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documentationofcorruption · 5 months

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How To Support Palestinian Liberation In a Jewish-Friendly Way: Solidarity And Things To Remember

1.) Make a distinction between the Israeli government/IDF and Jews. Don't say "Jews are committing war crimes against Gaza." Say "the IDF is committing war crimes against Gaza." The Israeli government uses the same trick against Palestinians.

2.) Remember there are Jewish people who face discrimination in Israel such as the Ethiopian Jewish population and Arab Jewish diaspora population.

3.) Don't let non-Jewish Zionists steal Jewish trauma for their own gain. Warmongerers like Biden and the GOP want Palestine gone so they can build military bases and harvest the abundance of gasoline in the Gaza Strip.

4.) There are grifters who are taking advantage of the human rights abuses against Gazans in order to spread anti-Semitism. Always keep an eye out for anti-Semitic dogwhistles like "((()))" along with stereotypes like Jewish people controlling everything.

5.) Please keep the Nazi/Holocaust comparisons at a minimum. The Nazis aren't the only ones in history who have committed genocide. If you are going to make them PLEASE just have sensitivity regarding Jewish generational trauma.

6.) Fight out of love for Palestinians and condemn those who fight out of hatred for Jews.

7.) Remember there are Jewish-run advocacy groups inside and outside of the Israeli state. In the Israeli state especially any sort of effort to fight for Palestinian Rights is highly dangerous. Back the people fighting Netanyahu's regime.

8.) Right now condemning anti-Jewish hate crimes is crucial because just like with anti-Palestinian hate crimes, they have been on the rise. Synagogues are being vandalized and there has been a shocking increase of Nazi ideology online. Condemning bigotry against Jewish people makes Jewish people feel safer and also benefits Palestinian liberation. By making Palestinian advocacy circles a safe place for Jewish people it becomes harder for governments to use anti-Semitism accusations.

9.) Plenty of Jewish people are pro-ceasefire and want to end the violence in Palestine so harassing random Jewish people online and spamming their comments is counterintuitive. Also, the Star of David predates the state of Israel by a couple centuries.

10.) Be there for your Jewish friends and show that Palestinian liberation can and must coexist with fighting anti-Semitism. The cycle of trauma can only end by bridging it and calling out those who exploit and perpetuate it.

Anyways.

I hope that one day the dreams of the first Palestinian socialists, a secular land where all people of Abrahamic descent are protected from discrimination, will be born; a place where Jewish people never have to fear another Holocaust and where Palestinians never have to fear another Nakba.

Never again for anyone.

(disclaimer: I am not Jewish, but want to be an ally to my Jewish friends and make sure to gatekeep Nazis and alt-right bullshit from Palestinian advocacy. I want to help keep the Palestinian liberation movement a safe place from fascist ideology. Jewish friends feel free to add to this or share your thoughts. My account is meant to be a safe place.)

#palestine #gaza strip #free gaza #gaza #free palestine #israel palestine conflict #current events #israeli apartheid #apartheid #gaza genocide #fight anti-semitism #support jews and palestinians #palestinian liberation #cycle of violence #ceasefire now #never again #never again for anyone

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marthammasters · 7 months

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[…] The same thing happened to both of us.” His smile broadened and he lifted a forefinger into the air. “The Traumatic Event—you know that term? Have you done any reading on monsters like us?”

“Yes,” I said. “And Harry—my foster father—but he would never say exactly what had happened.”

Brian waved a hand around at the interior of the little box. “This happened, little brother. The chain saw, the flying body parts, the . . . blood—” With that same fearful emphasis again. “Two and a half days of sitting in the stuff. A wonder we survived at all, isn't it? Almost enough to make you believe in God.” His eyes glittered and, for some reason or other, Deborah squirmed and made a muffled noise. He ignored her. “They thought you were young enough to recover. I was just a bit over the age limit. But we both suffered a classic Traumatic Event. All the literature agrees. It made me what I am—and I had a thought that it might do the same for you.”

