Violence In The World - Causes & Solutions
- Part 1 -

By Goodman Naorem *

Hello friend,

Violence is an act of aggression; a turbulent state, resulting in injuries and destruction; being wild or disruptive or the disturbance caused against the ethical codes of conduct.

According to Wikipedia:
"Violence is the expression of physical or verbal force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. The word violence covers a broad spectrum. It can vary from between a physical altercation between two beings where a slight injury may be the outcome to war and genocide where millions may die as a result."

SOLUTIONS TO VIOLENCE

If we know the cause of any problem, then, obviously the best solution is to address the cause and rectify/remove it, then, the problem is solved! Other indirect approaches other than hitting the direct cause of the problem will be a mere waste of time, efforts & money and will not bring any lasting solution.

So, let us address the 'causes of violence' with the 'solutions to violence' one by one, as follows:

Problem-1: Law of karma i.e. violent thoughts, words & deeds beget the same violent reactions among the people.
Solution: Loving/harmonious/happy thoughts, words & deeds beget the same desirable reactions among people. So, let's cultivate & practice good/positive thoughts, words & deeds while dealing with people around so as to affect good/positive outcome of the Law of karma, instead of hatred, disunity & violence among the people. Practice of positive/ peace/ happy meditation individually & in groups will help to reduce violence in the society/world.

Problem-2: Violent mind due to the karmic effects of excessive dependence on non-vegetarian diets produced by the violent means of killing animals, birds, fishes etc.
Solution: It is true that our daily diets do affect our body & mind. Consuming non-vegetarian diets in excess do create violent/restless mind. Yes, it is the karmic reaction of killing animals, birds, fishes etc for our food. Out of these, killing animals for food has the worst karmic effects of violence, so it is best advised that people stop consuming red meat for creating less-violent mind. Consuming of white meat [birds, fishes etc] has less karmic effect than red meat. However, if possible, it is best to turn to vegetarian diet to get least undesirable karmic effects of violence in the society.

Problem-3: Selfishness of human nature i.e. thinking of his/her own happiness or prosperity at the cost of other fellow people's lives/sufferings e.g. slavery, bonded labor, exploitation etc.
Solution: To overcome this selfish human nature i.e. thinking of his/her own happiness or prosperity at the cost of other fellow people's lives/sufferings, we have to apply empathy i.e. keeping ourselves in other people's place and see what we feel. This is also called the Golden Rule i.e. do unto others what you want others do unto you. Nobody will be happy being enslaved, exploited or overused and so let us stop doing that. If you employ/use somebody, pay them properly. Don't exploit children just because they are ready to obey you.

Problem-4: Racial prejudice and hatred.
Solution: To remove racial prejudice and hatred among the people, we need to turn to spirituality i.e. identifying ourselves with our eternal souls/spirits and not with the changeable/temporary outside physical bodies, nationality, religion, caste, creed, cult etc. We should understand the spiritual oneness of our souls interconnected, being parts of the whole universe. Hating & harming another soul is nothing but hating & harming yourself and that affects the whole system in the universe. Try to see the good qualities in everybody and this way you can overcome prejudice & hatred.

Problem-5: Social divides between the rich and the poor people.
Solution: To reduce/remove the social divides between the rich and the poor people, rich people have more responsible roles to play with the human understanding that the wealth they accumulated are mostly the fruits of the labors of the poor people. Feeling of universal brotherhood i.e. the concept of the whole world is one family instead of thinking of the poor people as tools/slaves is to be practiced by the rich people toward the poor people. Otherwise, more of the Maoist type of armed social uprisings of the poor against the rich & the ruling people with lots of violence are bound to happen in the world where the rich and poor divides are too much.

Problem-6: Religious fundamentalism & extremism.
Solution: To stop this worst menace of religious fundamentalism and extremism, the top radical leaders of the religious groups should educate themselves not only in their religious teachings but also about the teachings of other religions. They should stop misleading their people and stop all kinds of hate speeches & instigations to kill/destroy people/property of other people of other religions. Misinterpretations of religious books in negative terms have to stop. Religious fundamentalists are just like 'the proud Mr. Frog of the well' type of people, they got to come out of their wells and see not only other wells but also the big lakes, seas & oceans, then only, they will realize their ignorance and try to live in harmony with other religious followers.

Problem-7: Irresponsible Film-makers [Producers/Directors/Script Writers/Artists], glorifying law-breakers, criminals, senseless violence, destructions, killings and war too much in the films.
Solution: To stop the bad/violent influence of the films to the society, the best way to start with is the production of more idealistic, reformative, educative & entertaining films with less or no violence. The impact of films on the people is huge and people simply imitate what they see in the films instinctively and so, Film-makers [Producers/Directors/Script Writers/Artists] should do their business of film making responsibly with minimum or no violence in their films by making idealistic films depicting happy society with no violence.

Problem-8: Irresponsible TV serial/drama producers depicting too much violent scenes on the TV.
Solution: To stop the bad/violent influence of the irresponsible TV serial/drama producers depicting too much violent scenes on the TV, they should have second thoughts on the social impacts of their productions will give and restrain from producing crime/violent oriented TV serials/dramas.

Problem-9: Irresponsible Print Media like Newspapers, Magazines, Weeklies etc making sensational stories out of every crime & violence, instead of giving them low profile as condemnable incidences of less importance.
Solution: Print Medias should stop making criminals/law breakers as heroic or famous people. They should not act irresponsibly by printing sensational stories glorifying underworld dons/mafias/criminals. They should instead do great stories on ideal social workers/social reformers/spiritual people to inspire people to do good works. Newspapers, Magazines, Weeklies etc should not only give news to the people but also influence people toward a crime free, happy society.

Problem-10: Computer/Video games involving too much fighting, killings and war.
Solution: Production of all kinds of Computer/Video games involving too much fighting, killings and war should be banned and we should discourage people to play them especially the kids. Such kind of violent games poison the brains of growing young children, familiarizing/indulging them in violence as normal way of life and thus grow up into violent adults!

To be continued ...