The Violence Of Being Human

How does this program differ from the types of punishment that are typically used for violent criminals?

In “Shame: The emotions and morality of violence,” James Gilligan, a professor of Psychiatry at New York University, argues to make a point that shame can lead to violence in a certain amount of people. After working and interviewing with two convicts in a prison, he learns that there are three preconditions to be met before being considered violent. The first is to not show their feelings of being ashamed due to it threatening their masculinity. The second is that they can’t counteract shame with their social status, achievements, friends and family. The last is not to feel love, guilt, or fear. These preconditions make Gilligan more understanding of the inmates and their lives.

According to Ann Marie Paulin in “Cruelty, Civility and Other Weighty Matters”, the mass media are discriminating against overweight people, which creates a society where being fat is looked down upon. Paulin argues that, “the media are notorious for getting things less than accurate” (243), therefore we shouldn’t believe how they depict fat people on tv, magazines and other media sources. The author believes that not all overweight people are like, how the media portrays them, but rather their lifestyle is influenced by the culture we live in. She claimed that, “Sugary or fatty foods are often available in grab and go packages that are so much easier to take to work or eat in the car than making a healthy snack” (245). She believe there are evidence to show that humans are naturally attracted to unhealthy foods, but society continue to manufacture them to make people eat more (243-249). I agree with Paulin about how the media need to stop fat shaming because it’s not only making people feel bad, but it is promoting obesity.

What has America come to? Although the articles, “We’re No.1(1)!” written by Thomas Friedman, and the article “Violence is Who We Are,” by Steven Crichley, have different overall subjects, they have a similar arguments. The world isn’t as great as it used to be, we are lacking good leadership, and we happily invite wrong doings into our lives.

I have chosen to discuss the culture of violence in America and how it relates to gun control. It seems we cannot turn on the television, computer or smart phone without reading about gun violence throughout the country. I believe America’s love affair with violence has contributed to an increase in violent crimes. Having said that, there are several incidences in the news where possessing a gun has proven to be helpful in keeping homeowners safe and alive. In one case, a son was at home during a home invasion and used his gun to prevent the attack. This incident happened in Wagoner County, Oklahoma. Three teens dressed in black, wearing masks and gloves, broke into a residence. Authorities arrived to find two of the intruders shot to death in the home, one suspect was found dead in the driveway, and later an additional accomplice turned herself in to the authorities (Wire). Also, there is the case in which a 73-year-old man stopped a home robbery because he had a gun and shot the intruder. The elderly man reported being robbed several times that year, likely contributing to his perceived need to arm himself.

You’re driving with your girlfriend and child, on your way home after a long day. You suddenly get pulled over by a cop. You do as the cop says, in addition, you decide it’s not best to argue back. You speak calmly and do as the cop says, yet they are afraid of you and think you will try something horrific. As soon as you’re about to show them your license, it is suddenly too late. You are shot and are no longer alive. It took 40 seconds for an ordinary traffic stop to turn deadly. This occurred to a man named Philando Castile. He was fatally shot by a cop when he was reaching for his license. Philando Castile informed him beforehand that he legally had a firearm in his car before they decide to shoot or arrest him. However, the cop said that he

amount of the violence. My children at times were abused for defending me. I knew

The novel “Night” shows that there is great inhumanity and cruelty displayed from this personal journey of Elie Wiesel. The Nazi are the ringleaders behind it all gradually making the Jews feel like nothing and only pawns for work. The Germans strip the Jews to nothing and take away everything close to them, separation from loved ones, isolation, transportation and the ruthless, cold actions towards them in the camps such as starvation, selections of the fittest and the struggle of survival becomes essential for their own self. However there are humane acts within the book which help Elie overcome some struggles and survive the brutality of the camps and war.

Over the last thirty years, significant scholars of American (particularly southern) lynching such as George C. Wright, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Stewart E. Tolnay and E. M. Beck, Christopher Waldrep, William D. Carrigan, Amy Louise Wood, and Manfred Berg have written at length about the social structure and cultural context of the collective violence, much of it racially motivated, that plagued the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century United States. With the exception of Wright's and Waldrep's work, lynching scholarship (including my own) has tended to focus more on the structure and context of lynching violence than on its impact on African American communities. Focusing on the violence itself as well as those who perpetrated it, scholars

Joe Sacco's graphic novel, Palestine, deals with the repercussions of the first intifada in Israel/Palestine/the Holy Land. The story follows the author through the many refugee camps and towns around Palestine as he tries to gather information, stories, and pictures to construct his graphic novel. While the book is enjoyable at a face level, there are many underlying themes conveyed throughout its illustrated pages and written text.

In review to the book “Living Gently in a Violent World,” written by Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier. This book is consisted of four essays, two written by Hauerwas and the other two written by Vanier. Each essay reveals the main point of how the L’Aarche community challenges the labels, stereotypes, and false accusations that Christians and the whole world have towards people with disabilities. In particular chapter one: The Fragility of L’Arche and the Friendship of God, written by Vanier explains how he is the founder of the L’Arche communities and in his essays he reveals that this is a community where intellectual and disabled humans live together. However; Vanier expresses that the intellectual do not live with the disabled to help them

The books Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus and Testimony by Victor Montejo describes the lives of two individuals from different societies. In both of these societies there was much hardship and violence. The two main characters who wrote these books describe life through their point of view and explains the hardship and challenges they had living in a society filled with violence.

Joe Sacco’s graphic novel, Palestine, deals with the repercussions of the first intifada in Israel/Palestine/the Holy Land. The story follows the author through the many refugee camps and towns around Palestine as he tries to gather information, stories, and pictures to construct his graphic novel. While the book is enjoyable at a face level, there are many underlying themes conveyed throughout its illustrated pages and written text.

The term violence brings to memory an image of physical or emotional assault on a person. In most circumstances, the person affected due to violence is aware that a violent action has been performed on that person. There is another form of violence where the affected individual, in most cases are unaware of the violence inflicted upon them. These types of violence are termed as structural violence. Structural violence is a form of invisible violence setup by a well-defined system, to limit an individual’s development to his full potential, by using legal, political, social or cultural traditions (Winter and Leighton, 1).

Photographs, drawings, cartoons and videos cover significant political matters. Photojournalists such as Lynsey Addario present critical political issues that affect the world today. In her book, It’s What I Do, she presents scenes surrounding the fall of prominent political leaders such as Muammar el-Qaddafi. The pictures on pages 4 and 5 of her book, for instance, show the struggles that the rebels went through in their quest to dethrone Qaddafi. She quotes Robert Capa, who once said, “ ‘ If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough’ ” (Lynsey 7) which shows that photographs are significant in the world of journalism. A video such as “Shouting In The Dark” reveals the heinous acts done by the government of Bahrain towards its own citizens. In the video, we see the brutal force used by the government to silence the peaceful protesters. People were beaten, shot, imprisoned, and killed.