“It did,” I said, “exactly the same.”

“Isn't that nice,” he said. “Family ties.”

— Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter

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millsheat · 1 year

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saw a take on tiktok that tommy ruined ellie’s family when he showed up at the farm and honestly—hard disagree and as per usual, let me elaborate.

as much as ellie tried to tell otherwise, she was far from being okay or living peaceful life at the farm. you see clearly through her diary entries that ellie was heavily traumatised and haunted by her memories. she couldn’t mention joel, couldn’t draw his eyes.

there were two endings to ellie’s situation and i’m not even exaggerating when i say that one of them would be ellie putting a bullet through her head. the signs were there, clear as day. ellie needed to find abby, because at this point—it was not about the revenge anymore. it was about ellie putting an end to it all.

and as shitty as tommy’s words and actions at the farm might have been, it saved ellie in a sense. ellie needed to put an end to her pain, break the cycle and tommy provided what she needed for that.

yes, it did cost her her family. but ellie started paying this price the second she killed first of abby’s friends, the second she became part of the cycle. of course, there were moments where ellie could feel happy at the farm because after all—it was all she ever hoped for. but that would never last forever, not in her condition.

ellie needed to save herself first. and i think it’s better to have her healing and dealt with pain as oppose to trying her best to seem happy on the surface whilst the pain was eating her alive.

#the last of us #tlou take #thank you for coming to my tedtalk #tlou #the last of us ellie #ellie williams #ellie williams tlou #ellie the last of us #cycle of revenge #cycle of violence #tlou hbo #tlou ellie #ellie and abby #ellie and dina #tlou2 #ellie tlou #the last of us 2 #the last of us part ii #tlou abby

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uf-cov · 13 days

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#01

#undertale #underfell #sprite comic #alternate universe #undertale au #cycle of violence

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codingpoodle · 1 year

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AoT Ending thoughts on symbolism and greater scheme of things (cycle of hatred, fate, etc.)

Spoilers of course. If this reads a bit weird, I am somewhere between buzzed and drunk. Because the ending of this damn story left me depressed but also plotholes + commentary on themes that are in other existing works.

Based on manga panels, it is clear the giant tree growing from/near Eren’s grave mirrors the giant tree Ymir stumbled across while fleeing pursuers. For Ymir, this was the site of her original curse, something she didn’t ask for. The mirrored trees obviously imply that the source of the Titan’s power may return should someone (I.e. the boy who was wandering the forest in the final panel) stumble upon it.

HOWEVER. And I’m not trying to be an optimist here. The ending leaves it open whether the boy goes into the tree or not. For all we know, he could go “huh, cool tree” but not go inside it (he is with his dog, probably wouldn’t want to abandon it). If the boy went in the tree, we can assume a new cycle of Titan curse would occur. If the boy did not go in, and went on his way, the tree would still be there. Here are my thoughts based on these two scenarios.

The boy goes in: New cycle of Titan power begins, but the world is different (since when Ymir began the cycle it was more primitive times). Due to the nature of the Founder and retaining memories from inheritors previous and future, it could be argued, and I think within a good amount of reason, that to some extent, the memories of Ymir’s cycle would exist in this new Founder Titan. All of that transpired when Ymir was a slave all the way to Eren and Mikasa freeing her through a cataclysmic event, and the root of the whole thing: power and control.

The boy goes about his merry way: The giant tree is still there. Even though the boy in the final panel left, the tree doesn’t just wither. Someone else could stumble upon it and innocently fall into the sinkhole and get doused in the source of life’s liquid. Point being, a new cycle can keep being delayed if ignored, but the possibility of a renewal is always present. This could go on for tens of thousands of years. The possibility will still be there, it will forever haunt the world. Maybe no one will ever go in...

And now, the greater scheme of things part...

The first King Fritz was a power hungry maniac. His Eldia was already killing and pillaging before the Titans were a thing. What also was present before the Titans? The source of all life. If the source of all life is indeed the source that brought about all beings, then there was already conflict in the world, as though it was the nature from the source. Conflict existed before Titans.

