The United States of America: A “Culture of Violence”

by Anthony Marsella *

Charting a “Culture of Violence:” Causes and Consequences

As the immediate emotions of the presidential elections pass — the euphoria and elation of the winners, the grief, despair, anger of the losers — the harsh realities of daily life once again emerge. Among these is the widespread violence that exists in the United States as displayed in Figure 1. As Figure 1 demonstrates, the manifestations and consequences of violent acts are extensive. This suggests the existence of a “culture of violence” that is generated, sustained, and promoted by acts that arise from individual and collective impulse and intent, and that too often find tier tolerance and approval across political, economic, educational, military, and moral policies of institutions.

Regardless of our wishes that this was not the case, the United States of America is a “culture of violence.” The Figure 1 (i.e., chart) offers a quick visual display. It is neither comprehensive nor explanatory, aside from recognizing the reciprocity among the different acts and sources of violence. There is an obvious interaction across the acts displayed in which simple cause-effect relations disappears amidst the complexity. Each act is both a source and consequence. A cultural ecology of violence.

Figure 1: A Culture of Violence

The Omnipresence of Violence

Violence abounds in American society, touching everyone’s life as victim, perpetrator, or anxious observer and witness of the endless violent acts committed locally, nationally, and internationally. Ultimately we are all victims and perpetrators through acts of intention or acts of silence and indifference that support a tolerance of the situation. There is no escape from this reality. How much more violence can we view on TV, how much more violence can we cheer and applaud in entertainment, how much more violence can we experience before we are faced with a constant state of stress, anxiety, anger, and/or moral indifference?

There is a widespread fear, anxiety, and stress that leaves citizens of all ages feelings vulnerable and insecure, awaiting the possibility of violence touching their lives, and bring with it grief and sorrow. It is clear violence is widespread in the world. Every person — regardless of location — is compelled to live with daily reminders of risk and danger. What is distinct about violence in the USA, however, is the existence of a national culture of shared, learned behaviors and meanings transmitted across generations via ethoses, values, attitudes, and ways-of-life that are violent. These inform and guide our institutions resulting in the socialization of a culture of violence.

USA Foreign Policy: Driver of National and Global Violence

The foreign policies and actions of the United States of America over the course of the past 100 years are rooted in intentions to control and dominate international order of nations and cultures. These policies and actions have proven destructive to national and global peace, and have served and empowered the interests of a limited number of individuals and groups. Ultimately, under the guise of protecting “national interests” these policies and actions are major sources, carriers, and promoters of violence nationally and globally. They are asymmetrical and hegemonic in nature, and sustain the status quo in consequence. While all are announced as intentions to bring democracy and freedom, they have too often resulted in occupation, oppression, and repression of human rights. An obvious result — visible in virtually every nation caught in our efforts – is the costly growth of a vast USA network of: (1) military bases and operations, (2) massive fortress embassies/consulates, (3) encampments/prisons, (4) death squads, (5) cultural disintegration and decline.

These policies and actions do not promote cooperation and admirations, rather they encourage instability via reflexive protests, insurrections, rebellions, revolutions, and acts of domestic, state, and international terrorism. Table 1 display the spectrum of USA foreign policy and action choices, options, and alternatives. All nations act in their own interests, The issue, however, is that in a global era, in which the understanding of the causes and consequences of violence and war are now better known, selfish national interests result in direct and indirect opposition. For many nations who feel victimized and humiliated by the USA, revenge is considered just and appropriate. This creates an endless cycle. Who benefits? Table 1 displays a spectrum of USA foreign policy and action practices — they are used as needed.

