To What Extent Can Humans Tolerate Violence Against Each Other?

Throughout history, there have been numerous examples of atrocities committed by humans. For instance,  the Holocaust, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and September 11th. I realized that everyone on Earth has lived through at least one violent event, directly or indirectly. If violence happens so frequently, do we naturally tolerate violence? Or do we only tolerate it to an extent? I concluded that humans have a natural capacity for violence, but the limit is dependent on societal norms, beliefs, and needs. 

As early as the Greek and Roman empires, violence was used to resolve conflicts, show strength, and even entertain. Many people believed that violence was unavoidable, as it was thought to be the only way to achieve power and authority. For example, Homer’s Iliad portrays the Trojan War as an inescapable conflict in order to reclaim Helen of Troy. In the future, the Romans were captivated by the excitement of battle. During the Vespasian period, the Colosseum became the entertainment capital. Gladiators not only fought and, to some extent, killed animals, but each other. Violence was also used on a more regular basis of punishing disobedient slaves or war prisoners. The normalisation of violence resulted in the belief that this is how society runs. 

Today, most of us are no longer amused by the suffering of others. Why? That is because beliefs change as time goes on. To better understand violence today, we need to look at philosophy. The concept of violence became a more popular topic during Hobbes' time in the 17th century. 

The growing popularity of the Reformation movement throughout Europe made many, Hobbes* included, questioning the idea of how God appoints the King, which eventually formed a new relationship between the Divine Rights of Kings and the Social Contract Theory, as written in Hobbes’ influential book, Leviathan. 

As sovereignty slowly became even more unpopular, a century later, another famous philosopher, John Locke**, took on Hobbes' perspective but to an extreme level. He completely persuaded and demolished the assumption that God designates Kings for society. Western democracy was also greatly influenced by Locke’s ideology about how every citizen has the right to bear arms and overthrow a bad government.

From ancient societies to the rise of modern democracy, humans used violence albeit in different ways. Initially, the Greeks and Romans utilised different methods of violence to show power and authority, whereas the development of democracy formed a type of violence: fighting for a popular opinion to form a better nation. People at different times will look at violence differently and use it in different ways. 

As technology evolved throughout the 20th century, violence was continuously practiced, but in a much more impactful, brutal, and destructive way. The Holocaust was by far the most horrific genocide in history; violence was used to achieve the Nazis’ ultimate goal of erasing ‘impure blood’ from Germany, which was an ideology, which was Nazism, that was propagated by the Nazis and brainwashed into non-Jewish Germans. Another example was the US dropping the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, partially to show the USSR how they had such technology and dared to use it, but also to end the war faster. However, their actions were shaped by national interest as they prioritized the lives of Americans over the lives of the Japanese. Today, we consider these actions absolutely unacceptable, but at the time of these events, people believed it was the right thing to do. 

However, since social media has taken over the world, new forms of violence such as cyberbullying are also emerging. We have realized how the power of words can sometimes hurt someone worse than physical violence. 

Either tolerating or performing violence, it is all wired in our nature. That is what makes us human. Throughout history, there has not been a single day without some form of brutal action nor a single decade without a major war between humans. Violence is an inevitable part of human nature, but our current society, beliefs, and needs, will affect how we use it. Sometimes, the right amount of influence can impact the way we act and the decisions we make. As Hannah Arendt, author of an influential book about fascism, declared:  “Violence is by nature instrumental; like all means, it always stands in need of guidance and justification through the end it pursues.”

*Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was an English philosopher who is considered to be one of the  founders of modern political philosophy. 

**John Locke (1632-1704) was a English philosopher, commonly known as the Father of Liberalism.