Ending Violence by Healing Psychic Harm Brings About a More Lasting Peace

Only when we can heal the psychic harm we cause each other c
an we proceed end the use of weapons against each other.

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^{Cover image was made using MS Paint.}

TL;DR

• Thread at LeoThreads
• Violence in the Broader Animal Kingdom
• Choosing Incentives Wisely
• Can Disincentivizing Violence Be Imposed?
      + "Errand of Mercy" from Star Trek (TOS)
      + At What Cost Comes the Imposition of Peace?
• A History of Violence in Our World
• The Flaw with Arms Control and Weapons Bans
• The Source of Violence
• A Multifaceted Way To End Violence at Its Source
      + Over the long term
      + Over the medium term
      + Over the short term
      + Across All Terms: LILO
• Discipline as Love?
• Peter Parker, Disciplinarian?
• Justice as Discipline
• Just My Two Sats

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Thread at LeoThreads

On 2024-March-14, @jordy0827 had posted this thread to LeoThreads at InLeo:

#marchinleo I am against the use of weapons, I think that violence creates violence, it is a never-ending circle. Having weapons to attack and weapons to defend oneself are two sides of the same thing. Life would b better without🔪💣🗡️

The sentiment is worthy, and it should be commended; after all, the world would be a better place had that sentiment been realized. From what I've seen and from where I live, though, that sentiment in and of itself is not enough. I believe that more is needed for @jordy0827's vision to come true.

Although I had replied to her thread, I knew that my reply was going to be insufficient. Such as the limits of discussing serious topics 240 characters at a time. So this post is my attempt to give to @jordy0827's thread the answer I think it needs.

Violence in the Broader Animal Kingdom

Even with the mass extinctions of life which had taken place over the last 1 billion years of our planet's history, the animal kingdom contains an astounding array and variety of species. One of these species of animals is homo sapiens; we know this species better as "human beings." In other words, us.

One reality of life within the animal kingdom is violence. At least for the part of the animal kingdom not including homo sapiens, it's simply a matter of survival and no more. Kill, or be killed. Eat, or starve. For these animals, the killing is not personal; in fact, for them, it's part of the circle of life. This idea was made clear for the world to see when Avatar, directed by James Cameron, was released in theaters in 2009:

Jake Sully: I see you, Brother... thank you.
[kills prey]
Jake Sully: Your spirit will now be with Eywa, but your body will remain for The People.

Choosing Incentives Wisely

While ideas such as weapons bans, gun/weapons-free zones, and misdirected legal reforms sound good in theory, real life has demonstrated that they will backfire. Statistics showing how well these ideas work don't mean a thing when we fall prey to them, either as victims or as the victims' loved ones.

That's why it's vital that we incentivize proper values while at the same time we acknowledge human nature.

• During the 1970s and 1980s, New York City was worse than many war zones we hear about today. By 2001, after 8 years dealing with the crime problem, NYC had become the safest large city in the nation (if not the world). Yet thanks to a switch in incentives, starting in 2014 NYC began its descent back to being riddled with crime and violence. In some ways NYC is in an even worse position than it was back in the bad old days of the 1970s and 1980s. Having grown up in NYC during that time and living in NYC today, I can confirm this.

• For a long time, El Salvador was considered one of the least safe nations in the world. In recent years, El Salvador has become a model nation for how it effectively erradicated its culture of violence to the point where it is being promoted as a model for fighting crime. I know I wasn't expecting this of El Salvador, which shows how important it is to incentivize the right values and to disincentivize the wrong values.

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Can Disincentivizing Violence Be Imposed?

"Errand of Mercy" from Star Trek (TOS)

Between the moment I saw @jordy0827's thread and the moment I publish this post, I had seen (yet again) a rerun of an episode of from Star Trek (The Original Series) titled "Errand of Mercy". Both the United Federation of Planets ("The Federation," represented by the USS Enterprise under command of Captain James Kirk) and the Klingon Empire (represented here by military governor Commander Kor) compete for control of the pacifist planet Organia.

For much of the episode, the Organians appear apathetic about whether The Federation or the Klingon Empire takes control of their planet. While Captain Kirk is frustrated by the Organians refusal to mount any sort of resistance, Commander Kor is equally frustrated by the lack of challenge presented by the Organians as he rounds them up for summary exercution two hundreds people at a time. Both Kirk and Kor are puzzled by the behavior displayed by the Organians: they want peace, but they show no interest whatsoever in working for that peace.

Just as fleets representing The Federation and the Klingon Empire prepare for battle over Organian space, it becomes clear why the Organians appear apathetic about the battle between Kirk and Kor for the planet. The Organians are a race of non-corporeal beings who had evolved beyond the need for physical bodies. Their combined energy was powerful enough to make Federation and Klingon forces wherever they happened to be too hot to touch each other. Once Kirk and Kor saw the Organians for the nearly omnipotent energy beings they truly were, they reluctantly agreed to a peace treaty imposed on them by the Organians.

