ise yeterince durulmadığı gözlenmektedir. Bu makale, son yıllarda yayınlanan bilimsel literatür ışığında terörün sosyolojisi üzerinde durma ve kökenlerini analiz etmenin önemine işaret etmeyi amaçlamakta; disiplinlerarası yöntem ve yaklaşımlara dayalı bir “teroroloji/terör bilimi”nin gereğini vurgulamaktadır. Çünkü şiddet ve terör eylemlerinin toplumsal bağlamı çözümlenmeden bu tür olaylarla etkin biçimde mücadele edilmesi mümkün olmayacak ve uluslararası ilişkileri olumsuz yönde etkilemeye devam edecektir.

A Storied Shooting: Liberty Valance and the Paradox of Sovereignty

by Joshua Dienstag

GENDER-MOTIVATED BIAS CRIMES: EXAMINING WHY SITUATIONAL VARIABLES ARE IMPORTANT IN THE LABELING OF HATE CRIMES

by H. Colleen Sinclair

Teaching "Overcoming Violence": Reflections on Violence, Peace, and Practical Theology

by M. Christian Green

With Rodney L. Petersen and Thomas J. Massaro, S.J., Practical Matters: A Transdisciplinary Multimedia Journal of Religious Practices and Practical Theology 5 (2012)

By the recent account of Harvard psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker, a course on “Overcoming Violence” may be... more By the recent account of Harvard psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker, a course on “Overcoming Violence” may be unnecessary—or at best purely historical. In his latest book, "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined," Pinker argues that violence has been on the decline for several millennia and that we are living today in the least violent époque of human existence. Pinker’s proposal has been controversial. A Harvard colleague, psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, a longtime researcher of violence and mass atrocity, has rebutted Pinker’s “decline of violence” argument, arguing that such violent events as Auschwitz and Hiroshima have been “defining events” in the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries.The need to overcome violence—and the rationale for teaching about violence, nonviolence, war, and peace—could not be more necessary, or more relevant. It was out of this set of concerns that we devised and taught the course “Overcoming Violence: Practical Theology and Conflict Resolution” at Harvard Divinity School in the Spring of 2007. We are honored that the syllabus has been selected for publication in this issue of Practical Matters.

Profil nasilnega zalezovalca na slovenskem (Profiling the violent stalker in Slovenia)

by Petra Čarman

diploma / thesis

Zalezovanje je star in precej pogost pojav s široko paleto vedenj, ki se raztezajo od enostavnega pisanja razglednic... more Zalezovanje je star in precej pogost pojav s široko paleto vedenj, ki se raztezajo od enostavnega pisanja razglednic pa vse do umora. V Priročniku za žrtve in strokovnjake (str. 6) piše, da »izraz »zalezovanje« ali »stalking« označuje neželene vdore, vmešavanja ene osebe v življenje druge. Za zalezovanje je značilno, da so vdori ali nadlegovanja ponavljajoči in da v žrtvi vzbujajo strah ali zaskrbljenost«. Strah in zaskrbljenost, ki jo žrtvi povzročajo vdori v njeno zasebnost pa še zdaleč ni vse, česar je zalezovalec sposoben. Umor je skrajen primer zalezovalskega vedenja, lahko pa vključuje tudi lažje in težje telesne poškodbe, grožnje in druge oblike splošnega ogrožanja varnosti žrtve in njenih bližnjih. In ravno to tveganje v pojavu zalezovanja predstavlja največji problem, ki kliče po upravljanju.

Strokovnjakom pa tudi žrtvam in njihovim bližnjim, ki se s tem problemom soočajo, pride prav vsaka informacija. En izmed načinov informiranja je tudi prepoznavanje nasilnega zalezovalca (še preden le-ta postane nasilen) s pomočjo profila. Čeprav poznamo več vrst profiliranja, sta bila kot metoda uporabljeni le analiza scene zločina ter preiskovalna psihologija oz. statistično profiliranje. Ker se faktorji tveganja za pojav nasilja pri zalezovalcu prepletajo v vsakem individualnem profilu na edinstven način, ki se nizajo od enega konca spektruma pa do drugega, sta v tem kontinuumu razmerja med žrtvijo in zalezovalcem profilirana le skrajna dva: žrtvi znan zalezovalec in žrtvi neznan zalezovalec.

Seveda pa se je potrebno vprašati, ali te informacije držijo tudi za Slovenijo, saj je bila večina raziskav narejena v ZDA, Veliki Britaniji, Avstraliji ipd. Ali se profil slovenskega nasilnega zalezovalca ujema s profilom splošnega nasilnega zalezovalca? Po preučitvi slovenskega narodnega značaja in vrednot ter analizo črne kronike, lahko rečemo da je temu tako.

Symbols of Power in Rituals of Violence: The Personality Cult and Iconoclasm on the Soviet Empire’s Periphery (East Germany, 1945–61)

by Alexey Tikhomirov

published in: Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, Volume 13, Number 1, Winter 2012, pp. 47-88.