Social disapproval as a tool

The other “thing” that came up at the CeaseFire meeting yesterday was the usefulness and effectiveness of “social disapproval”. CeaseFire works to instill and reinforce social disapproval as a deterrent to violence.

Thinking about it, social disapproval used to be an important impediment to a number of behaviors when communities were communities. It is an attribute that we as a society need to recapture.

Society should disapprove of violence vocally and demonstratively. Society should be obvious in their disapproval of underage drinking. Society could use their disapproval to impact bullying in schools (“violence” in itself and a possible precursor to violent action/behavior). So many societal ills deserve disapproval. Publicly avowing that disapproval and breeding action based on that disapproval could go a long way toward solutions to many of our problems, many of those “problems” resulting in unnecessary death.

We can not continue to “accept” these things as inevitable or as unpreventable consequences of our society and/or life. These “problems” are not something we can’t do anything about. We need to disapprove and act or help others to act so that that disapproval is put into action.

I have been accused of “preaching to the choir” on these things, but it is time for the choir to sing and proclaim that it should no longer be so.