by Sara Ragsdale
Before society as we know it, we as people roamed aimlessly throughout the world, in search not only of food but of companionship, of a sense of family. Yet, as families transformed into clans and clans into cities, it was no longer enough to just exist; to survive, one must thrive. However, the drive needed to truly get ahead, set forth a never ending progression of brutality from pillaging villages to murdering our enemies to all out world warfare. In modern application, governments/regimes control the means of force and the violent tendencies of nationalism in order to advance (what is presumably) national interests. Nonetheless, those who are oppressed by, unsatisfied with or just simply opposed to the current party, will seemingly rise up, spur new thought and incite extreme sentiments to make their voice heard. This rings especially true within Colombia, where violence has gone on for so long that the original perpetrators of the conflict are no longer alive, but their children and grandchildren have been ingrained and indoctrinated to carry on the fight. Creating an everlasting cycle of violence. While we may believe that the peace process belongs in the hands of the Duque regime and the paramilitary/guerilla groups, the true start of any revolutionary political endeavor for change, lies within the will of the people; from the American revolution to any constitutional amendment, the process of change is rarely started from the top-down, but instead by the people, their votes and their emotions. The problem within Colombia stems from society's acceptance of violence, which continues to reinforce younger generations to seek out a life of crime to better themselves instead of demanding and protesting for peace and progressive development from the government. Ultimately, no matter what progress is made in developing peace, the cycle of violence will continue to wreak havoc on the Colombian people until the media condemns he underlying problem of acceptance of circumstance and violence and presents a truthful representation of the situation at hand in a format available to both the urban and rural communities.
Development of Violence
Violence has existed as a natural part of the human experience for so long, that it has ingrained itself into every facet of existence. At the beginning of human history, we were constantly surrounded by enemies, even our closest genetic relatives, Chimps, were known to hunt and compete with us. Ultimately, establishing our mindset of violent conflict as “ancient and primal, a vestige of our pre-Homo ancestry rather than a recent adaptation to life in settled societies.”[i] This genetic disposition made it easier to survive in the prehistoric world of constant uncertainty, but since has continued to let us turn back the biological clock to solve our problems with violence instead of our developed techniques for mediation and compromise; letting personal conflict, murder and violent protest grow.
While we recognize that globally, deaths as a complication of war have decreased, as a whole “conflict and violence are currently on the rise, with many conflicts today waged between non-state actors such as political militias, criminal, and international terrorist groups.”[ii] This rings especially true within Latin America where “with the exception of a few urban centers in the United States and South Africa, the latest annual ranking of the world’s 50 most homicidal cities by the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice is composed entirely of Latin American and Caribbean locations.”[iii] However, we often (falsely) assume that such crime and cruelty towards fellow man is just a factor of decaying economies and political infrastructure, with Colombia often being used as a prime example.[iv] Yet, Colombia presents a more complex socio-political dynamic, challenging the traditional notation of conflict as a whole; having suffered through the extremes of armed conflict (with little true moments of resolution) for most of its history. Ultimately explaining that “economic factors alone cannot explain violence; rather, cultural factors must be taken into account.”[v]
Influence of Society
Colombia’s history is full of violence from guerilla warfare to political assassinations, all of which has created a social norm in its civilians that continues to forge a deadly cycle of drugs, extortion and death. Since 1948 and the start of La Violencia, paramilitary groups (backed by international technology and funds) have raided, brutalized and all out destroyed the countryside in search of a lasting victory against the guerilla groups. This glorification of “force and the destruction of enemies using laws, sows delusions in people's minds. It legitimizes (the) notions of eliminating or defacing others or viewing others as toxic bodies devoid of rights and humanity or as diabolical stereotypes.”[vi] Colombia isn’t the first nation to fall victim to this pernicious mindset and most certainly will not be the last. However, the precedent set by those who have accepted and succumbed to these delusions is both dangerous and deadly. Despite experiencing civil conflict for the same amount of time as Colombia, Israel/Palenstine has become a nation torn apart by social differences created extreme violence that only became reinforced with each generation until the eventual split between the mainstream government and the militant opposition, leaving behind two incomplete states, with unstable governments and never ending violence. Colombia is headed down the same path, as the divide between urban and rural, rich and poor, and peace and war are constantly growing. In the end, “war has eroded the nation's moral fiber” and has even turned “negligible disputes at school (into) life threatening, signs of the deep, intangible harm civil war continues to inflict.”[vii] As the line between acceptable violence and going too far grows dimmer, so does the hope of the people and the future of Colombia as a whole. While there have been periods of “peace” the primary problem is that they never last, something always corrupts the people's hopes of safety back into fear for their life and ultimately, back into the violent mindset they’ve grown accustomed to; realistically, making any foreseeable steps forwards just a figment of imagination. To be able to make any skyscraper there needs to be a stable foundation, which is exactly what Colombia is lacking at this point.
