When Will We Stop The Violence?

I enjoy football.  I played and coached.  Thus, a fair amount of my life has been tied up in what many would classify as a violent sport.  No, it does rate up there with ice hockey.  My point is that I have played sports and continue to watch sporting events and enjoy the talents and skills exhibited.  I encourage student to be involved in sports.  Yes, I want sportsmanship and decent grades and safety as well.

However, I am concerned with us as a society with the continuing growth of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships). It has become a multi-billion dollar entertainment business with millions of viewers across the world.  The purpose is to pummel your opponent any way possible.  The fighters cannot use weapons or accessories and be proper but with hands, feet, hand, elbow, knee and any other body part any damage to opponent is okay.  Its popularity increases each year and there does not appear to be any slowly of its viewership.

"I despair at the rise of modern violence. I truly give in to despair at times, that deep, futureless pit of despair.... I watch the American slaughterhouse, the casual attacks on popes, presidents, and uncounted others, and I wonder if there are many more out there with the Ability or if butchery has simply become the modern way of life." Best selling sci-fi author Dan Simmons - of  Carrion Comfort fame.

As a country we have talked about following the "Rule of Law?"  We tend to think of ourselves as civilized.  We discussion justice and injustices.  We claim, sometimes at convenient times, to follow the Golden Rule.  We talk about treasuring peace and seeing it as a goal.

With all of that said it is now confirmed that Americans participated in authorized torture.   On any given day hundreds of women, men and children are killed at the hands of self, family members, guests and complete strangers.  Domestic violence is a common conversation and now receiving some attention because of football players.  Date rape is debated and remains a hidden topic in many organizations and colleges. 

American history - or at least the parts we teach - is not exactly a non-violent tale.  Witch trials, slavery, civil war, KKK, lynching, church burning and numerous other hideous happenings are a part of the story of America and Americans.   That is not to mention wars, police actions, self- defense first strikes and political interventions.

Killing people is a bottom line event.  There may be good intentions.  Some may be justified.   Some are for the protection of others.   For the millions of lost lives I am sure there are hundreds of overriding facts.  A life lost is exactly that - lost.

Are we a violent society?   Do humans need to destroy one another as some instinctive trait?   Is power and passion and greed so dominant that the strong (those in control) continue to kill, maim, hurt, punish and destroy those others?

I believe those are personal questions.  To paraphrase Malcolm X - if everyone was non-violent I would be too.   When, where and how does that movement start?   At what point do we say enough?