Violence II

"A donkey will only understand if you beat him"
That was, what that cool cartoonist guy had told me after I'd witnessed the awful fight between drunk clubbers and the police that evening in Amman a few weeks back.

Beckilina has written a response to this and the relation between men and violence, which is very thought-provoking:
http://coffee-in-a-coldclimate.blogspot.com/ (22nd February blog)

I agree with Beckilina's argument that it is culture more than biology (nurture more than nature), which defines our way of responding to the seductiveness of violence and I am also glad to see a growing movement against these essentially masculine ways of behaviour that shape and define our world.
But I feel I need to explain this phrase about the donkey a little, or rather: elaborate on a different aspect of it. While Beckilina seems to have been particularly challenged by the last seven words of the phrase, I was - at the time at least - more concerned about the second word: donkey. What the Jordanian guy meant with 'donkey' wasn't just a 'man' or a 'guy', but a 'stupid guy', i.e. a donkey.
For a moment this sparked me off to think "Ah, it's education that is needed here... if these Arabs get more educated, they'll stop being so damn violent", but I quickly realised how ridiculous that thought was, especially when images of violent (English) hooligans came to my mind, smashing the head of a French policeman to pulp, back at some major football event in France a few years ago, or images of (US) policemen hitting (black) 'criminals'... I quickly de-linked the fight I'd seen with Jordan or the Arab world... Stupidity exists everywhere and - unfortunately - does not disappear in countries with supposed high levels of 'education'; though this is NOT to suggest that education CANNOT play a role in shifting our response to violence's seductive power towards a peaceful and non-violent way of life - I do believe that it CAN!

This reminds me of a short essay Amos Oz once wrote, called "How to cure a fanatic" (if you allow me to assume that a fanatic is one of the people very likely to resort to violence, especially in light of today's definition of fanatic/fundamentalist), in which he recommends literature as the cure... reading gives you a unique and private opportunity to see something through someone else's eyes and thus to at least consider another point of view - something fanatics don't do.

Well, considering the time of day and the lowering level of wine in the bottle on the table, I am not really in the state to continue this argument, but I do hope it gives space for much further discussion.

Peace.