So what happened? The non-corporeal Organians...

• saw how cruel both humanoid races (represented by The Federation and the Klingon Empire) were as species;
• saw how stubborn both races (represented by Kirk and Kor) were;
• lost patience with these two flesh-and-blood races and revealed themselves as the nearly god-like beings they were.

Yes, the Organians are pacifists. Yes, they abhor violence in all its forms. Yes, they didn't want violence visited on them by others (most especially primitive flesh-and-blood humanoids).

Had they been flesh-and-blood beings, the Organians would have been wiped out by the Klingons.

Yet it was the non-corporeal Organians who had imposed peace on the two lesser races.

At What Cost Comes the Imposition of Peace?

Is homo sapiens in a position to do likewise in order for peace to reign supreme? Even if humanity evolves to become like the fictional Organians, it will take a very long time for that transformation to be completed. So for at least the next few thousand years we will remain flesh-and-blood physical beings with the limitations to match.

It took millions of years for the Organians to become the non-corporeal and nearly god-like beings they were. That is what it took for them to impose peace from above. There is no way we will achieve this level of being within a few thousand years, so there is no way we would be in any position to impose peace between two other lesser races of beings.

So we're stuck at Square One. Violence cannot be disincentivized by imposing it from above. As human beings, we are in no position to impose peace upon other, lesser, species.

A History of Violence in Our World

For much of human history, humans have been killing other humans.
Even if we haven't been killing human beings, we've been committing an insanely large number of non-lethal yet psychically violent acts against our fellow human beings. Among these acts of violence are theft and rape.

No amount of flowery language or totalitarian wordplay can disguise that sad fact.

As with cryptocurrency, we've tried handling it in a peer-to-peer (P2P) manner: duels, honor killings, ritualized combat, tit-for-tat responses.

We've also tried handling it by authorizing one group to carry out this violence in our name. We know this better by another name: government, the group which had been granted the monopoly of use of violence within its defined territory.

Whether by P2P means or the indirect means of government, another way of handling violence-- up to and including the taking of another human life-- has been arms control of some form or other:

• The best known is the "gun control" movement which has been active in the United States for decades.
• Another instance of arms control has been the banning of bladed weapons in parts of Asia centuries ago; this form of arms control is responsible for the development of various forms of martial arts which make use of farming implements

The Flaw with Arms Control and Weapons Bans

Two versions of Hydra exist in popular culture. One came to us from Ancient Greek mythology. One came to us from the Captain America comic books:

Whether its Hydra or HYDRA, this is what happens with arms control: one weapon gets banned, only to be replaced by one or more substitute weapons.

Ban guns? They get replaced by all manner of bladed weapons.

Ban existing martial arts? Alternative martial arts are created.

Ban cars? See minivans or scooters get used.

Ban nuclear weapons? Conventional weapons get made to be just as lethal. Or-- even worse-- biological weapons become all the rage. There's a reason that biological weapons are known as "the poor country's nuclear weapon."

Ban every form of weapon ever created by the minds of human beings? Expect violence to be inflicted using hands, feet, elbows, knees, foreheads, teeth, and the spoken word.

The Source of Violence

Until (or unless) we can confirm otherwise, human beings are the only species within the animal kingdom which kills for reasons not having to do with survival. Over the course of human history (perhaps even pre-history), humans have killed for reasons such as these:

• envy;
• jealousy;
• covetousness;
• embarrassment;
• ego diminishment;
• "fighting words";
• blind allegiance to ideology;
• loss of sanity or self-control;
• violation of territory (including our homes and our bodies).

What do these reasons (plus others not listed above) have in common? Whoever commits these acts of violence perceives a psychic hurt so deep and penetrating that it cannot be contained to the self. At least for Hebrews and Christians, there was a reason Cain killed his brother Abel. To make matters worse, what weapons existed at the time Cain killed Abel? None; it was just sticks and stones, and those are impossible to ban.

A Multifaceted Way To End Violence at Its Source

Until we evolve to become non-corporeal beings like the Organians mentioned earlier, we won't be able to stop violence simply by imposing peace. However, there are several things we can do over time which can bring us closer to bringing about a lasting peace between our brothers and sisters in humanity.

• Over the long term

We've heard that "love conquers all," and on some level that is true. However, we have to be practical about it as there are different situations which require different ways to introduce love into the situation.

It all begins inside each of us, inside what we call our minds and our hearts. Proper values need to be taught to everyone from Day One as newborns. Among these values are respect and fairness. We have to learn to respect ourselves as well as to respect others if for no other reason than to treat everyone else fairly.

