What is violence? Violence is defined by the World Health Organization as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation”.
If you read these reflections, you know I listen to lots of podcasts. I have been listening to a series that unfortunately includes LOTS of ads, mostly for other podcasts. One of these ads was a person speaking in a hushed, gentle, “storytelling” tone, and talking about a podcast where “everyone is welcome, and kindness is the default”. I thought these were beautiful words and found myself drawn to this idyllic world, and then she ended by encouraging listeners to get the podcast on “the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts”.
For some reason, this hit me like a punch in the gut. I don’t know how these apps are monetized, but obviously there is a commercial reason for wanting listeners to use iHeart or Apple (the third choice makes it obvious you can get the podcast anywhere). The person is talking about love and kindness and being gentle, and then wants to sell you something for a profit. It felt like violence (albeit a mild form) and I started thinking about expanding the definition of the word, or inventing a word to describe people trying to get you to do something for their benefit.
One idea would be to include “coercion” and “manipulation” the first part of the WHO definition. And then adding “emotional distress” in the list of possible harms at the end. So a proposed expanded definition might look something like: Violence is “the intentional use of physical force or power or coercion or manipulation, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, emotional distress, maldevelopment or deprivation”.
Of course, this would require people to be truthful in their marketing, and we can’t have that in a capitalist economy!
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