David Neder

Do we really have anything to worry about?

Violence is everywhere look around the world but is it really something that just comes
naturally to us? As stated in the story violence is believed to be unnatural, just a mood that
people experience. I believe that violence is totally unnatural and should not be confused with
something natural to us humans such as eating or using the restroom. Something such as violence
is really a choice we have to make, we are not born with a natural intent to hurt or be violent
towards something. Violence now and days is pushed on us by media and other outlets out there.
What I mean by that is that we are influenced by different things to believe that violence is
natural when really in my opinion it is not. I believe that everyone has a choice in life and
violence is not natural.
In life choices are to be made and we are not forced to do anything. The choice of
violence for example is something that is influenced or a choice made based on certain reasons in
the situation. We humans are not born into the world with the intent to hurt someone, we see
something violent happen and we imitate it. You are going to wake up tomorrow and think Ok
first breakfast then cause havoc by being violent. no those thoughts are not natural to us
humans. We see violence as an action that is made with the intent to harm, do you think that
humans want to hurt people? Nope certainly not, this choice is made and is certainly influenced
by the mass media output that is put out daily. Media today shows all kinds of ideas which
influences more than they know. The amount of influence that is put forth is amazing and if
really effects how violence is perceived in this day and age.
As I did readings I discovered more and more examples that would support my ideas on
violence. As stated in the book The Freedom Writers Diary there is a student who had a

David Neder
particular instance with violence that I believe he/she had to make a choice to react violent. The
student writes.
As I walked off the bus, they began to call me names. Whats up, se? Wait
up, fool. Fuck them niggas. I kept on walking. I checked out of the corner of my
eye, and saw that one of them was eager to catch up to me. Usually, I would have
run but this time I had a gun. (13)
The student grew up in a bad neighborhood and was influenced by violence. The student feels
the need to carry a gun on him just so he feels safe. The thought of having to shoot someone or
having to threaten someone with violence was all learned growing up. Stick this student in
another happy neighborhood and the student wouldnt have to resort to violence. Violence just
isnt one of our natural behaviors as humans, it is more of for someone who is feeling angry or
hatred. That for one is a choice you make.
Some of the things you might think of when you hear the word violence is anger, hate,
hostility All these words have one thing in common, they lead to some sort of violent act.
When we grow up our eyes are open and we learn from everything we see. A real life monkey
see, monkey do scenario. As we humans get older we start to look at everything surrounding us,
including violence. Brando Skyhorse writes in his book The Madonnas Of Echo Park about a
man named Efren who was once a bright boy with the dreams of a bright future, who had his
dreams tore away by his own family. The story of Efren plays a role in the argument that
violence is not natural to everyone. In the chapter Efren tells a story where in a situation violence
would have popped up for most people he was able to keep his cool and stay calm in the
situation. Brando Skyhorse says in the chapter Someone lunged at me, and I scrambled up the
stairwell, kicking back at hands trying to grab my legs. I slapped a hydraulic button to lock the

David Neder
doors. The mod threw the Mexican up against them (85). The quote from the book shows the
Efren did not have to act violently in the situation, so what makes people think that violence is
natural to humans?
Violence in society is pushed so much on us that its kind of not a big deal anymore.
People growing up in later generations see violence almost every day whether it is at job, school
or even just a daily jog in the park Society pushes violence on us like its nothing and in my
opinion I think its pretty disturbing. As I read a tad bit of Yale professor Carolyn N. Kinders
research about The Roots of Violence in Society I came across a small portion titled Why
People Act Violently this small summary touches on my same ideas on how we are not naturally
born to conduct violent acts. She says in her research Nevertheless, the propensity to violence is
still wired into the structure of our brains by our genes. This does not mean that humans
automatically engage in violence, but than we are more prone to violence than rationality would
predict. We have the genetic structure to become violent. We as humans might have the
capability to commit violent but it doesnt mean we want to just go around and commit them.
Rather than blaming humans having the natural habit to be violent, we should be blaming
mass media and other outputs who continuously fill our heads with incorrect information. Since
we see violence occurring on T.V., streets, etc we like to believe that violence is now part of
the norm and we should now accept it. Media influences people to believe that violence comes
natural at birth so we should accept the fact that violence is normal in everyday lives. I disagree
with the mass media and other outputs trying to push false information upon us. I believe if we
go all the way back to occurrences such as WWII we can see that the war didnt start up because
its natural for us to fight but rather it was a choice.

David Neder
War is a perfect example on how violence is not natural to any humans. You can look at
it from either way of the spectrum. Hitler wasnt born thinking he hated all Jews and wanted to
control the world, he grew up as a happy art student who wanted to be and artist. His choice to
become a political warlord was made later, but his natural feelings we not to be violent. Media
would put out content during WWII known as propaganda to influence young males it was their
duty to go to war. That it was ok and natural to commit violent acts against other countries.
During war times that is when Media was at its best trying to push the idea that war was natural
and it worked for the most part. These ways of thinking were made at the heat of the moment and
thinking logically was nonexistent at the time, because these young kids just wanted revenge.
Violence was their only option according to mass media and other outputs.
To me violence will forever be part of human society but it will never be natural. I
believe that violence will always be a choice no matter how hard you might think it is in your
nature. Media and other sources may push violence on you trying to influence people saying that
it is natural but ultimately you are not born to commit acts of violence. This is just my two cents
on the whole situation of violence being natural in our society.

Gruwell, Erin, and Zlata Filipovic. The Freedom Writers Diary. New York: Broadway, 2007.
Print.
Kinder N. Carolyn 02.06.02: The Roots of Violence in Society." 02.06.02: The Roots of
Violence in Society. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2002/6/02.06.02.x.html>.

Skyhorse, Brando. The Madonnas of Echo Park: A Novel. New York: Free, 2010. Print.

David Neder