Seeing is Believing
In the rural areas of Colombia, violence is the only constant, the only form of stability, the only path to prosperity. From a young age, children learn of drug rings and watch violence in the streets, with many joining in as a way of life, as a way of survival. Yet it is these experiences that allows “the social and cultural norms that lead to the tolerance of violence (to be) learned in childhood, wherein a child experiences corporal punishment or witnesses violence in the family, in the media, or in other settings”[viii] The problem is that violence isn’t just witnessed in the streets, but instead runs rampant behind closed doors, with “37% of women in Colombia experienc(ing) physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence at least once in their lifetime, and over 50% of Colombian men admitted to abusing their female partners.”[ix] While domestic violence isn’t exclusively a problem within Colombia, the unique combination of civil conflict and household violence allows for the corruption of self, family and society as a whole.
All the while, the newspapers, radio stations and televisions glorify this strife, retelling the tales of the injured, displaying flashy headlines and forcing everyone to relive through their traumas over and over again. Yet, the greater issue is that the “media has the power to influence individual beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors” for those fortunate enough to not have experienced the violence in real time. Ultimately producing “two effects: the individual or direct effect (private) or the social or indirect effect (public). In the individual effect, media information about new norms may persuade individuals to accept them. In the social effect, the information creates common knowledge of a norm and enhances social coordination as individuals more readily accept the information if they believe others have also accepted it.”[x] Persuading Colombia as a whole to turn towards the violence, instead of away from it.
The Power of the Media
From el tiempo to popular televisión, the direct correlation between violence and media representation only adds more fire to the flames of conflict. Within Colombia, “news is often reported as a series of individual events without adequate context, making it difficult to see the full story (and) identify what needs to be prevented as well as what can be done to promote the prevention of violence... Not having the full story generates misinformation synergy, creating distorted views of crime and race, and limits the opportunity to have a real conversation about what is going on. (Thus) the news media set agendas that define how viewers understand violence.”[xi] Ultimately, it is the manipulation of information to politicize the conflict and favor violence that has plagued the Colombian media (and mindset) for an extended period of time. “In the newspapers the use of the front page for the official version of events became frequent, while the accounts of correspondents or eyewitnesses were relegated to inside pages. This display of acts of violence on the front pages is corroborated by the journalists Circle of Bogota (CPB), which registered that between the last week of February and the first week of March 1987, El
Tiempo dedicated 55% of its page one news to violence, El Espcctador and El Pals 54% and El Colombiano 58%.”[xii] In the end, the Colombian media, by feeding the problem, must subsequently be the solution.
Solvency
Colombia has bordered on the line of peace and all out war for almost a century, but no matter what steps have been taken by the government, the cycle of violence always returns. It is because the people and media of Colombia continue to accept violence and integrate it into a societal norm that steps must be taken to change the people’s mindset as a whole. I believe that there exists two possible solutions: (1.) use readily available technology throughout the countryside to tell stories that correct the previous notations that violence is acceptable, and (2.) curb the amount of violence displayed in the media. Neither of these options are mutually exclusive. Allowing for other peace seeking missions to occur at the same time. These are also budget friendly options that can occur without state support and can aid in providing these communities education and other resources.
With much of the violence in Colombia occuring in the countryside, traditional strategies of international interventions have been unsuccessful. Previously both the US and many international bodies have attempted to intervene in the Colombian conflict, but have focused primarily on the drug trade and used the internet/short supplied technology to communicate with the people. Instead of repeating the past, I advocate for the use of educational entertainment, such as “soap operas that illustrate positive social norms and are a cost-effective intervention.”[xiii] This method has been “conducted as a natural and randomized experiment in the rural indigenous community of San Bartolome Quialana in Oaxaca, Mexico using a multi-part soap opera radio program telling a story of a relationship that slowly becomes violent.” Using already readily available community loudspeakers and community gatherings, transmission should be able to reach all of the rural population and make the public feel interested instead of coerced into listening. When previously tested “the soap opera alone was sufficient to influence norms, and whether creating certainty about common knowledge from face-to-face interactions with community members enhanc(ing) the social effects.”14 Once established, this system can be used to address other topics, including “the need for contraception, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, how to achieve peace between countries in conflict and how to elevate the status of women in developing countries”[xiv] and even Covid-19.
