When we do Logic of Violence it starts with the Violence Dynamics talk. The Maslow perspective. This gives us motivations for violence– fear (Survival level); Stuff (resource predator, Security level on Maslow); the social motivations (status-membership-territory-protocols); or pleasure (process predators, Self-actualized on Maslow.) The next is understanding the violent people have goals and parameters. What … [Read more…]
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?” – Zen story. Understanding models of Violence Dynamics should be a rather straight forward process. After all, as adults we have mastered many more complex subjects such as medicine, law, … [Read more…]
Question: I am a woman, why should I care about Violence Dynamics? Answer: Violence and conflict are pervasive and often oppressive facts of the human condition. It behooves everyone to understand the parts of the world that can harm. Knowledge is power. One of the biggest dangers, for all people, is the tendency to extrapolate … [Read more…]
There are multiple ways to view self-defense. Some people see self-defense as merely fighting skills that are available to you when you need it. Analogous to an insurance policy protects you in the case of a violent event, or swimming skills that save you from drowning in case you fall into the water. People who … [Read more…]
The other element in this equation is YOU. Violence is used for specific purposes. As such, it has its own logic. Incidents of violence are chaotic because you have multiple people in an adrenalized state that is unfamiliar to at least one of them. It’s not that violence doesn’t have rules, it’s that you likely … [Read more…]
PROCESS PREDATOR: For the Process Predator the act of violence is the reason itself. The crime is the goal. The rapist, the serial killer, the ritualistic torture murderers are process predators. The Process predator requires time and privacy for what he intends to do. One of the reasons that home invasion crimes are so brutal … [Read more…]
Most, if not all animals have a ritualized combat between males of the same species to safely establish dominance. Snakes coil around each other and wrestle. It can look like mating to the uninitiated. Deer and elk lock antlers and push and fence. Rams slam their horns, reinforced with massive blocks of bone, into each … [Read more…]
The Group Monkey Dance (GMD) is a show of group solidarity. There are two levels, at least. In the lowest level an outsider is discouraged from interfering with group business—it is a way of establishing territory. Families are tight-knit groups. Domestic violence incidents are acts within the group. Sometimes, when the police intervene, both … [Read more…]
Most of the people reading this will be comfortable products of comfortable homes with significant education and socialization. This is the norm in North America, where I happen to be writing. The norm is so powerful and pervasive that it can be very easy to believe that the values of middle-class Americans are universal. They … [Read more…]
If a young Threat brutally beats a foreign tourist in a random explosion of violence… it wasn’t random. It was just a surprise for the onlookers and the victim. In a marginal society, like the criminal subculture, a reputation for violence is a very valuable thing. If people think you are crazy, apt to … [Read more…]