Good Essay About The Violence

Introduction

With the incidents of street violence rising in Egypt, the issue is a troubling one not only for the locals and the government of Egypt, but also affects the attitudes of the tourists travelling to the region that is ridden with conflicts. Violence is always responded to as negatively, no matter where it occurs in the world. Egyptian government has implemented certain measures to counter the violence taking place in the streets and the nation for the past several years now.
Careful studies in the past have shown that violence is the result of insecure and early attachments from the past. The violence and terrorism are the results of evolution of certain personality types. Such incidents have a harsh impact on the children and youth. Neuropsychiatrists state, based on earlier studies that children who are abused or exposed to extreme stress due to violence, do not show a normal brain development (deMause).
One can see the damage being done externally on the streets because of violence, but one has little idea to psychological damage being done to the personality of those facing violence. There are still very few studies done to examine the longitudinal and developmental effects of the society exposed to violence for longer periods. It means that we still don’t have definite variables to determine causality and arbitrate the association between exposure to violence and making the adjustments to negate its impact (Cooley-Strickland et al.)

Egypt is facing a deepening polarization ever since Morsi has been expelled, and hundreds have been jailed. Morsi’s Islamist supporters continue to protest notwithstanding the suppression of their marches and little support for their demonstrations. The world has seen the peaceful protesters getting attacked by the pro-Mubarak supporters with knives, sticks, fire bombs, stones, whips, clubs, and guns. The local Egyptians saw these attacks as an attempt by the government to frighten the protesters, who resisted strongly. The scholars need to look at the contradictions and redefinitions that are currently emerging in the present cultural forms and values. The ordinary Egyptians find their feelings and views on the revolution changing. The media coverage has allowed the outside world to follow major events taking place in Egypt, there is still little understanding of how those events have developed and what the ordinary Egyptians feel about them (Ghannam).
Violence can be categorized in several ways and may include verbal abuse, physical assault, and sexual abuse, etc. There are different factors that contribute to the violence at home or out on the streets, such as poverty, emotion, drugs and alcohol, culture, etc. The impact of violence can lead to disability, mental illness, and even death. Those affected worst by violence are children, the youth, and the ethnic or minority groups.
A mother who has been sexually abused herself or experienced violence cannot be expected to up bring her children normally. Mothers who have been raped, sexually molested or subjected to daily abuse can hardly be expected to raise their children normally and lovingly. Thus, one can see how the impact of violence can filter down to the next generation. History has seen children being tortured, sexually abused, starved and subjected to violent behavior, and a lot more. Abused individuals suffer from deep-rooted depression, anger, fear and suppressed feelings (deMause).
Importance of the subject to the society According to WHO report, community violence is a major public health problem. The children and youth of the society are its direct or indirect victims. The growing children especially need to be protected from the exposure to community and street violence. Consistent exposure to violence can lead a negative impact on the behavioral, emotional and academic functioning. The people living in a society ridden with violence are seen to suffer from depression, anxiety, and aggressive behavior. The violence can leave a deep impact on children’s development right from early childhood, throughout their adolescence. They can lose interest in school and get encouraged towards substance (Cooley-Strickland et al.).
Thus, the presence of the violence in the society today, can leave scars on the psyche of the society that may take tears to get healed. The crime creates considerable costs for the society, not only at local and community level, but at the national levels. It changes the moral fabric the society is depended upon, thus making it very fragile. The losses are not only from the psychological point of view, but a nation loses monetarily too, leading to heavy economic losses. For example, the violence is Egypt has taken the country back by several years, and the government has to spend more time, efforts, and money on police protection, judicial and legal activities (McCollister et al.).

