dialogue – Engaging Peace

“Lone” gunman? Think again.

Posted on January 24, 2011April 18, 2021 by kathiemm

Jared Loughner "flag"--graphic with image plus words such as "violence means ends" and "speak kill propaganda listen" — “Jared Flag” by Eric Gulliver, 2011

Jared Loughner’s deadly attack on innocent civilians in Tucson, Arizona, was morally reprehensible. Maybe he is mentally ill, but he is also the product of a society with an enormous tolerance for violence.

He may be considered a “lone” gunman, but the social macrosystem in which he grew up undoubtedly contributed to his actions. To give just a few examples, the U.S. is a country in which:

An estimated 1,740 children died in 2008 as a result of abuse and/or neglect. Yet the financing of social programs to address such problems has been constantly under attack;
The annual murder rate was 29^thamong the 31 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The frequency of homicide in the U.S. is more similar to rates in Haiti and Albania than to other Western countries such as Canada, France, and Spain.

Also in 21^st century U.S.,

Pressure on lawmakers from pro-gun interests far outweighs advocacy for the right of some individuals to vote; and
Incitement to violence on the airwaves and Internet routinely trounces civility and dialogue.

Don’t believe the rhetoric that “words don’t kill, only weapons do.” Words are weapons that can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. Ask women in battered women’s shelters what was more destructive to them—vicious words or fists. Ask anyone who has gone through military training about the use of words to make them ready to murder and maim. Propaganda is very popular among unscrupulous leaders because it works.

Finally, remember that the U.S. is also home to millions who grew up to live the ethic of reciprocity, to choose a life of service, to love rather than hate, and to err, apologize, and forgive.

To read the words of a true war hero, see this essay by Ron Kovic, then ask yourself what do we need to do to encourage the likes of Ron Kovic rather than the likes of Jared Loughner.

And if you have never read Ron Kovic’s memoir, Born on the Fourth of July, or seen the movie based on it, please do. Ron may have lost the use of his legs in war, but he is freer than all the people who are bound up in hatred.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Humanizing the other (Moral engagement, part 8)

Posted on December 30, 2010July 6, 2011 by kathiemm

Humanizing the other, which is the reciprocal of Albert Bandura‘s moral disengagement mechanism known as dehumanization, probably relies greatly on perspective taking (see 11/18/2010 post by Sherri McCarthy).

Humanization involves both recognizing the human qualities of the other and responding to them in a humane way.

Many people attribute human characteristics to their pets—e.g., “my sweet little puppy understands everything I feel and gets so sad when I am feeling bad”—yet defend themselves against acknowledging the human qualities of the designated enemy.

Humanizing clearly involves the ability to put oneself in the shoes of another—a common refrain but often a difficult ability to achieve. It also requires empathy—not just anticipating the intentions and behaviors of the other but understanding how the other would feel in a particular set of circumstances.

In war time, humanizing the enemy may involve recognizing that the people who are shooting at you are doing so only because they are afraid of what will be done to them if they don’t obey orders, or because they have been convinced by their leaders that you are as inhumane and subhuman as your leaders have convinced you that they are.

BeyondIntractability.org has identified a number of strategies for increasing the ability of people to humanize their “enemies.” These strategies include:

Teaching about stereotypes
Promoting empathy
Encouraging dialogue
Focusing on commonalities
Facilitating cooperative projects
Providing education on the negative effects of propaganda
Establishing media that provide alternatives to the media that justify and promote violence, and ultimately
Helping conflicting parties build trust, work for constructive resolution of differences, apologize, and seek reconciliation.

Now that the Cold War is over, many of the mainstream media have shifted their focus from dehumanizing Communists to dehumanizing “Islamists.” How might those Beyond Intractability guidelines be translated into concrete suggestions for countering pressures toward aggression and intractability?

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Remembering Hiroshima, 1945

Posted on August 6, 2010July 6, 2011 by kathiemm

atomic cloud over Hiroshima — Photo from the National Archives via Wikimedia Commons

Today, August 6, 2010, is the 65^th anniversary of the dropping of the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This U.S. military action instantly killed over 70,000 Hiroshima residents, almost entirely civilians.

“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Thus spoke J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the principal architects of the bomb.

Despite that condemnation, many Americans still believe that bombing Hiroshima and then Nagasaki was morally justifiable and that maintaining a nuclear arsenal is a sensible policy.

During the Second World War, the Japanese people were demonized and dehumanized by the media. Many Americans, already racist, believed the Japanese all deserved to die. Yet today–and indeed for several decades–Japan is and has been a major ally of the U.S., viewed as an essential partner in maintaining stability in Asia.

In a world with rampant armed conflict and many apparent threats to individual and family security, it is important to search for pathways away from death and destruction. We have chosen today to launch our new blog, dedicated to the promotion of world peace.

The blog has several specific purposes:

1. Promote optimism concerning the possibility of peace.

2. Explore how people in power and the mainstream media persuade citizens that various forms of government-sponsored aggression, such as war and torture, are justifiable.

3. Present examples of serious conflicts that have been resolved without warfare.

4. Demonstrate that a major pathway to peace is through responsible activism.

5. Translate into user-friendly language the best of relevant scientific and academic work contributing to the understanding of war and peace. In particular, we will periodically mention some of the major findings from the work of our own international research team.

6. Help readers find useful tools and important resources to support their own efforts to seek and promote peace.

7. Encourage readers to share their opinions and contribute their own stories and examples of “engaging peace.”

Please join the dialogue about Engaging Peace. We welcome your comments.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology