What is violence?

 As I consider the different perspectives within the texts I am studying, I am left questioning what we consider to be violence.  The dictionary defines violence as, 'behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.' This seems relatively obvious really; a violent action causes physical pain.  But what of other forms of violence, that don't involve any physical act at all?

Bullying.  Could it be considered as violence?  Racism.  Is this violence?  Homophobia.  Should this be viewed as violence?  All of these acts can result in physical pain and are intended to cause hurt, damage, and in some instances, can result in death.  Should they be considered violent?

What about fear?  Can fear be considered an act of violence?  Violence is horrifying, traumatic, and painful, but so is fear, ergo, can fear be violence?  I suppose if we look at the most obvious case of terrorism, a violent act that strikes fear and terror into those affecting, then fear becomes an effect of violence.  However, what about the victim of domestic violence who lives in fear of the next physical attack.  In this instance, can fear also be considered an act of violence?

These are just some of my preliminary responses to reading Violence  by Slavoj Žižek who takes 'six sideways glances' at violence so that we can 'learn, learn, learn' what causes violence.

I will update this post once I have delved deeper within the pages of the book and explored what new lens it shines on the fictional serial killer.