Our tolerance for violence must be tackled

George Hook

THERE are times when I am guilty of romanticising the past. It is something that, in the hefty days of my youth, I swore I would never fall foul of. I used to hate it when my parents lamented for times gone by while reminiscing fondly on their own happy memories.
But the laws of time carry repercussions that are as inevitable as the tick of the clock and some of nature’s rules are simply inescapable, however much we may try and avoid them.
It isn’t that the older generation deliberately seeks out reasons to be unhappy about progress or natural development, but it is often easier to positively reflect on the past from a position of vulnerability, than to contemplate what an uncertain future might hold.
This romantic reflection on times gone by can be hugely cathartic; like a warm glow to help ease the physical and mental burdens that come with the transition into old age.
If the mind allows itself to indulge in former glories and happier times, it makes dealing with an unpalatable present all the more tolerable.
For some, accepting the inevitability of advancing years is not an easy process. Certainly, there are many new factors that take time to get used to, as the body slows down and the brain doesn’t seem to react as sharply as it once did.
But for all the adjustments that old age demands, there is some small compensation that perhaps life today isn’t as simple as it once was.

Changing times
I look around at the younger generation growing up at the moment and I think: Who would be a parent these days? I am not so sure I would be able to cope.
As a father of two daughters and a son, I wonder how I would react to the increasing violence and thuggery that has infiltrated itself into young lives today. How would I feel about letting my girls out to a disco on a Saturday night? What menace or trouble might befall my son if he was out on the town with his friends?
Looking back now, my biggest concern in my late teens and early twenties was persuading girls to talk to me long enough to convince them to have a dance. Or, had I met the latest love of my life - I had plenty - where I was going to find the money to take her out for the night and impress her.
Violence when I was growing up was the odd fist-fight between two lads, settled in a one-on-one scrap and generally without further recourse, or danger of serious injury. Certainly, the use of knives and weapons was virtually non-existent.
I look at the increasing number of stabbings and serious assaults taking place today and I wonder how anybody could feel safe going out anymore.
Why has society become so tolerant of violence? Why have we become desensitised to incidents that would have been almost unfathomable when I was growing up? Not only have serious assaults and knife crimes risen dramatically over the last twenty years, but, incredibly, society doesn’t seem to bat an eyelid.
Has the repetition of violence and depravity in the news dampened our intolerance for such crimes? And, if it has, is there any way back for us? How do you reverse a society’s capacity to absorb violent crime?

Time to do something about it
I have thought a lot about the parents of Karen Buckley this past week. Their daughter’s murderer faces a lengthy prison term for his despicable crime, but for John and Marian Buckley, theirs is also a life sentence.
The sudden death of a child is something no parent should ever have to go through and the seemingly random and senseless nature of Karen’s murder will haunt her mother and father for the rest of their days.
A million ‘what ifs’ have undoubtedly already passed through their minds this past year, and such contemplation, though inevitable, is only serving to fuel what must be an overwhelming sense of loss.
But what if there was a way of slowing down society’s relationship with violent crime? What if we no longer held the attitude that such problems are just an inevitable progression in the human story? Would Alexander Pacteau have been capable of such a violent murder fifty years ago?
Every year films and computer games search for more graphic and grotesque ways to thrill and excite audiences. Kids and young teenagers are getting their hands on violent and sexual images at an increasingly younger age and I am convinced it is having a seriously destabilising affect.
We are living in an age of technological genius and incredible scientific discovery. But our tolerance for indecent and grotesque human behaviour has also never been higher. It wasn’t like this in my day. Or when my parents were growing up. And I am thankful that I do not have to bring up my children in a world that accepts increasingly violent assaults as a fait accompli. It’s time we did something about it.