Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this blog assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post.
“The World Health Organization defines violence as ‘the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation’, but acknowledges that the inclusion of "the use of power" in its definition expands on the conventional meaning of the word.[2] This definition associates intentionality with the committing of the act itself, irrespective of the outcome it produces. However, generally, anything that is turbulent or excited in an injurious, damaging or destructive way, or presenting risk accordingly, may be described as violent or as occurring violently, even if not signifying violence (by a person and against a person).” - Wikipedia, “Violence”
Self-directed (physical, sexual, psychological, involving deprivation or neglect): Suicide or self-abuse.
Interpersonal (physical, sexual, psychological, involving deprivation or neglect): Family and intimate partner.
Collective (physical, sexual, psychological, involving deprivation or neglect): Social, asocial, political and economic.
Most of us in the self-defense realm will be concerned with the collective form of physical violence, i.e., the social violence of the monkey dance and the asocial predatory violence, i.e., robbers, rapists and sociopathic/psychopathic, etc.
If a human can get a handle on the collective forms of violence, distinguish between acceptable vs. unacceptable forms then that will usually take care of the interpersonal and self-directed forms. It could be said that both interpersonal and self-directed could be lumped under collective/social/asocial since those all tend to have some effect on society, i.e., family, other persons and societal depending on circumstances and so on.
Violence is often spoken of as “preventable” but in my personal opinion that is impossible because humans use forms of conflict and violence to get things done. Life and society are based on forms of conflict and violence where the most successful blend the two into acceptable and unacceptable. For instance, killing another human being without legal cause is unacceptable but to kill to prevent oneself or one’s loved ones, etc. from death or grave bodily harm is acceptable, excused legally and morally.
Control of conflict and violence is what is needed to achieve peaceful negotiations in societal harmony for human benefit. Knowing the acceptable from the unacceptable is critical in making such distinctions. It is about removing the impediments of ignorance that feed the proper application of conflict and violence rather than slipping and sliding into the chaos of unacceptable conflict and violence.
Violence is not just bad stuff and the sooner humans accept conflict and violence as a human condition the sooner we can gain a modicum of control over those who either choose or predisposed toward unacceptable violence. Not an easy path to follow when society teaches that all violence is bad all the time. It leaves no room to teach, train and apply proper acceptable models of conflict and violence.
Note: This is not truly an all inclusive definition of violence. For the martial artist and those who take self-defense it helps the fact that a more in-depth definition is out there and a good start for the MA and SD communities are provided below, i.e., bibliography. Don’t blindly accept any definition, seek out more and define things for yourself.
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence
Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.
Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014.
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.
My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Mokuren Dojo: http://www.mokurendojo.com
McYoung’s Musings: http://macyoungsmusings.blogspot.com
Martial Views: http://www.martialviews.com
Shinseidokan Dojo: http://shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com
The Classi Budoka: https://classicbudoka.wordpress.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com
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