… by omission:
(c) 2014, Davd
Is there any good reason, dammit, why i am a more legitimate target for violence, than a woman of my age, size, or strength?
Michael Enright, in his opinion statement1 which began the CBC “Sunday Edition” for November 2nd, made what has become a conventional demand to “stop/end violence against women.” I thought of writing him and recommend “Angry Harry”s blog and more generally, the Voice for Men site.
But Michael Enright’s radio editorial is a very recent, relatively visible example among thousands that have condemned violence against women and by omission, implied that violence against men, including me—and himself, by the way—isn’t so bad. I should not pick on him. Advocates of nonviolence should not pick on either of us.
I’m more likely, personally, to be a victim than a perpetrator of violence. When i was in my thirties, that was hard for many people to believe2. Now that i am in my seventies, it ought to be easy, because old men are not so strong, not so fast, not so well coordinated as young. There are millions of women who could ‘beat me up’, now that i’m old.
(I intend to follow up this short blog, with a longer one about specifics, but I want to keep this one short and to the point that opposing violence against only one sex, implicitly tolerates, or even approves, violence against the other—against my sex. I do oppose violence against anyone—and then, like most people, i make exceptions, of which the most common, for me and i believe for most people, is self-defence.)
Why is violence against a middle-aged or younger woman, worse than violence against me? Why is violence against any woman, worse than violence against me?
Why is bullying a teen-aged girl, worse than bullying a teen-aged boy?
If the answer truly is “It’s not worse; male humans have as much right to freedom from attack as female humans”—then we should say so.
We should not encourage violence against women—nor against men, nor boys, nor girls. We should not, especially not, tolerate nor approve violence against me and my sex, by omission.
Notes:
1. The “Sunday Edition” normally begins with such an opinion statement.
2. When i was in my thirties, the reason i was more likely was my reluctance to do violence to others; now that i am in my seventies, the more obvious reason is my age (the reluctance still holds.)