Table 1: USA Foreign Policy and Actions Choices, Options, Alternatives

  •  Assassinations/death squads/drones,
  • Bounties for info/capture
  • Bribery/blackmail/entrapment
  • Celebration of national “morality”/necessity of torture
  • Collaboration/contracts with universities, scientists, professional organizations
  • Contingent “humanitarian” aid
  • Contingent foreign aid
  • Control UN via vetoes
  • Control IMF and World Bank
  • Cooperate with foreign nations (e.g., military, intelligence)
  • Development of domestic crowd controls (militarization of police)
  • Diplomacy
  • Drug wars and corruptions
  • Disproportionate support of “allies” and enemification of others,
  • Establishment of military bases [more than 900 known foreign bases],
  • Exportation of popular American culture
  • Foreign student/faculty/consultant exchanges
  • Fund development of disguised/pseudo-organizations (e.g. Human Ecology Fund)
  • Glorification of war, militarism, warrior mentalities
  • Hegemonic globalization
  • Infiltrate peace and anti-war groups
  • Mass surveillance, monitoring, and archiving of data,
  • Massive government/private intelligence security agencies/organizations
  • Media influence and control
  • Military intervention
  • Mind control technologies (e.g., drugs, EMR)
  • Negotiation/conflict resolution
  • Non-Prosecution of connected military, government, civilian law violators/abusers
  • Occupation
  • Promotion of nationalism/pseudo-patriotism
  • Propaganda and promotion of USA exceptionalism,
  • Purchase and installation of pro-American leaders and dictators,
  • Recruitment of spies, informers, collaborators, agents
  • Use surrogate nations and forces
  • Use false flags incidents
  • Use major philanthropic foundations to influence policy and actions
  • Vilification of domestic/international critics.
  • Weapons/arms dealer/sales
  • Witness protection programs

Closing Remarks

I have published two articles in recent years regarding war and peace. The first article is entitled: “The United States of America: A Culture of War” (Marsella, A.J. [2012]. The United States of America: A “culture of war.” International Journal of Intercultural Research, 35, 714-728.This article documents the long history of war in the United States, and the American cultural ethos that has spawned and nurtured wars. The second article is a please for nonkilling and an end to violence. It is entitled “Nonkilling psychology and lifeism” (Marsella, A.J. (2011). Nonkilling psychology and lifeism. In J. Pim & D. Christie (Eds.) Nonkilling Psychology (pp. 361-378). Honolulu, Hi: Center for Global Non-Violence.). This article calls for humanity to move beyond unbridled national identities to an identity with life itself, the very force that animates our world and universe.

In both of these articles, and in this article, it is clear to me that we are headed for a “dreadful reckoning” (Grieder’s term) if we do not come to an awareness of the many sources and consequences of violence in our lives, particularly the perpetuation of “cultures of violence” that are sources of endless suffering, destruction, and death. The answer resides in the necessity of non-violent activism to prevent violence. This is the timeless answer of every great peacemaker.

*Originally published on TRANSCEND Media Service, November 9, 2012

Anthony Marsella, Ph.D., a  member of the TRANSCEND Network, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu.

ShOts FiReD

by Bruce Gale

“All units! Active shooter! Repeat, active shooter.”

“Multiple casualties.”

“At the Mall. Movie Theater. Concert Hall. Club. School. Campus. Church. Temple. Mosque. Office. Street. Home.

“Thou shalt not…”

Disconnect.

Finger on the trigger.

Lock and load.

30 round magazine.

Muzzle velocity.

Rounds per minute.

Feet per second.

I-m-p-a-c-t!!

Bullet loves flesh.

Reload.

Finger on the trigger.

Terror. Panic. Cold sweat. Adrenaline rush.

“Never been so scared in my life”

“He just stood there, gunning people down like they were nothing.”

Finger on the trigger.

Thunder of weapon’s firing.

Screams!

Overload.

Stink of cordite.

Clatter of brass casings.

SCREAMS!

Breakdown.

Finger on the trigger.

Bullet chant.

Wound. Wound. Maim. Maim. Kill. Kill. Kill.”

BLOOD.

“So-much-blood!”

Bullets are blind! Every body’s a target.

BLOOD spatters…

                                 Flows…

                                             Stains…

                                                         Pools…

                                                                    Heart… flat line.

     “She was just a kid!

