Since the birth and proliferation of rap music, the negative references to women and the outright violence espoused against law enforcement have been highlighted as reflections of the violent nature of that particular art form. I don’t need to pick on rap music to open a discussion about the cultivation of violence in our society. Time after time the media provides examples where cruelty and disregard for another human being occur without consequence.
Ray Rice cold-cocks his girlfriend and drags her from an elevator. Video tapes document the assault, yet he faces no jail time. Ndamukong Suh stomps on Aaron Rodgers’ leg without repercussion. Only Adrian Peterson has experienced a detour in his life journey, because society views children as the most trusting and most vulnerable when it comes to families and child abuse. George Zimmerman has been arrested once again because of some sort of aggressive behavior. When the publicity and accompanying storm subside, how will the lives of these people really be affected?
What disturbs me most is the trickle-down effect of societal norms that allows extreme behavior to go unchallenged. A patient threatened to punch me in the nose if I didn’t turn him from his side to his back. He had no extra “meat on his bones” placing him at risk for a pressure ulcer near his tailbone. He also had what’s called atelectasis or areas where the lung had collapsed. I didn’t take his threat seriously; but I took it to heart. I explained the importance of protecting his skin integrity and changing position to expand his lungs.
Once I got away from the bedside, I asked “What makes a person, even in jest, fear, or frustration, think that sort of threat is legitimate or reasonable?” The patient wasn’t drugged. He clearly made eye contact. He effectively communicated his needs. At some level, he believed it was okay to use a threat of violence to get his way. Has our passive acceptance of violence committed by certain somewhat “untouchable” members of society become equated with condoning it?
A threat of physical violence accompanied by a smirking grin does not lessen the threat. In some jurisdictions, third degree assault is defined as when a person injures another person, just not physically. Did the patient frighten me? A bit. Did he make me cautious the next time I approached him to provide his care? Yes. Does that constitute injury? Perhaps not. But with someone less experienced, it might change that person’s ability to perform his job, and that is an injury.
Later the same day, I prepared to give the man a shave. I told him how my husband told me over and over that even when men are very sick, they enjoy a good shave. He whispered “Thank-you” and proceeded to contort his face, jut his chin, pull his upper lip taut so I could get the sprinkle of white stubble growing there with his Ultra-Fine Hydro 3 razor. Not one nick from this nurse, thank-you very much. I got through the day with no more threats, but found when I got home that his words flayed my professional armor and gutted me. It hurt to think someone for whom I cared, a person I monitored for every change in heart rate or oxygenation, a person I knew as a complex and amazing individual, could threaten to hit me. The behavior fell outside my frame of reference and left me stunned.
After I started thinking about violence in modern society, the assault at Charlie Hebdo occurred. When did a different opinion or an offensive political satire become an impetus for murder? Has society become so infected with the virulence of violence that people will soon be walking on eggshells with every thought, word, and deed for fear of mortal retaliation? Just as bacteria has evolved into superbugs, will violence grow exponentially and influence progress, creativity, and innovation? Will freedom no longer have meaning?