- Violence disrupts underlying systems that take care of people
- Violence is irreversible. The damage you cause can never be undone. You can rebuild a house, but you can’t regrow an arm or bring the dead back to life.
- If you fight with violence and win, you have to continue to use violence to keep the peace. Violence becomes a foundational part of those societies, and it causes endless suffering for those on the bleeding end of it.
- You can’t contain violence. Once it’s used, it will almost certainly escalate beyond your initial intent. Violence invites an escalated response. Human nature leads us to hit back harder than we were hit.
- Using violence is likely to feed the narrative that you are dangerous and justify violence against you.
- Violence ruins lives and casts a long shadow. We tend to only see the initial moments of violence. We don’t often see the months and years of pain and suffering that go along with it. People don’t forget the injuries they’ve suffered. Suffering, both physical and mental, can go on for years. And everyone connected struggles to cope with the loss of a friend, a parent, a child, and so on.
- It will be difficult to gain the trust of your opponents if you use violence against them, and trust is the foundation of lasting peace.
- Violence blinds us to seeing the complexities of underlying issues and conflicts. It also makes people more vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation.
Violence entrenches political polarization and tribalism (a.k.a “us vs. them” thinking)
Building Critical Thinking 