     “They were the nicest couple.”

     “He’d just returned from Afghanistan.”

     “Just graduated. Started a new job. Got engaged. Retired.”

      “Our thoughts and prayers…”

      “Guns don’t kill people…”

      “Oh, say can you see…”

 Let’s agree to take the Blue field and White stars from our flag. America’s new colors are Red, Red and Red. Land of the traumatized. Home of the blood stained.

Body count…rising.

One thing is certain. If America, in all its glorious imperfections, can deal out senseless, random death, it will. How many movie posters have you seen with the hero/villain pointing a weapon at the viewer? Why do we still believe that this won’t affect the impressionable low frequency mind?

Death toll…climbing.

Lives lost. Souls in the afterlife saying, “Oh, really… you, too?!”

Question: why? Oh, why, why, why? God help us.

At the end of the day, we process the event, count the cost, treat the wounds, bury the dead. Pray that this will not happen again.

And listen shamefaced while our enemies celebrate.

~The End~

“Omnipresent surveillance”: Dystopian society in our global era, Part 1.

Sign at the March for Science 2017 in Washington, DC. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Author: scattered1 from USA

by Anthony J. Marsella, PhD

Imposing Authoritarian Control, Domination, and Rule: Strategies, Methods, Techniques, Tactics 1

“Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains.”
— Jean Jacques Rousseau (28 Jun 1712 – 2 Jul 1778), Social Contract, 1762

I. Authoritarian Control, Dominance, Rule: Course of Human History

Fictional accounts of compelling dystopian societies, including, Brave New World, 1984, The Handmaiden’s Tale, Fahrenheit 451, The Matrix, and scores of apocalyptic movies, are proving prescient.

Once confined to popular reading, entertainment, and college seminars, fictional accounts of dystopian societies have assumed a frightening reality as government, military, corporate, and private sectors impose oppressive surveillance strategies, methods, techniques, and tactics on citizens. These impositions are destroying the last semblances of legal and moral individual “privacy,” freedoms, civil rights, and USA Constitution First and Fourth Amendment rights, especially those guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. 2

Citizen fears for personal safety and security are encouraged and promoted by media collaborators with governments, military, and corporate beneficiaries of violence and war; a pervasive sense of peril, danger, and jeopardy is now normal. This sense of fear both sanctions and authorizes authoritarian national security sectors to impose egregious abuses of citizen rights and privileges with oppressive and punitive measures.

Playing upon Western nations fears of  being overrun by invasions, occupations, and exploitations by international migrants, especially from Islamic, Sub-Saharan African, and Central American nations, citizens in many European countries have elected right-wing populist governments determined to implement draconian immigration and refugee policies, limiting or blocking immigration to selective groups and conditions.

USA President Donald Trump announced all “illegal” resident immigrants will be expelled form the USA beginning June 24, 2019, under the auspices of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump considers illegal immigrants to be a threat to national security as sources of violence, crime, disease, and competing cultural traditions.

A convincing xenophobia has found its way into minds and hearts of citizens and officials resulting in the emergence of widespread of “hate” cultures and outbursts of gun violence. “Our nation is under attack by dangerous foes seeking our demise and collapse!” This is the thematic cry of those seeking more power, control, and domination of citizen masses, an appeal to fear and heroic nationalism.

Condemnation of violations of citizen privacy and rights, guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment of the USA Constitution, is drawing urgent attention from legal and NGO sources, with little legal consequence. Government, police, military, and corporate and private agencies are supporting numerous laws and regulations legitimizing pervasive surveillance, monitoring, and storage of citizen information for potential prosecution.

Control, Domination, Rule of Citizens: An “Old” Policy and Practice

“Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government, those entrusted with power have in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Preamble to a Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, Fall 1778, Papers 2: 526-527.

Control, domination, and rule of citizen thought, behavior, and identity by authorities and ruling classes is the story of human history; it is the logical outcome when States, Nations, Empires, and Colonial Rulers, especially dictatorships, assume disproportional power.

