EDITORIAL: HATE and VIOLENCE too pervasive. Why?

Violence, aggression, acts of hate, misogyny, racism, road rage….these are examples of hate in our society, examples of people acting aggressively at others. Politicians and social leaders claim we are working to reduce these actions in our society but are these anti-violence campaigns and anti-hatred initiatives working well enough? The news seems to report numerous examples of aggression, violence and hate-related killings nightly. The numbers of these incidents seems to be increasing rather than diminishing. Why?

Where are we failing in our efforts to reduce violence and hate in our society? Are governments doing enough? Political and social leaders doing enough? Where are we failing?

Gun violence seems to be everywhere. Road rage is so common the news media does not even report it. Domestic violence is so far off the scale, it does not even rate as news worthy. Are we normalizing violence and hate in every day life? Is it so common now, much of it goes unreported?

It is a sad commentary when a municipal counsellor calls out her council colleagues in relation to harassment and aggressive behaviour. The liability risks preclude naming any individual as the perpetrator of this behaviour. The courts do not support violence and aggression. However, they defend perpetrators who claim liability issues in relation to their aggressive behaviour.

What should we do? Every leader, social vip, politician might consider some self-introspection to evaluate their role in the effort to reduce violence and aggression in our society. Every institution and organization should table an examination to evaluate if it is doing anything constructive to diminish these behaviours in our society. The police cannot be the only defense we have against these kinds of acts. They should be the last resort whereas society, governments, institutions and organizations should be discussing and find ways to reduce aggression and hate in out society and increase awareness of its occurrence wherever and when it happens. 

Are we doing enough to reduce aggression and acts of hate in our society today?