Outlook on the situation

The Egyptian revolution continues to have a worldwide impact, and the political and economic instability are leading the unique patterns. The shared vision of the activists behind the protests has only developed with time and under adverse conditions such as lack of resources and absence of information. Egyptian revolution has certainly changed individual and collective thinking. While some outcomes of the revolution promise for a better future, there are still impending threats of deteriorating into the old ways. There is the need to balance positivity and negativity so that the efforts of the revolution do not go waste (Youssef).
Special preventive measures need to be taken for the youth and the children of the society, who are at a higher risk because of the exposure to community violence. Such exposures are bound to hamper their ability to function and develop normally or develop in the right direction to achieve academic success. Studies show that the majority of children today, especially those living in urban areas have witnessed community violence at some stage. The community violence is strongly related to culture and religion. The direct victims of street violence may be obvious, but the indirect victims are far higher in number, and may include the bystanders, families of victims, witnesses, etc. Exposure to violence may not just occur being at the place of incident, but occurs through different modalities such as media, victimization, witness, hearsay, etc (Cooley-Strickland et al.).
Youth and children growing up in chronic exposure to community violence, such as the situation in Egypt, are bound to have a negative impact on their development and adaptive functioning. Maladaptive outcomes in such communities are common such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, depression, school disengagement, academic failure, etc. Youth with higher levels of violence exposure reports higher distress as compared to others. Reviews of the past literature generally conclude that the greater the exposure, the more serious are the outcomes. Moreover, the deprived and poor youth are more at the risk of developing emotional and behavioral problems, as the violence around them leaves a negative impact on their psychosocial functioning. For example, the increased aggressive behavior in African American and Hispanic male children has been linked to their long exposure to community violence (Cooley-Strickland et al.).
What serves as a major risk factor for the increased aggressive behavior is being the victim of violence and witnessing violence in the community. The political party leaders should take all possible steps to control the rising violence in Egypt as well as urgent actions to protect lives. Any unlawful attacks should be strongly discouraged as it can lead to more violence. According to Human Rights Watch, it is the responsibility of the Political leaders to see that violence is condemned and minimize bloodshed and the risk to life. Till now, it is seen that neither military nor the police can prevent the deadly clashes between pro- and anti-Muslim Brotherhood supporters effectively. Excessive forces used by the military officers has only led to more killings (Egypt: Threat of Escalating Street Violence).

Comprehensive summary

Violence of any kind and in any part of the world or country is not the issue of that sole country or region, but a concern for the whole world. Its impacts are felt far and are seen in the political and economic climate globally. There is a much wider and deeper phenomenon going on under the political violence in Egypt that is much more than just those headlines. The violence is decentralized in nature, and the world political leaders have major role and responsibility to deal with the issue.
The children in Egypt are affected by the widespread violence that has been continuing the streets, and the situation only gets worse because of the lack of responsive child protection services. The issues are further complicated by the rising threats of organized religious terrorism in the Middle Eastern countries (Egypt Programme Profile).
Children experience violence not only out on the streets but also within the secure four walls of their home. When they watch endless deaths outside of their home or on TV, or get severely punished for small things, it leaves them wondering if they would be killed too for making bigger mistakes. Neuropsychiatrists who have examined the brain scans of abused, neglected and children have found significantly smaller brains. There is a decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex, and this could result in “electrical storms” that are similar to patients dealing with seizures, violent behavior, and hallucinations. Traumatized children often go numb, sink into daydreaming and fantasize. It is also found that almost the entire criminal justice population in the U.S. is made of people with childhood histories of abuse and neglect (deMause).

Reference

Cooley-Strickland, Michele, et al. "Community Violence and Youth: Affect, Behavior, Substance use, and Academics." Clinical child and family psychology review 12.2 (2009): 127-56.
deMause, Lloyd. "The Psychology and Neurobiology of Violence." The Journal of Psychohistory 35.2 (2007): 114.
"Egypt: Threat of Escalating Street Violence." Hrw.org. Human Rights Watch, 2013. Web. <http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/07/egypt-threat-escalating-street-violence>.
"Egypt Programme Profile: Child Protection." Unicef.org. Unicef, 2015. Web. <http://www.unicef.org/egypt/protection.html>.
Ghannam, Farha. "Meanings and Feelings: Local Interpretations of the use of Violence in the Egyptian Revolution." American Ethnologist 39.1 (2012): 32-6.
McCollister, Kathryn E., Michael T. French, and Hai Fang. "The Cost of Crime to Society: New Crime-Specific Estimates for Policy and Program Evaluation." Drug and alcohol dependence 108.1 (2010): 98-109.
Youssef, Carolyn M. "Recent Events in Egypt and the Middle East." Organizational dynamics 40.3 (2011): 222-34.