Violence is always the
easiest solution. Easy in the sense of the immediate gratification of bringing closure to the
situation at hand. It gives the person committing the violence a sense of putting effort towards a problem, and it is the violence itself is a very
cathartic act. However, violence is definitely a short term solution to anything. By violence, I don't mean simply
physical violence but any other form as well.
It's almost a truism that
caring and understanding take time. By their very nature, it requires a lot of effort to fully understand
people and
situations. Just because it takes time, doesn't mean that it's not a worthwhile
cause however, but it does mean that those who are very busy tend to be the least able to attain a state of understanding.
In terms of "intellectual violence", it's very easy to disagree with somebody who expresses opinions contrary to your own. It's easy to just
flame them or
soft-link all manner of evil against them. The harder (and perhaps better) solution is to take the time to understand why they came to the opinion that they're at. Everybody has their own set of reasons for the worldviews that they hold. To spend time with somebody who you obviously are starting on bad terms with and then get to know them well enough to understand them takes both
patience on both ends and a lot of time.
But, we only have so much time in our hurried lives, as we run from place to place in our own
busy beaver fashion.
We don't have the time to care about everybody. Because of this, for some, the easiest way to deal with those people that you don't have time to care about, is in some violent fashion: violent intellectually by
flaming or
arguing, violent emotionally by being
apathetic, or even simply being violent physically. If you feel like this person you meet on the street who is arguing with you will never listen to you, then maybe a
swift blow to the head may certainly expedite their understanding how you feel about them. I do not know whether violence is ever the answer, as this isn't the place to discuss
that can of worms, but it is certain, to me at least, that violence is often used when people are in a hurry and don't have time to find the
compassionate solution.
Nodeshell liberated by the Front of Armed Nodeshell Liberators