Culture of violence creates its own spheres of interpersonal relationships. Culture is around us and we live with it. However, at times we forget how we create our own cultures. Part of this culture creation is how we tell stories or jokes.
We construct and perpetuate the notion of violence in ways we may not be aware of. We promote a sense of hopelessness, abuse, neglect, rape, and various deviations when we engage in telling narratives that only have violent contents.
We internalize violence and desensitize cruelty.
We compare, contrast, confront, label, stigmatize, and generalize negativity and violence enforced upon us.
Instead of rejecting these dark areas impacting our lives, we are incorporating them into our lives. What do I mean?
Have you noticed that war, killings, murders, death, hangings, executions, assassinations, and torture have found a way into our daily life?
How? I will tell you!
How many jokes we hear about the war and the way people were dismembered and disabled?
How many jokes we tell about the way people were killed by chemicals, gas, mass weapon destruction, bombs, rockets, missiles and all that?
How many jokes we share about how people are being punished and tortured in “Hell”/ “Jahanam” as we say?
How many jokes we know regarding how men and women would be punished differently due to adult life they choose to have?
How many jokes we tell about people who are being given choice for the way they want to be dead? (Those choices are about how less painful dead could be!)
How many jokes we make about clothes restrictions for women in our home country and what the responses of women would be?
How many jokes we hear about child molestation, addictions, prostitution, theft, and other social issues no one wants to deal with it in our home country?
The lists go on and on……
There is a certain pattern in all these jokes; they are projecting the hard reality caused by human caused disasters.
Why is that?
May be we try to make fun these horrible experiences that makes no sense whatsoever!
Now the question is:
When did killing and torture become this normal in our culture?
When did we lose feelings /emotions about people being punished for any reason?
Why should punishment be the response for everything?
Why we are this much discouraged and hopeless?
Why we have let a culture of violence encompass our daily life?
Why we are perpetuating what is not right, what is not humanistic, and what is not appropriate?
What do we think we are passing down to our next generations?
Think about this!
What is your idea behind all the horrible jokes we tell each other?
I assume we can not joke around topics such as happiness, joy, love, partnership, and kindness in our jokes?
I assume you would say Jokes are supposed to be this way!
But, haven’t we lost the point?!
July 26, 2007
www.middlepeace.com