If the source of all life birthed a bunch of beings that end up warring with each other, we can see a parallel to our real world. In AoT universe, when interacted with (via Ymir by random chance) it seems to accentuate the nature of conflict and power by making the first Titan -- something hyper-powerful to exert dominance over others. The source of all life naturally fuels conflict because of the existence of power. One could say it’s in “human nature”, which would parallel the Real World. Power corrupts.

And if we don’t learn from history, it is doomed to repeat itself.

(If AoT’s royal Founders didn’t just willynilly erase memories maybe people would’ve learned (I get that surface-level reasoning is that they erased memories so they could be exterminated because redemption, in their eyes, was out of reach even though at that point in time there were majority innocents to the atrocities of those committed an era earlier) to NOT repeat that kind of shit. Like, just let everyone in on what happened and there could maybe be a mutual understanding SMH. ANYWAY.)

That’s where the whole thing about inheriting all memories across time comes into play. As mentioned in the above section (The boy goes in), the new source of life and the potential of a new founder could reasonably inherit the previous cycle’s memories of violence, thus informing the new founder of previous tragedy that can be avoided going forward. Or at least lessened. I mean, the Attack Titan could see “forward”, to what extent is fate deterministic? (More on determinism later.)

Reality, no matter how deterministic this fictional world works, eventually has to write itself if a future vision wants to exist and essentially forward the message to the past (tbh when this became a main plot point for the world building I immediately went “ew, paradox shit BYE”). So to some extent, a freestyle reality had to have occurred without any interference of some all-knowing being. And that freestyle reality still has conflict and revenge and perseverance. I don’t think Eren forced anything so much as he saw the “original” reality and saw that as the fate bound to happen (he was kinda bound by fatalistic thinking, since he saw everything happen in “visions” and probably thought “hey, this is bound to happen, so I have to reinforce that it does because it already came to pass”). I mean, Grisha injected Eren with Titan serum, and Eren wouldn’t have had the Attack Titan’s abilities/memories had Grisha not done that in the first place. Eren wouldn’t have been able to influence anything if not for this event happening to begin with.

Perhaps the nature of the Paths imbues other lines of thinking (I.e. when Grisha didn’t want to slaughter the Reiss family) since it gives views into AUs in a way. We see this especially when Eren brings Mikasa to the path in which they abandon the war and live out their time together in relative peace. “In another life”, if I may. There may be a canon reality (just based on how this world works), but the nature of the Paths (hell, the fact that they’re called Paths) can see that there’s a possibility out there.

Before I forget, I’d like to mention that this branch of fate/inevitable reality (root reality?) may reflect Langton’s Ant, in which a cycle will repeat itself even with chaotic beginnings. In terms of AoT, no matter how many deviances occur, the Ant will return to its path. Then there’s the Mandlebrot set, which has its own cycles but also sees points of departure from the set. The Ant is set to a cycle while the Mandlebrot set has its escapees from the cycle. I wonder if any of these concepts influenced Isayama.

So if the nature of the Paths is retained in a new cycle (memory retention etc.) it is possible that humanity in a future cycle of destruction can learn from the previous cycle. This parallels our actual world, in which technology advances and civilization moves on after several tragic events between nations and cultures. And yet while weapons and tech become more powerful and worrisome, people as a whole seem to have better understandings of one another (the growth of LGBTQA+, diversity, advocacy, cycle breaking within families, etc.) and are going out of their ways to break pre-established cycles of hatred.

This could be the case for the boy (or whoever) if he ends up entering the giant tree. Having knowledge of the previous cycle via memories, a new cycle of violence may begin, but with an improved mode of attaining peace. While the final manga panel is ominous in that it implies humanity is doomed to a cycle of hatred (which makes sense), it also seems to imply, through all the fighting done by our Survey Corps/Warriors team, it can be stopped, or at least lessened each time a new cycle begins. We can do better, should we continue to learn from history. To me, in this cyclical world of war, if horrible atrocities are inevitable, then they can also be cyclically stopped. If the boy starts a new cycle, then there’s a way for it to end, because it’s been done before.Taking a cue from the series, when Hange joins with the deceased Survey Corps and Erwin tells them they did their job right, it has this vibe of “you did your best while trying to do the right thing, and that is what humanity needs more of. You’ve done your part in setting this on its course.”

