Lying To Ourselves Doesn't Make It Go Away

A few days ago not far from where I live, an elderly man was beaten so severely by two teenagers he tried to stop from stealing a pumpkin that he was left in a coma. He died today and over nothing more important than a bloody pumpkin.

Three weeks ago, two men were gunned down in a tanning salon in a shopping mall and a week later, another man was shot outside his home in the suburbs. This is in one of the safest cities in the world.

Even as I write this a husband and wife, along with their son, are on trial in Toronto for murdering his three daughters and his first wife.


I keep hearing and reading about how crime and violence are on the decrease. Strangely, those commentaries are usually in the same media that is reporting on the latest violent protest, riot, terrorist attack, murder or swarming. I'm afraid I don't get it.

Bullying in our schools is
becoming epidemic

Bullying, which is a form of violence, is on the increase in our schools. Educators, parents, government and social workers (not to mention the kids themselves) are concerned and increasingly worried about it, with good reason. Bullying has become a major issue in virtually every elementary and secondary school in the country. In Toronto, this week alone, a 12 year old has been charged with stabbing a classmate in the back and another was shot a few months ago outside of his school. This supports the idea that violence isn't declining, it's simply getting younger.

Child abuse from pedophiles, a particularly insidious form of violence, is rapidly turning into a global epidemic and law enforcement is committing more and more resources to try and combat it. The violence perpetrated on children by sex criminals has intensely damaging effects that last for years and it's spreading.

Vancouver hockey fans rioting after a game

In Vancouver, people rioted after a hockey game, a riot so extreme that the police couldn't contain it. In Britain, students rioted to protest increased tuition and later riots spread all over Britain for days initially to protest government economic policy but subsequently just violence for the sake of violence. These weren't peaceful demonstrations, they were full-blown riots filled with the destruction of property and countless injuries.

Arab Spring

Regardless of how it started or how noble its original intent, Arab Spring is nothing, if not violent. In some cases, violence so severe, it has led to war dragging the UN and NATO into the conflict. Violence erupted from protest demonstrations in Algeria, Egypt, Syria and, the most violent, Libya. We can call it Arab Spring or revolution for change or whatever we want but a rose by any other name is still a rose. Call violence whatever makes you feel good but it is still violence.

Even the initially peaceful G8/G20 demonstrations in Toronto last year eventually erupted into violence and that was violence by both demonstrators and law enforcement.

Vancouver police announcing gang arrests

BC recently warned its citizens that it couldn't guarantee their safety in the face of increased gang violence and Quebec's gang wars are notorious. This is violence so extreme, innocent people, not just gang members, die. Jane Creba was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between rival gangs outside the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. That tragedy led the mayor of Toronto to call on the federal government to do something about increased gang violence. The feds responded with the gun registry, a misguided attempt to curtail gun violence.(One would think that if they didn't believe that gun violence was increasing, they wouldn't have bothered to set up the registry)

I think that the biggest lies are the ones we tell ourselves and we are lying to ourselves when we believe that violence is in decline. Increasingly, violence is becoming the method of choice for resolving differences, expressing opinion and trying to effect change.

Home invasions are on the increase. Swarmngs and muggings happen regularly. Rape is all too common as evidenced by the recent "Don't be that guy" campaign (anyone who thinks rape isn't a violent act needs to have their head rewired.) Road rage is almost epidemic and spousal abuse is a serious concern across the country.

Oakland during the \General Day of Srike

We can pretend it isn't happening. We can continue to lie to ourselves in order to ease our fears or to justify our position but all we will achieve is an illusion that hides the truth. Too many believe that just because they personally haven't experienced violence, it isn't a problem. They're wrong.

The simple fact is that the potential for violence is all around us and can erupt at any time. One only has to consider the peaceful Occupy protests in Oakland and New York's Day of Action which turned violent too quickly. No one who went to work  at the World Trade Centre on September 11, ever thought for a moment that an act so violent it would not only take their lives but shake the world, would erupt within a few short minutes.

Burning a railway bridge in Caledonia

Certainly the residents of Caledonia Ontario never thought a native land claims dispute would result in some residents being attacked and beaten nor did the guests at a luxury hotel in Mumbai think that extremists would attack, occupy the hotel and randomly murder people. No one on a London subway or at an FBI building in Salt Lake City ever thought their lives would be so radically changed by a pending act of violence until it happened. No one flying out of Locherbie thought it would be their last day but it was. All of these were acts of terrorism, a violence that has become the preferred option for change by extremists around the world, including in our own country.

Intense airport security

Intense security in public facilities including airports, embassies, banks and government buildings (which include but aren't limited to traffic barricades, surveillance cameras, metal detectors and increased law enforcement) doesn't lend support to the idea that violence is in decline. Canadians are restricted in access to their own Houses of Parliament and some taxis now separate passenger from driver by bullet-proof glass. If violence is declining and not really a problem, why are so many concerned with the need for heightened security?

This doesn't mean that we have to live our lives in fear. Most of us have a better chance of being struck by lightening than hurt or killed in a terrorist attack, murdered or mugged. But there is no question that there is more violence today than there was twenty years ago because there is more wide-spread anger, discontent and unwarranted sense of entitlement today. Many teen gangs don't steal because they must, they steal and swarm because they can. A few even kill as a small gang did a few years back in BC when the murdered a classmate because of her race.

Riots in London England earlier this year

These are not isolated acts of violence. They are representative of the spread of violence in all age groups in all parts of the country, indeed, around the world. Instead of lying to ourselves about declining violence, we should be addressing how to combat it in the hope that we might begin to influence its decline. That would be a positive objective but it will never be achieved as long as we deny its increasing presence. We can either acknowledge that violence is a major problem and begin to do something about it or we can continue to lie to ourselves and hope for the best.

The next time somebody tells you that increased violence is a myth, pick up a local newspaper and give it to them. Somewhere in that paper will be at least one story about violence. Sadly, there will probably be more than one.

© 2011 Maggie's Bear
all rights reserved
If you are so inclined, you can follow me on Twitter @maggsbear. Follow me even though I'm not 100% sure of where I'm going....look on it as an adventure.