There has been much written and spoken about domestic violence and child abuse recently due to incidents involving NFL players. It’s unfortunate that it takes a sensationalized incident to bring into view a chronic societal problem; but, that’s not surprising being that it hits very close to home for a lot of people.
But domestic violence is simply a derivative of the general violence that society has always tolerated. Let’s take a step back into history.
From about 72 to 435 A.D. the Coliseum in Rome housed the most diabolic display of human carnage and violence under the guise of “Public Sport.” Over 500,000 people and over one million animals were butchered while the crowds cheered on. And this is just one of many arenas throughout the Roman Empire that practiced this evil.
So why mention this? Because this is a window into an element of the human character that accepts, tolerates and even promotes violence. This is not a historically isolated condition. Look at the history of mankind; or even look at what’s happening right now in the Middle East with the emergence of the Islamic State.
In reality, we are very schizophrenic beings – on one hand abhorring violence while on the other, embracing it. NFL football is not the same as the gladiators, but it is based on an acceptable violent confrontation for public consumption.
My point is this: As a society we will never overcome the violence which wreaks havoc and destruction on millions of lives when we continue to tolerate any degree of violence as acceptable.
[For more of this story, written by Jim Roberts, go to https://chronicleofsocialchang...-abhor-violence/8372]
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