Violence

602 – John McCain on the State of the World

“The times we live in are alternately derided for their failings and romanticized for their emerging opportunities. It sometimes seems that we now live amid greater violence, greater uncertainty; that the world suffers more conflicts and tragedies; that the poor are poorer and greater in number; that race, ethnicity and nationalism divide us more intractably than ever before.
But that is not so. Human beings are still capable of violence and cruelty. We all succumb to sin. But look back at any preceding century or even just a few decades, and you will see cruelty, violence and misery on a scale that is, with few exceptions, unknown today.”

–John McCain, United States Senator from Arizonia
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563 – Quote from “Social Justice and the Emerging New Age”

“There are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize — I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to — segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism, to self-defeating effects of physical violence.”

–Martin Luther King, Jr

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392 – “Violent conflicts create zones of silence in a society. The deeds and responsibility of the perpetrators are concealed. Thus also the suffering of the victims, the role of the spectators… The silence is often passed on to the next generation.”

–Dan Bar-On [Attributed]

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185 – Some Thoughts on Macho Talk Tweets

This is a series of 15 tweets with each tweet separated by a | (bar)

“Some thoughts on macho talk re: the Montana incident. The idea that real men occasionally hit, and that real men hit back, is bad for men. | I say this as someone who was much bigger than other humans starting at around age five, and who used his first from an early age. | I spent many recess periods in elementary school under lock and key. In middle school, it was counseling. | By the time I hit adolescence, my aunt told me on day that my family had considered sending me away because if how violent I was. | That toughness that people seem to admire from a distance makes people fear you up close. | It makes people who love you think you are dangerous. Pushing leads to punching, and punching can cause brain damage and facial deformity. | If you are poor, and you solve problems with violence, you end up incarcerated. People carry that label for the rest of their lives. | Our prisons are full of “real men.” | Battered women’s shelters are full of women fleeing “real men.” | The sons of “real men” grow up to be emotionally stunted, confused, and poor. | And men who learn to solve problems with violence use that violence everywhere. | Real men do everything they can to avoid hurting others and themselves. Self-restraint and wisdom are not weak, they are powerful. | If I am so lucky as to father boys, I will teach them this. I will never, ever forget the fear I inspired in the eyes of my mother, my little brother, and my classmates. The memory of it makes me ill. | We should not consign men, or the people they encounter, to this fate.”

–Mike Riggs
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