• Over the medium term

Unfairness needs to be dealt with as soon as it reveals itself. It's one reason many of us are disgusted by what we see from the governments which claim to act on our behalf. It's also why we throw our hands up in the air when we hear about rampant crime on the local daily newscasts.

Unfairness also needs to be dealt with in every instance. Yes, we wouldn't like it when it's done to us; but we wouldn't feel so bad about being disciplined for some infraction of rules or laws as long as we know with every fiber of our beings that everyone else gets the same form of discipline with no exceptions. In short, equal justice under the law. Each failure to practice equal justice under the law brings us closer to violent acts which never would have happened otherwise.

• Over the short term

Whatever we do, it's because we're incentivized to do it. Promote values which develop personal character and moral development, we can all be like Marcus Aurelius, the gold standard against whom all "philosopher kings" are measured. Promote less virtuous values, we end up like Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius.

We need to not only incentivize proper values and behaviors, but we also need to disincentivize values which promote unchecked violence.

Making punishment fit the crime should be enough, but there are times when it won't be. For those times, it may mean using overwhelming force to stop violence in its tracks. If things reach this point, so be it.

When everyone knows we mean business in how we handle violence or transgressions, then people think twice about harming us. If people don't believe us, then they will take advantage of us and continue to inflict all manner or abuses against us (up to and including violence).

• Across All Terms: LILO

GIGO-- garbage in, garbage out-- is the principle that reminds us that the quality of the inputs determines the quality of the outputs or end results. Bad information results in bad decision-making, which results in bad outcomes. GIGO is common in the tech world, and we all have our own experiences with GIGO. GIGO is also found across all aspects of life, from health to recreation to relationships.

So if GIGO leads to bad outcomes, among them violence, what inputs can be used to produce the opposite of violence, or at least a less-violent outcome?

LILO-- Love in, Love out-- is what is needed no matter how we handle violence. We replace the garbage with the love.

So instead of filling our minds with garbage which diminishes us as human beings, we fill our minds with love which can build us up.

Instead of filling our spirits with emotionally-stunting energy which promotes envy and jealousy and covetousness and smallness, we fill our spirits with love which makes us feel so great that we make others feel just as great while we carry the world on our backs.

Discipline as Love?

There are many ways we can make love part of our lives outside the walls of our homes. One overlooked form of love is discipline. When it is administered properly, receiving discipline is supposed to shock us out of the stupor in which we find ourselves when we realize we are harming others (or even ourselves).

Violence is shocking, so it takes something just as shocking to stop it in its tracks. This is where discipline enters the picture for us.

Peter Parker, Disciplinarian?

One example of this comes from the origin story of Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. Before he settled into his identiy as Spider-Man, Peter Parker learned this lesson about discipline as love the hard way. He failed to stop a box office thief in his tracks. That same thief would later be responsible for killing his Uncle Ben.

Peter Parker was in a position to stop this thief, yet he just didn't care enough to do so; after all, it was just one guy, and he just wanted to collect his prize winnings for the fight he won. Yet it was his apathetic mindset which caused Peter Parker to lose one of the most important figures in his life. Had Peter Parker shocked this thief into stopping his theft, it is very likely that Uncle Ben would be alive and die later of natural causes. At the same time, that thief would have been faced with the error of his ways and maybe changed his life for the better. Love disguised as discipline would have made that possible.

Justice as Discipline

When we're apathetic toward others, it makes as much difference to us whether someone is on the right track thanks to discipline or on the wrong track toward ruin or self-destruction; we just don't care either way.

Discipline is what we to do people for whom we are directly responsible (children, extended family, subordinates directly below us in some chain of command).

Justice is discipline applied more broadly, and this discipline needs to be fused with love. It's why justice is a matter best left to people and families rather than to faceless 3rd parties such as "government" or "the state". It's also why love cannot be mandated into practice ("Love, or else...") And it's also why love can't be imposed on us in the top-down manner characteristic of a government or the state or a bureaucracy.

Just My Two Sats

In the end, justice-- and discipline, and therefore love-- begins with each of us. When we incentivize proper behaviors, we get more desirable outcomes and less of those we don't want. We want bull market for love and bear market on violence.

Over the long term, love will conquer all. However, we still need to apply love over the medium term and over the short term, and we handle love differently for each term. For centuries nations such as England and France were bitter rivals (as were France and Germany). It took a long time for these nations to be friendly with each other, but it happened because a multi-faceted approach to applying love was used. Wherever we live, we can find similar examples closer to us.

In the end, bans on weapons won't stop violence from taking place. It all begins in our minds and in our hearts, so that's where we need to focus our efforts at erradicating violence. As with anything we do in life-- from writing a post to getting married to starting a company-- it all begins with the mind. It is in our minds where we need to stop violence once and for all, and it begins with each of us.

Posted Using InLeo Alpha