“I don’t think we can get rid of violence. Anger is in all of us. And greed is in all of us. We can’t get rid of it in ourselves. We can’t get rid of it in the society. But we can oppose the organization of it. The use of it as a tool, and as a threat.” That’s
I am missing the footbridge from "anger" to "violence." They're almost equivocated in the quote. I am not necessarily saying that I disagree with the notion that violence will always be present AND that violence stems from anger (and greed). But I reject the notion that anger always results in violence.
I am also sometimes slow, so I could be missing something.
And as a proponent of nonviolent communication (NVC), I define violence pretty broadly to be anything that has the potential to do harm (including words & communication).
Hi David, we have corresponded a little bit before on X. I am a sociologist of religion and have found your work really inspiring but this post has struck me particularly because of something that happened to me after I suffered a huge breakdown/kind of psychosis after submitting my PhD which led to a huge outpouring of anger. Would you mind if I sent you a message asking about it? I’m spent seven years strugglign to overcome this anger because it is so far from who I was before.
We can get rid of violence and anger within ourselves. If we don't, we just perpetuate it. Instead, the energy of violence and anger can be transformed into doing good. The reason anger has to be transformed is that anger is a part of the stress response, which reduces our ability to think clearly. Athletes have learned this and by managing the anger response, athletic performance improves. Business culture is also discovering this. Top-down hierarchical structures do not work, greed is a bad motivator, hierarchies are being flattened, communication channels are changing, discussion making at lower levels, shared purpose and the solving of social needs becomes the primary motivator.
I am missing the footbridge from "anger" to "violence." They're almost equivocated in the quote. I am not necessarily saying that I disagree with the notion that violence will always be present AND that violence stems from anger (and greed). But I reject the notion that anger always results in violence.
I am also sometimes slow, so I could be missing something.
And as a proponent of nonviolent communication (NVC), I define violence pretty broadly to be anything that has the potential to do harm (including words & communication).
Hi David, we have corresponded a little bit before on X. I am a sociologist of religion and have found your work really inspiring but this post has struck me particularly because of something that happened to me after I suffered a huge breakdown/kind of psychosis after submitting my PhD which led to a huge outpouring of anger. Would you mind if I sent you a message asking about it? I’m spent seven years strugglign to overcome this anger because it is so far from who I was before.
Thank you for the much-appreciated introduction to Gwendolyn Brooks' poetry.
Current circumstances make even a pledge impossible, but you have my promise to share your offerings.
We can get rid of violence and anger within ourselves. If we don't, we just perpetuate it. Instead, the energy of violence and anger can be transformed into doing good. The reason anger has to be transformed is that anger is a part of the stress response, which reduces our ability to think clearly. Athletes have learned this and by managing the anger response, athletic performance improves. Business culture is also discovering this. Top-down hierarchical structures do not work, greed is a bad motivator, hierarchies are being flattened, communication channels are changing, discussion making at lower levels, shared purpose and the solving of social needs becomes the primary motivator.