Eren wanted to free the subjects of Ymir via mass genocide and turning his allies into heroes for taking him down. Zeke wanted to sterilize them so they could eventually die out. If Eren and Mikasa ran away like in one of the Paths, annihilation via Marley would continue. It all ends with annihilation one way or another. Would sterilization/dying out trap Ymir? Or would the cycle find another way to start? Maybe someone out there knows, but the source of all life was just out there when Ymir found it, could it reappear? I feel like Isayama wouldn’t simply seal it away, because whenever something gets sealed away (see: Legend of Zelda (which also has a hatred cycle), Naruto, honestly a lot of popular works) it finds a way out. Like, if Ymir doesn’t have anymore living subjects to bestow Titan power upon via Paths (because if no one is eaten, then some random subject gets it), maybe a new Giant Tree type of thing would happen. I mean, that kinda happened with Eren’s dead head, which was severed from the life centipede. I guess you could argue that after all the Eldians die, including any of the 9 titans (well, I guess 7 since Eren combined a couple) a giant tree could still be born from their bones.

I think what’s ironic is Eren so wanted freedom, but he was bound by his fatalistic thinking. While he was the one who convinced Ymir that she’s always had her choice, he did not see his own choices available due to time moving different in his mind. Maybe someone needed to do a similar sequence with him to remind him he too has a choice and isn’t bound by the visions of Rumbling. But of course, he pulled a season 8 Daenerys Targaryen (he burned that wheel just like her oop but a little more in character).

At the end of the day, any work of fiction is a commentary on something. In this case, it’s a commentary on cycles of violence. The source of all life brought and continued to create (Titans) conflict, and people kept trying for revenge, perpetuating war and oppression. Is it human nature to oppress? But then there’s always something within human nature that wants to resolve it. It’s a doomed cycle that ebbs and flows, but we can learn. Just stop erasing the memories if you’re in AoT’s universe, and stop censoring books in the real world. See everyone as a proper human. And maybe one day, while the possibility of a new cycle of violence being born will be everpresent, we can learn from past mistakes and not actively start a new one (and if we do, nip it in the bud). The choice to start a new cycle will be there, but we have a choice to not allow for it to destroy us. There is hope for us in the real world, and I think the final panel of AoT also expresses that, just in a haunting way.

#aot #aot headcanons #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #aot ymir #shingeki no kyoujin eren #eren jaeger #mikasa ackerman #mikasa #ymir aot #ymir snk #cycle of violence #cycle of life #zeke jaeger #aot zeke

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xx-divine-eight-xx · 4 months

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BULLET FROM A GUN.

Trauma like rifling sends us spiraling forward in an arc of death. As we exit the barrel of the gun that fired us and the door of the home that made us we do not know where we will land. Who we will thud into. When we do it is not the Bullet itself that does most of the damage. It is the Cavitation. A transference of the force of the shot causing an explosion of violence against the ones we are most intimate with. Does the Bullet find comfort in this? In knowing that the violence isn’t its fault? In knowing that it is just a vessel for someone else’s force? No. Never.

When one body crumples to the ground and one stands holding the gun, only the Bullet and the Victim feel the warm blood cooling in the night air.

