Cruelty and violent tendencies. These are by far the most terrible qualities unique to humans. This does not occur in the wild. Not a single representative of the animal world feels the need for violence and getting pleasure from this process. Only man, the top of the food chain and an intelligent creature of nature, can enjoy the fact that fear is visible in the eyes of his victim. Cruelty and propensity for violence can be clearly seen throughout the history of mankind. But what is wrong? Did primitive people really differ from animals? What really makes us cruel?
Violence is one of the most pressing issues of our century. Many researchers diligently draw parallels between computer games and violence. In their understanding, it is games that cause cruelty. However, this is nothing more than a voluntary delusion. Such people are looking not for a solution to the problem, but for the eradication of things from life that they disgust or do not like. On the contrary, the most recent independent studies show that people relieve stress accumulated during the day in video games. Games are not at all conducive to violence. This is also evidenced by the fact that almost all people on Earth play video games and watch movies where murder is an integral part of the plot. Violence is not the norm, which means that it’s not about computer games.
Some children, even before they become familiar with the entertainment industry, show unprecedented cruelty towards animals or even people in difficult situations. Schoolchildren necessarily find in their class an object for ridicule and humiliation, students show aggression towards those who behave differently from the general mass. What is the problem, why is this happening?
Even before the invention of computers, television and even printing, man was cruel. This property is inherent in us by nature, within reasonable limits. Man is poorly adapted to survival, he is inferior to almost all predators. Primitive people were forced to endure predatory animals constantly. This went on for quite some time, until a person learned to create weapons. It was at that moment that primitive people realized that they were not only able to fight back, but also to take revenge. Man was originally an extremely emotional being. Revenge gave people satisfaction. When man improved the primitive tools, the hunt for larger and more dangerous animals began, which under normal conditions are not aggressive, but at the same time much stronger than man. Hunting for big game has become the most dangerous occupation and there were thosewho decided to take prey from tired hunters. Then the robbers were born.
Gradually, primitive people learned and learned about the world. The turning point was the realization of the usefulness of slave labor. The strong deprived the weak of all rights and forced them to work for food. In such conditions, the slaves regularly rebelled against their masters, but the man even then found a way out. Fear proved to be the best way to control slaves. Fear-mongering and constant humiliation suppressed the will to freedom.
Time passed and society developed. The first great civilizations arose. But researchers are especially interested in Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire. It was a state that grew and developed through wars. But these were no longer robbers. Roman soldiers wore armor, swords, and other things new for that time. Many sciences, including jurisprudence, got their start in ancient Rome. For the first time, crowd control techniques were tried. Initially, they did not differ much from the primitive ones. The slaves worked under constant fear. Then, gradually, all kinds of indulgences were made for the slaves. They were still second-class people, but no longer animals. People began to see other people in slaves. Over time, the captured peoples ceased to be driven into slavery, but were included in the Roman Empire.
The country grew and developed, it needed to constantly liquidate riots and discontent in various segments of the population. And then the world-famous saying was born - "bread and circuses!" People came to the Colosseum to watch a person kill a person. The crowd of spectators, at the end of the fight, decided to spare or kill the defeated gladiator. This was the first push into the psychology of cruelty. Taking pleasure in scenes of violence has become a confirmed fact, for almost all people. However, there are no eternal empires. Rome fell and everything changed.
The Dark Ages were indeed a significant setback. All executions were made public. Torture and bullying were not only not prosecuted, but also officially approved. The Holy Inquisition destroyed anyone who went against it, carried knowledge, or simply looked better than the rest. Exclusively because of a thirst for violence, a man at that time invented a huge number of tortures and methods of slow execution. Quartering, burning, impalement, slow drowning, burial, and many other gruesome executions were invented by man. The crowd applauded alike at coronations and executions of kings. Both were regular shows. The stratification of society, constant bullying from more privileged strata, public executions, the approval of the Catholic Church for the Inquisition and all the horrible tortures of the Middle Ages - that's what made us cruel.
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There are no public executions for a long time, but there is television, somewhere they either talk about cruelty, or militants broadcast. There is the same social stratification of society and regular wars, which in themselves are an act of mass violence and aggression. There is a world ideology that makes people fight for their place and often build a career heading over their heads. Is this the reason for our cruelty? The problem of cruelty developed along with our civilization and today it cannot be separated from us. Perhaps people should look back in order to then boldly go forward, excluding the mistakes of the past. It is likely that society and ourselves will have to be changed to eradicate cruelty.
