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Noticing the Phenomenon
By lindamuralidharan on 2011-03-03 16:37:30
Well, a while back bloggers to this site talked about increases in domestic violence that occur following community
traumas.....floods, earthquakes, war, and the like. I had not thought of this before the information offered in the post. Now, I
have heard in the news that incidents of domestic violence have increased sharply since a very destructive earthquake hit
Christchurch, New Zealand. Some of you may have followed the news about the quake and noted that over 100 lives have
been lost, and many homes destroyed. I would have thought of this as an isolated situation, maybe something relative to the
culture of New Zealand, had not one of my co-bloggers made this point about there being a pattern to this. What does this
phenomenon have to do with our goal of building nonviolent societies at both local and international levels? Why does this
increase in civilian violence occur, one that is not directly related to the motives so often seen in unstable situations , e.g.
the greed that leads to looting? Yes, sometimes people such as the stranded ones in New Orleans are desperate for supplies,
but greed or desperation, either one seem pretty understandable. If this is a known pattern, when communities develop
disaster preparedness plans, do they include prevention of domestic violence in the drills and strategies designed to
minimize the negative effects of adverse events? If not, why not? I am presenting these pretty much as open ended
questions. I don't have a clear set of answers myself, at least not answers in which I have complete confidence. If it is said
that a high percentage of adult domestic abusers were raised in a home where they witnessed someone being abused
physically, what kind of copy cat behavior is behind the stress induced violence in New Zealand? If this is copy cat
behavior, what kind of violence is it likely these adults observed in their New Zealand childhoods? Was it violence toward
siblings, parents, elders, pets? Another concern is that domestic violence has been said to be largely dependent on the
attitude of "male entitlement". The male believes in the right to have his wishes honored in the family environment and that
he has a right to enforce his wishes by force. Now if that is the case, and male "entitlement" feeds into the domestic
violence in general and into the huge incremental incidence of it in disaster zones, what do we need to do to reverse that type
of belief throughout a whole system? And in many countries and cultures? Do we have widespread propaganda campaigns
about equal rights and the equal right of all to be safe and free of domination? Do we need to publicize scholarship that
shows some of our major religions' founders actually urged respect and non-violent treatment for all? Do we need to
publicly question preaching that suggests one sex or another is destined to be an autocrat..never mind whether "velvet
gloved" or not? Regardless of whether or not perpetrators saw abuse as a child, could it be they were raised to think that
whenever there is a problem to be solved or they face a feeling of being threatened , violence is the default position? When
things are calm and not too threatening, the persons in questions perhaps are able to override the default and leave
uncomfortable situations or even talk them through. If violence is the default problem solver, do we perhaps need a public
debate about developing new default positions? In everyday life are we unconsciously perpetrating the problem? Do we
think to ourselves or say to a friend "he ought to be punched out!" when we see someone cut off another driver in traffic or
be rude to a senior citizen in the supermarket? Do we say "those kids would straighten out real fast if someone took them
out to the woodshed"? Is this our default position? Even if we never act on them, are these the solutions we talk about in
front of less stable people who might not have the same self-control? And what might we do under the "right" stressful
conditions? After all, a lot of people are using violence everyday, at home and abroad, and I bet a good number of them
think they are just ordinary citizens who just "had a bad day", when they let loose on partner, son, daughter, or even parent.
What else do readers think leads such a large group of people in a disaster zone to endanger their "presumably" loved ones
while other people, under all kinds of stress, refrain from personal violence, refrain from making disaster effects even
worse? Two caveats here. I know that women can be abusers also, and I know that they usually make up a small percentage
of perpetrators in any given community. And second, I am greatly inspired from reports from places like Egypt and Eastern
Libya of ordinary citizens really stepping up to the plate and helping to direct traffic, organize security patrols for
neighborhoods, and very much contributing to as much peace as possible in these situations of community disruption. Many
of these have no prior history of community organizing or civic involvement. Now that I know about this phenomenon, I not
only hurt for the many victims of the quake in New Zealand..victims of nature or other humans, but I hope universal
solutions can be found to a universal problem.