#poetry #violence #firearms #cycle of violence

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jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear · 5 months

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Not sure I’d want to be his guinea pig, but I know that’s SOMEONE’S kink lmao

Cycle of Violence || Scanned at 300dpi

#Jonathan Crane #Scarecrow #The Scarecrow #batman #Bruce Wayne #DC Scarecrow #Batman Scarecrow #DC Comics #Cycle of Violence #DC

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rx-05-29 · 6 months

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#aot #attack on titan #cycle of violence #am i right fellas #ive got a lots of thoughts #expect more from me soon #tuxedo kamen out #mikasa ackerman #fumoposting

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drfrankensteinvsthequeerborgs · 11 months

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honestly for me one of the scariest things about Supernatural is the seeming inevitability of the cycle of violence, John knows this is an appalling way to raise a child but he does it anyway, Sam gets away for a few years only to return loving the job, Dean does to Jack the same things John did to him. and a sizable chunk of that is Chuck forcing them to become the worst versions of themselves but it’s terrifying how they can end up being the very thing they swore never to become

#dfvq liveblog #dfv queue #dfvq spn #spn5x13 #cycle of violence #fuck a chuck #this house is a fucking nightmare #forced to live bad writing #cursed by the narrative #john winchester’s a+ parenting #dean studies #cw child abuse #aristotle checking his nails smugly in the distance #imagine taking sam seriously as a character #you used me for character development

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agentrouka-blog · 2 years

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Tyrion strangled Shae with the gold chain. Then we have Dany bound to Hizdahr with golden chain as marriage custom of Meereen. Though Dany is not loyal to him and Meereen and ultimately choose her dragons. Shae was a pawn used by Lannisters for their games. Do you think gold chains are here represent loyalty?

I’m not sure loyalty is the theme I get from this.

The chain of hands is a symbol of power for Tyrion, which he very jealously resents Tywin taking away from him again.

The Lord of Casterly Rock was as lean as a man twenty years younger, even handsome in his austere way. Stiff blond whiskers covered his cheeks, framing a stern face, a bald head, a hard mouth. About his throat he wore a chain of golden hands, the fingers of each clasping the wrist of the next. "That's a handsome chain," Tyrion said. Though it looked better on me. (ASOS, Tyrion I)

GRRM takes care to explicitly link the chain to Shae, as well, the chew toy Tywin tried to forbid him that Tyrion insisted on secretly bringing along to KL. His Tysha-replacement. His projection surface. His trauma reenactment object.

The golden chain is not a symbol of loyalty at all. It is a symbol of captivity. Emotional captivity in past hurt and the inability to let go, the illusion of recovery through power and retaliation.

This is Shae, after Tyrion just left Alayaya in captivity to protect Shae:

Shae sat cross-legged in the canopied bed, nude but for the heavy golden chain that looped across the swell of her breasts: a chain of linked golden hands, each clasping the next. (ACOK, Tyrion XII)

Dressed in his chain and nothing else. A sign of protection? No. Power and games and vanity.

Tywin takes the chain away that symbol of a political office Tyrion inexplicably feels he is owed.

He would have donned his chain of golden hands as well, if his father hadn't stolen it while he lay dying. (ASOS, Tyrion II)

Just like he feels Tywin stole Tysha from his arms. Does he send Shae away to protect her, did he try to free Alayaya by telling the truth? No. He wants to win this power game against his family.

Tyrion is chained up by his own pride and anger and unprocessed trauma. He won’t or can’t look beyond it to the human beings that are the women involved. He sees only himself. And the game.

Alas, he loses big. And to add another insult, Tywin steals his chew toy:

Big wet tears filled her eyes. "I never meant those things I said, the queen made me. Please. Your father frightens me so." She sat up, letting the blanket slide down to her lap. Beneath it she was naked, but for the chain about her throat. A chain of linked golden hands, each holding the next. (...) Tyrion slid a hand under his father's chain, and twisted. The links tightened, digging into her neck. "For hands of gold are always cold, but a woman's hands are warm," he said. He gave cold hands another twist as the warm ones beat away his tears.(ASOS, Tyrion XI)

So Tyrion kills them both. How naturally that came to him. Has it happened before?

Each time he gave the chain another twist the golden hands dug deeper. A chain and a keep are nothing, compared to a woman's kiss. Had he kissed her one last time, after she was dead? He could not remember … though he still recalled the first time they had kissed, in his tent beside the Green Fork. How sweet her mouth had tasted.