Having already noted upon the highly politicized and targeted nature of the new media, by changing the way violence appears and is reported can change the mindset towards violence as a whole. This can be achieved in a variety of ways: giving more print time to the messages of the victims of violence, printing more “positive” stories, or just all out decreasing the amount of articles and images of violence published. This option (while not necessitating) would likely be supported by the current regime, due to the inherent understanding that any way to make it seem as if violence is decreasing and the peace agreement is being honored lends legitimacy to the success of the government. Ultimately just establishing another layer of legitimacy and means to truly change the violence problem within Colombia as a whole.
Bibliography
- Sciences, National Academies of, and Engineering, and Medicine. “Addressing the Social and Cultural Norms That Underlie the Acceptance of Violence.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, April 6, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493719/.
- Arias, Eric. “How Does Media Influence Social Norms? A Field Experiment on the Role of Common Knowledge.” How Does Media Influence Social Norms? A Field Experiment on the Role of Common Knowledge. | Gender Action Portal, July 2019. https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/how-does-media-influence-social-norms-field-experiment-rol e-common-knowledge.
- Waldmann, Peter. “Is There a Culture of Violence in Colombia?” Taylor & Francis, 2007. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09546550701626836?src=recsy
- Vassigh, Alidad. “Colombia, How War Spreads.” Worldcrunch, June 25, 2020. https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/colombia-how-war-spreads-cultural-violence-int o-daily-life.
- “Colombia: Violence & the Media.” Index of Censorship, 1988. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064228808534354.
- Waterman, H.“Are Humans Inherently Violent? What an Ancient Battle Site Tells Us.” Discover, May 17, 2019. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/are-humans-inherently-violent-what-anancient-battle-site-tells-us
- UN. “A New Era of Conflict and Violence.” United Nations. United Nations, 2018. https://www.un.org/en/un75/new-era-conflict-and-violence.
- “Combating Domestic and Sexual Violence in Colombia.” Vital Voices, March 3, 2017. https://www.vitalvoices.org/2016/07/combating-domestic-and-sexual-violence-in-colomb ia/.
- Chelala, César. “Soap Operas as Teaching Tools.” The Globalist, June 10, 2016. https://www.theglobalist.com/soap-operas-health-aids-teaching-tools/.
[i] H. Waterman,“Are Humans Inherently Violent? What an Ancient Battle Site Tells Us.” Discover, May 17, 2019, https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/are-humans-inherently-violent-what-an-ancient-battle-site-tells-us
[ii] UN, “A New Era of Conflict and Violence.” United Nations, United Nations, 2018, https://www.un.org/en/un75/new-era-conflict-and-violence.
[iii] Tristan Clavel and Mike LaSusa, “Why Latin America Dominates Global Homicide Rankings.” InSight Crime,
March 13, 2018, https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/why-latin-america-dominates-global-homicide-rankings/.
[iv] Juan Roman, “GUERRILLA VIOLENCE IN COLOMBIA: EXAMINING CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES.” NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, 1994, https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a284142.pdf.
[v] Peter Waldmann, “Is There a Culture of Violence in Colombia?” Taylor & Francis, 2007, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09546550701626836?src=recsys.
[vi] Alidad Vassigh, “Colombia, How War Spreads.” Worldcrunch, June 25, 2020, https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/colombia-how-war-spreads-cultural-violence-into-daily-life.
[vii] Vassigh, 2020.
[viii] National Academies of Sciences, and Engineering, and Medicine, “Addressing the Social and Cultural Norms That Underlie the Acceptance of Violence.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, April 6, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493719/.
[ix] “Combating Domestic and Sexual Violence in Colombia.” Vital Voices, March 3, 2017, https://www.vitalvoices.org/2016/07/combating-domestic-and-sexual-violence-in-colombia/.
[x] Eric Arias, “How Does Media Influence Social Norms? A Field Experiment on the Role of Common
Knowledge.” How Does Media Influence Social Norms? A Field Experiment on the Role of Common Knowledge, Gender Action Portal, July 2019, https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/how-does-media-influence-social-norms-field-experiment-role-common-knowledge.
[xi] National Academies of Sciences, and Engineering, and Medicine, 2018.
[xii] “Colombia: Violence & the Media.” Index of Censorship, 1988. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064228808534354.
[xiii] National Academies of Sciences, and Engineering, and Medicine, 2018. Arias, 2019.
[xiv] Chelala, César. “Soap Operas as Teaching Tools.” The Globalist, June 10, 2016.
https://www.theglobalist.com/soap-operas-health-aids-teaching-tools/.