Protests and rebellions are quelled by a variety of oppressive measures, including arrests, imprisonment, torture, as well as murder, beatings, and crowd control tactics. Assassinations and disappearance of rebel leaders is common, as desperate authorities oppress contention.

While inspirational stories of citizen uprisings protesting control, domination, and rule, including the French and American Revolutions, are celebrated each year as sacred holidays, the harsh reality emerging is “omnipresent-mass surveillance.”  Past glories are diminished in the presence of new oppressions.

Never before in history have the vast means of citizen control, domination, and rule been as total and complete as they are now because of the uses and abuses of technology. Romantic notions of citizen heroes leading uprisings against abusive and corrupt governments and authorities are the stuff of past myths. Mass government surveillance and monitoring of citizens and groups has destroyed individual and group privacy and rights. Oppressive conformity, homogenization, and subjugation are now accepted goals for authorities claiming national security needs.

Tragically, continued use of effective media and propaganda has resulted in citizen concurrence and acceptance of oppression and violation of Constitutional rights and privileges.  A tragic paradox!  “Yes, oppress and control me; I need your protection in a dangerous world.” (“Escape From Freedom. . . . . .”)

Control, Domination, Rule . . .  

Governance is needed! This reality cannot be contested!  Contestations of   abuses of power, however, omnipresent in the government-congressional-corporate-military-educational complex is required and essential. As elections approach, why are no candidates willing to risk the tolls of exposing the situation? Where are calls and accusations of encroaching oppression,

A challenge for citizens is the reality “society” often hides, distorts, and represses concerns for freedom. Openness, transparency, participation is required in a democracy. Past presidential candidates have won on a platform of these admirable goals, only to find upon election, they succumb to shadow powers, and conform to traditional agendas using war and violence to achieve unwarranted goals. Who controls the leaders? Hidden governments?

In the USA, most citizens never imagined government would “betray” citizens given the protections of the USA Constitution. Today, however, surveys indicate less than 10% of USA citizens trust the government, and often see the government as biased in favor of special interests via lobbyists.

“Secret State” and “Shadow State” groups of powerful and positioned individuals assumed power and control, betraying their oaths and loyalty in favor of personal agendas keeping them in power.  Much of the “Secret State” individuals are ensconced in Justice Department offices and agencies (i.e., CIA, FBI, DHS, NSA). Crimes and abuses of these groups continue to unfold daily revealing a tragic story of corruption, collusion, and crime.

When societal institutions breakdown and collapse under pressures of corruption, cronyism, special interests, and inadequate funding, citizens are bereft of resources for protection and security. In an open and democratic society, transparency, social responsibility, and voting are keys to citizen awareness and empowerment. What happens, however, when these too are lost to political interests?

Tragically, many “secret state” societies around the world have already destroyed or denied citizen rights, enabling groups with special interests and concerns to exist and to exact their toll. Under these circumstances, citizen wellbeing and welfare yield to special interests and the advancement of control in favor of mega-groups pursuing their own interests.  Citizens are no longer players, and when they attempt to act against control, they are promptly subdued as enemies of the State.

Citizens look to government to protect them, but corrupt governments are too closely linked and connected to secret and known “power” groups, to offer citizen protection. In the process, citizens lose trust in governments and societal institutions; this raises the threshold for both protests and repression.

Within this context of institution collapse, and the rise of special interest and concerns, citizens become identified with certain groups at the cost of a society’s democratic identity and membership. They seek the comfort and security of identity with fringe elements offering simple solutions and identification of obvious enemies among minorities, immigrants, and radical revolution members. Heroes, calling for change, become victims.

Footnote 1:

The term “omnipresent surveillance” is taken from John W. Whitehead’s recent article, “The Omnipresent Surveillance State: Orwell’s 1984 Is No longer Fiction.” Information Clearing House. June 11, 2019. See also Rutherford Institute, Virginia, USA.

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa Campus in Honolulu, Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research.