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| Absolutely no portions of the artwork on this page may be used, reproduced, or copied in any way without expressed, written permission from the artist. Failure to comply will result in legal action. All artwork, prose, and poetry (unless otherwise noted) is copyright © 2007 Jorge Gonzalez. |
| THE MANY SHADES OF JORGE GONZALEZ ESSAYS |
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Turn on the television, and it is easy to see there is a huge problem in today's society. Aside from poverty, injustice, and ignorance, there is one problem that has been plaguing this country and the rest of world for many years. This curse known as violence is one of the most extreme evils that do and has done nothing good for anybody. Violence destroys people’s lives and runs constantly in the streets of many cities and communities of this fine country. It is very easy to see all the abuse, assault, hostility towards animals, domestic brutality, murder, and rape that repeatedly tarnishes the lives of many Americans. While violence is a predicament that will most likely never end in the United States, with research and commitment from government facilities it can most certainly be reduced. While it is rather difficult to pin-point what exactly causes a human being to resort to such extreme forms of behavior, some psychologist's and sociologists will link dysfunctional families, drug related problems, and an overall lack of love. Many stories of countless criminals have all seemed to come from a dysfunctional atmosphere while growing up. Some criminals where abused by their fathers or mothers as a child while others just needed a mother or father. For instance, the psychologist James Prescott had performed a study about the causes of violence, in which he mainly attaches to lack of "mother-child bonding". He links repression of sexuality and punishment of children as a cause of creating a violent individual. [3] Its also not hard to notice that being intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics play a major role in inducing destructive behaviors. A very disappointing fact is a person who has never shown signs of aggressive conduct can easily change after a night of hard drinking. A drunk, married man with low tolerance or self-control who has had a long day of work, will more than likely lead to a form of domestic abuse against his wife. I am sure we have all heard discouraging stories or know of somebody who has gone on a violent rage from drinking too much alcohol or from being under the influence of illegal narcotics. From a woman who has to live with having been raped, to a man who was brutally attacked; to a chained and abused child, violence affects us all. Despite law enforcement officials’ efforts to prevent these horrible acts of crime, it still isn't enough. Lives are being shattered at a constant rate. Even a person who wasn't raped or attacked, it still affects the friends and family of that individual. It also sends an awful image to the community and it is very unfair. A surviving rape victim has to suffer through long-term mental problems and must take classes or therapy to help her cope with what happened. Children who had been abused at such an early age have a huge risk of becoming monsters of violent acts in the future. It is a never-ending circle of fear, hate, and violence. It is a sad reality but from many of these outcomes, a victim of rape and abuse never truly recovers. Needless to say, fear is also an effect that really grabs hold of most (if not all) Americans. We hear all these horrible stories and see acts of hostility on television, the internet, newspapers, magazines and it just fills us with more and more fear. It seems we can't even walk down the street anymore because people are so afraid somebody might attack us. The media and government don't really do a great job at trying to make us feel any safer with stories about terrorist threats as well as showing very shocking images of war. It just isn’t living. Americans or people in general, are not meant to live life this way. Each year 24 million Americans are victims of crime. U.S. taxpayers spend more and more each year on police, prisons, and judges. More than $200 billion has been spent to try and keep our communities and cities safer for us to live in. Yet statistics show that this way of responding to crime is ineffective. [5] Instead of hiring more and more policemen, FBI agents, border patrol, and law enforcement officials, the United States should concentrate on improving their policies and system on crime. Smarter policing is better than more police and is a lot more effective than just sticking people into prisons all the time. There should also be more public health officials and doctors that get together with teenagers and families that need help. Addressing the social issues that lead to crime, rather than addressing crime after it happens, or putting harsher penalties into place, will contribute to creating a safer society. Hiring more health officials to help teenagers at risk of becoming criminals in helping them to complete school and get job training is much better than hiring more police and will most likely decrease crime rates amongst youths. America’s crime rates can change and maybe if some of the $200 was spent more on these alternative options perhaps we can see a brighter and safer country to be proud of. The world is already a very scary place to try and get by in. We are living in a more violent, scarier time, where “the enemy” will kill himself in order to have carried out the mission in destroying many peoples’ lives. Americans shouldn’t be afraid of Americans. We should be united together and help make things work, it could and will benefit everybody as well as future generations of this fine country. Work Cited "Violence." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Nov 2006, 10:13 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 10 Nov 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Violence&oldid=86686605. |
| "Violence in America" Written by George Gonzalez |