He remembered the first time with Tysha as well. She did not know how, no more than I did. We kept bumping our noses, but when I touched her tongue with mine she trembled. Tyrion closed his eyes to bring her face to mind, but instead he saw his father, squatting on a privy with his bedrobe hiked up about his waist. "Wherever whores go," Lord Tywin said, and the crossbow thrummed. (ADWD, Tyrion II)

The image is certainly one he returns to again and again, same as with Tysha.

He thought of Shae and the look in her eyes as he tightened the chain about her throat, twisting it in his fist. A chain of golden hands. (ADWD, Tyrion IX)

There are competing themes of power and captivity to the chains of gold. Decoration and restraint. Protection and violence. There’s something very Jacob Marley about the chains, except its a self-forged prison made of past hurt.

Jaime’s hands are chained throughout much of his ASOS journey, and freeing them is his most fervent desire until his sword hand is cut off. Jaime spends his time constantly preoccupied with his anger at the horrible injustice of being called kingslayer for his “finest act”, and his disillusionment with knighthood, later with Cersei’s betrayal. But his own complicity, his own choices? Skirted around. The sword hand will be replaced by his hand of gold. He tries to rebuild himself around that loss, the sword hand, the physical power that was his sole identity. The hand of Lannister gold, “Goldenhand the Just” is not the solution, because Jaime doesn’t truly put in the work of shaking off his psychological chains.

There’s parallels to the wedding chain between Daenerys and Hizdahr, yes. She chains herself to him, just as she chained her dragons. But she will ride off on Drogon, and the dragons will snap their chains. Because those chains aren’t the real thing binding her.

Another wedding gives better clues:

The girl slid the gilded sandals onto her feet, while the old woman fixed the tiara in her hair, and slid golden bracelets crusted with amethysts around her wrists. Last of all came the collar, a heavy golden torc emblazoned with ancient Valyrian glyphs."Now you look all a princess," the girl said breathlessly when they were done. Dany glanced at her image in the silvered looking glass that Illyrio had so thoughtfully provided. A princess, she thought, but she remembered what the girl had said, how Khal Drogo was so rich even his slaves wore golden collars. She felt a sudden chill, and gooseflesh pimpled her bare arms. (AGOT, Daenerys I)

Decoration and restraint. Power and captivity. The purple amethyst handcuffs and the Valyrian glyphs on her collar paint a vivid picture of Dany as a captive of her own dragon identity. The metaphorical restraints are what makes her a princess. Her claim rests on Fire and Blood and she cannot let go.

More of the same imagery:

Jorah Mormont accepted his collar in a sullen silence, but Penny began to cry as the armorer was fastening her own into place. "It's so heavy," she complained.

Tyrion squeezed her hand. "It's solid gold," he lied. "In Westeros, highborn ladies dream of such a necklace." Better a collar than a brand. A collar can be removed. He remembered Shae, and the way the golden chain had glimmered as he twisted it tighter and tighter about her throat. (ADWD, Tyrion X)

A collar could be removed, yes. But you won’t, Tyrion. You’re too comfortable using the chain as a weapon.

But that is an apt description for the role of highborn ladies in Westeros. See also:

His eldest daughter stepped forward hesitantly. She was dressed in blue velvets trimmed with white, a silver chain around her neck. (...) He left the room with his eyes burning and his daughter's wails echoing in his ears, and found the direwolf pup where they chained her. Ned sat beside her for a while. "Lady," he said, tasting the name. (AGOT, Eddard III)

Decorated with the symbols of their oppression. She’ll wear the same chain when she pleads for Ned’s life.

But even knowing, deep down, the true power dynamics in play, Tyrion does his best to evade digging deeper into what a monster he is. He comes close...

