Tearful rant about violence as an acceptable outcome !

I've been sitting here quietly working on a post I have planned for tomorrow but the noise & distraction from the various feeds of internet, blogs, television & my own head-space has put that post on hold.

Let me start by stating a personal perspective for any readers from outside of NZ. In international terms this is is a generally safe & friendly country, the issues I'm about to rant about are mostly internal to our various cultures and NZ society at large. Nor are they unique, all of the things I am going to let bleed on this post are international issues that cross all ethnic, cultural, political & racial boundaries.

It sickens me to my very core that we cannot shake off the inherent acceptance of violence as an acceptable outcome and means of dispute resolution. Across the entire cross section of society we have one of the worst records for physical violence especially against women & children & on the emotional abuse/vulnerability stakes one of the highest teen suicide rates.

Why ? No simple answer to that, many factors from where I sit in the tree tops & observe the world:

• We are a very young nation with a heady mix of cultures and ethnic groups that share violence as an acceptable reaction to confrontation and anger.
• As a generalisation we are a nation of large physiques and capability for extreme violence. 
• There is a cultural acceptance of violence of all forms that is insidious and deeply poisonous  across all levels and segments of our social fabric. A reaction of helplessness and inability or fear of intervening is far too common.
• After many thousands of years society at large still resolves conflict by armed aggression. technology constantly brings the whole planet to the brink of extinction.
• When I see judges giving serious offenders the 'benefit of the doubt" despite strong evidence against them (today's sad example is a repeat collector of child pornography with some very clear mental health issues released back into the community despite understandable concerns). And that is nothing compared to the daily cases of physical & emotional violence that while thankfully are increasingly being reported yet sickeningly not solved.
• And why not ? Because we as a country refuse to deal with the core issue of violence as an acceptable  means of dispute or anger resolution. Yes, some groups need help more than others to overcome aeons of cultural entrenchment of these sick values but aren't we the thinking, rationalising, reasoning organism ? Seems not.

I'm too wound up to say any more tonight, I know I'll be back to this particular cess pit again. 

And this is not a unique incident, just thankfully public