Violence Stage Two: Self-control

1327: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

The word violence conjures up images of aggression and the use of force intending to hurt.  But perhaps it starts with being denied something we think we deserve, a fear of losing out, which in turn touches the panic button.  We bring force into our behaviour to get the result we want. If it works, it's likely we'll do it again  and if used often enough, 'force' becomes a habit.  Sometimes, when we're feeling uncomfortable and frustrated and know that if we don't act straightaway our feelings of discomfort will only get worse, the easiest way out is to use force.  A certain determination is needed, so we use force to bring things back under our control.

The seemingly uncontrollable demand for attention by infants may be excusable, but their screaming and crying are a panic response to something that's out of their control.  And, of course, the parent rushes in to alleviate the panic.  When there's panic or when the demands of self-interest need to be satisfied in adults, there can be a throwback to infancy.  But without a parent to come to our 'rescue', we employ force to help us out of our difficulty.  In our urgency to bring things back under control, we ignore the effect of our behaviour on everyone else.

Force and violence are forms of theft.  If we can't generate what we want by harmless means in order to gain benefit, some form of energy must be stolen from someone or something else.  Force!   And if that is what happens when we feel pangs of hunger, we go to the most potent food material we know that will guarantee comfort.  And these foods are everywhere!  They fill the stomach, stimulate taste buds and quell a whole range of discomforts.  In fact, when we face any sort of discomfort we go for the most powerful food we know - animal-based food - with no thought of the animal sacrificed to provide it for us.  The rich, high protein, full flavoured, filling food brings comfort and alleviates discomfort.  And, like a drug, we use it regularly for its predictable result.  It works like magic, but it acts like any addictive drug and we become dependent on it.   We’ll flirt with danger and violence if necessary to get that food which brings us most comfort.


Violence used in the subjugation, handling and killing of animals is efficient.  It’s cruel, it’s crude but it controls the animal which in turn produces an economical and viable end-product for the consumer market which can be 'consumed' to bring any situation from mild hunger to anxiety-filled-crisis, to a swift resolution.  For omnivores,  animal-based foods serve many purposes, not the least of which is their value in resolving emotional turmoil.  You can bet that whatever the problem might be, a meal rich with animal-based foods will put a smile on any omnivore's face, despite the violence and exploitation of animals it took to bring such a result.  And as it becomes more of a habit, they'll hardly see it as 'violence'.  Soon enough, it becomes part of the normal pattern of daily life.  Even though on one level omnivores know what happens to animals when they are exploited and executed, they choose not to bring what they know into consciousness.  They suppress such thoughts in order to draw the best from the 'product'.