The Stranger had mounted his pale mare and was riding toward them with his sword in hand, but Tyrion Lannister did not care to meet with him again. Not now. Not yet. Not this day. What a fraud you are, Imp. You let a hundred guardsmen rape your wife, shot your father through the belly with a quarrel, twisted a golden chain around your lover's throat until her face turned black, yet somehow you still think that you deserve to live. (TWOW, Tyrion I)

... and yet it is followed by another moment of barely avoided monstrosity. Against Penny of all people. Because he is lost in black rage and memory. Chained to the past.

"You're brave. Little people can be brave."

My giant of Lannister, he heard. She is mocking me. He almost slapped her again. His head was pounding.

"I never meant to make you angry," Penny said "Forgive me. I'm frightened, is all." She touched his hand.

Tyrion wrenched away from her. ""I'm frightened." Those were the same words Shae had used. Her eyes were big as eggs, and I swallowed every bit of it. I knew what she was. I told Bronn to find a woman for me and he brought me Shae. His hands curled into fists, and Shae's face swam before him, grinning. Then the chain was tightening about her throat, the golden hands digging deep into her flesh as her own hands fluttered against his face with all the force of butterflies. If he'd had a chain to hand...if he'd had a crossbow, a dagger, anything, he would have...he might have...he... It was only then that Tyrion heard the shouts. He was lost in a black rage, drowning in a sea of memory, but the shouting brought the world back in a rush. He opened his hands, took a breath, turned away from Penny. "Something's happening." He went outside to discover what it was. Dragons. (TWOW, Tyrion I)

He was going to do it again. Over nothing but a perceived insult to his pride.

The golden chain is certainly not a symbol of loyalty. Only the monstrosity that can breed from trauma left to fester, and the injustice it visits on the powerless.

#anti tyrion lannister #golden chain #chain of hands #slave collar #trauma #shae #tysha #jaime lannister #cycle of abuse #cycle of violence #anti daenerys targaryen #rouka queue

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haggishlyhagging · 11 months

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Dealing with these damaged children and teenagers takes up an increasing amount of police time and in 2017 the Metropolitan Police appointed its first head of safeguarding, Commander Richard Smith, who has extensive knowledge of gangs and knife crime in the capital.

‘From the moment domestic abuse is happening, that's a risk factor,’ he told me, pointing out that ACEs increase both the risk of health problems, often related to drug or alcohol abuse, and of ending up in custody. Smith believes that opportunities to intervene are being missed because outsiders don't spot what's going on in abusive families, even when children are sending distress signals. 'There is academic evidence that young children who experience abuse and exploitation will express what's happening to them several times before people notice it,' he added.

Smith insists that none of this is inevitable and the damage may be reduced by one of the protective factors I alluded to in chapter one, such as being taught by an inspirational teacher. More controversially, some professionals who work with damaged teenage boys argue for the need to find a healthy outlet for testosterone, such as joining a boxing club. But senior police officers understand that the fight/flight/freeze response, which is a natural human reaction to threatening situations, isn't much use to children who live with a violent parent.

'If you can't escape and freezing is to no purpose, you might decide to make friends with or be affectionate towards your abuser, just to survive,' Smith told me, referring to a mechanism - identification - which leads boys to side with a violent father as a means of survival. By the time these boys become teenagers, a proportion are already damaged and susceptible to predators of various sorts, whether they're gang members - the process Smith has seen on many occasions - or extremists. ‘They may already be desensitised to violence, lacking in empathy and unable to manage impulses because of their age,’ he said. ‘They seek excitement and they're not able to think through consequences.’ He believes that the effects of ACEs last much longer than most people realise, calling into question arbitrary distinctions in the way the criminal law approaches fifteen- and nineteen-year-olds: 'Children and young adults up to the age of twenty-five are at high risk of criminality and risky behaviour. They have high suicide rates and their impulse management is poor.' He adds that the threat of going to prison, even of losing their lives, has little impact on members of what he calls the 'gang cohort', who are able to keep up a delusion about their own immortality into their mid-twenties.

-Joan Smith, Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists

#joan smith #cycle of violence #male violence #domestic abuse #criminality

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