Advanced Essay #3: Groomed to be Violent

What if we lived in a society built on non-violence?

    Violence is everywhere in modern day America. Fortnite the biggest game in the world with, according to Shacknews, a trusted resource in the gaming community, over “200 million registered players,” is a game where the goal is to eliminate all the other players with an arsenal of weapons to be the last man standing. Violence is the mainstream.

One thing people say about Fortnite is that it’s “kid-friendly.” This is due to it’s cartoonish graphics and silly characters that the player can choose from. Kid friendly. Violence is so prevalent in America that a game where the player runs around finding and using different guns can be seen as “kid friendly.” All you have to do is get rid of the gore and replace the word kill with “eliminate” and suddenly violence is acceptable for all ages.

In American kids are groomed to be violent. The leader of our country even advocates for violence when he deems it necessary. In a speech Trump made in 2016 while in Cedar Roads, Iowa he told his supporters to “knock the crap out of them, would you? … I promise you I will pay for the legal fees,” in regards to protestors at his rallies, some who had been throwing tomatoes. All humans have a flight or fight response to certain circumstances. Yet in America the perception is that the fight response is for the strong and the flight response is for the weak.

If someone disrespects you, you fight them. Fight, fight, fight, over nothing. In 2015 nearly 6,000 african-americans were killed by other african-americans according to the Daily Wire. Violence doesn’t have any boundaries. In America people who look like each other, talk like each other will destroy each other over nothing. The weapon of choice many times being a gun.

The easiest way to carry out violence is with a gun. In America according to the Gun Violence Archive there have already been 10 incidents classified as “mass shootings” this month. In May. Six days. There are many different opinions on why gun violence has become such a problem in America. Some say that guns are too easily accessible. That if we had more protocols in place in regards to ownership less crazies would have access to guns.

Others say that mental health is the problem. That everyone has a right to a gun and the lack of help being provided to these people is the true problem.

These are two valid arguments but there’s a piece missing. America loves violence. In media, in our culture of not letting someone disrespect you, violence is everywhere. How can we expect some people not to take that to the ultimate extreme when it’s been all around of them from the time they were born.        

How would our culture change if it was rooted in non-violence? What if guns were looked at as a privilege to own and not a right? How can we truly get better at connecting with one another enough to put more value into the life of another human?

I think one thing we must do is put more effort into working on breaking down the “us vs them” barriers that divide Americans from Americans. We have too many instances of police killing young black men, the poor struggling against the rich, bigots degrading those they believe are below them. And yet they don’t mourn, because they feel no connection to those they have hurt. Anne Frank who wrote a diary during the Holocaust said that “we all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.”

Love must be preached in schools, in media more. Caring for one another has to be made more of a priority. As was highlighted before not only is there violence to the us vs them concepts that flow through America but there is also violence among those who look and talk the same. We have to fix this.

Imagine if American culture was infused with ideas like this. What if we valued our fellow man enough, to the point that violence would be looked down upon because it would result in the pain of our fellow man.

Violence is too big of a part in American society. It’s present in entertainment, American children get exposed to it as children, it’s even present in presidential rhetoric. No wonder why violence acts have become such a common occurrence in America. Violence is everywhere. To end this cycle of violence it it essential that we put more of an emphasis on caring for one another. Violence only tears us apart.

Works Cited

Bandler, Aaron, and Aaron Bandler. “7 Statistics You Need To Know About Black-On-Black Crime.” Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 13 July 2016, www.dailywire.com/news/7441/7-statistics-you-need-know-about-black-black-crime-aaron-bandler.

Elworthy, Scilla. “Fighting with Nonviolence.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/scilla_elworthy_fighting_with_non_violence?language=en#t-314454.

“The Greatest Diversity Quotes.” Greatest, www.greatest-inspirational-quotes.com/diversity-quotes.html.

“Gun Violence Archive.” Gun Violence Archive, www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting.