Being Devalued
In her article, “The Inner Voices Behind Violent Behavior,” Dr. Lisa Firestone writes “After years of researching, interviewing, and assessing violent individuals, along with my father Dr. Robert Firestone , I began to recognize certain voices (negative thought processes) that flood the minds of these individuals influencing them to engage in acts of violence.”
One of the negative thought processes she identified were ones that support people feeling victimized and persecuted. These voices promote and support thoughts of being discounted, blamed, or humiliated by other people.
In his book, “Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic,” psychiatrist Dr. James Gilligan asserts that violence is caused by shame and humiliation. When we commit violence, says Gilligan, we’re actually trying to do something that to him is positive—that is, reclaim a part of the self, a part of a depleting sense of self-love, which we feel has somehow been violated. This is why, when you ask most young people today why they became violent, they’ll say it was because they were disrespected, or “dissed.”
In Nathan McCall’s book, “Makes Me Want to Holla,” he discusses the power black youth feel with a gun in their hand. The possessor of the gun derives a level of respect, which has evaded him because of cultural oppression
