Violence As Communication

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 27th Mar 2017

To deal with violence effectively, we must understand the message that it’s communicating to us, because violence is a form of communication. This may at first seem impractical e.g. when somebody is throwing punches, does it really matter what the “message” is? It is worth noting however, that most physical assaults are preceded by some form of verbal exchange, and it is here, in this phase of the attack (the pre-conflict stage), that we can gain an understanding of what is actually being communicated to...Click To Read More

Sadists And Psychopaths

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 20th Mar 2017

Whilst I was doing my Master’s degree in psychology, I was given the opportunity to interview/talk to several convicted sex-offenders, as part of a research project that one of my lecturers was engaged in. Most of them were serving long sentences, with little chance of parole, and I wasn’t privy to any rewards/benefits that they might have received for taking part in the interviews, so I was surprised that any wanted to take part, but a good number did. At the time, the prison was a “Category A” Prison – meaning that it held convicts whose escape would be highly...Click To Read More

Timeline of Violence

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 13th Mar 2017

Time exists to stop everything from happening at once – if it didn’t exist, it would all be over in a single moment. The first time I experienced violence, at the hands of a non-family member, was when I was 6 years old; a gang of much older kids whipped the back of my legs with electrical cords and ropes, as myself and a friend walked (and then ran) back home from soccer practice; it sucks growing up Jewish in a city divided on sectarian lines (Glasgow) – you end up getting assaulted by both the Catholic and Protestant populations....Click To Read More

Existential Honor

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 6th Mar 2017

Many moons ago, I took part in a city council’s initiative to educate teenagers about the dangers of the “Knife Culture” that is so prevalent in the UK. Part of it involved teaching self-defense, and talking about the dangers of knives and weapons to kids at various youth centers around the city, with the hope that they’d start to realize how deadly and dangerous such weapons are – the program wasn’t perfect by any means and had the obvious danger of further glamorizing knives, and reinforcing the idea that these were weapons had the potential to kill, etc., however it...Click To Read More