Yesterday, I was watching Lady GaGa’s new music video, “Bad Romance,” and I couldn’t help but think about the people around me. Where do they stand in their relationships? How do I stand in mine? Is there always positive interaction, even when someone is having a bad day?
Thanksgiving is coming quickly, but I, like many other students, have work to do during the holiday. Admittedly, all of this end-of-semester work is stressful, and it is important to realize even the best student needs rest. However, that got me thinking — what about the people who can’t or won’t take a rest?
What are the risks involved in taking every extra shift that comes along or every extra-credit project? Considering how hardworking Texas Tech students are, violence could become even more common than it has in the past.
As shocked as everyone is about the shootings at Fort Hood, incidents like it have, unfortunately, become ordinary to society. For the last decade, there has not been even a year where there was not some sort of catastrophe like the one that happened at Virginia Tech, Columbine or Killeen. Just as it was a problem in the 20th century, the issue of violence — particularly in the workplace and at home — is still a major problem.
Most people do not seem to know this, but while October was Breast Cancer Month and Cookie Month, it was also Domestic Violence Month. It just goes to show how much society notices this sort of thing.
Anyone can get into a bad romance, and the ship sails both ways. So, it can be a widespread problem, particularly since anger knows neither color nor income. In other words, every one of us has emotions; therefore, these emotions can overtake any one of us at any point in time if we are not careful.
We should not ignore this recent growth in violence; in fact, it should never have a blind eye turned to it. However, it has become so common that I am concerned. Even I feel the “city effect” settling in to this type of behavior.
I am sure many have heard the story of a New York woman named Kitty Genovese who was murdered at night. The New York Times reported not one neighbor called even though nearly every neighbor heard her screams. While some facts of the original story are now somewhat disputed, the incident demonstrated a serious problem.
It is a curious phenomenon called the “bystander effect” or “diffusion of responsibility,” and it is far more common in cities than anywhere else. Of course, it occurs everywhere from the smallest town to the largest city. People assume that other people are taken care of rather than rendering aid.
Similarly, the closer people live to each other, the less they care about one another. This goes for work, school and dormitories — pretty much anything that may involve cubicles or confined spaces in close proximity to the same people every day. According to OSHA, 2 million people are victims of workplace violence every year, and many of the jobs with increased risk of such incidents involve working in small groups. That is no surprise, considering how stress can play a huge role in pushing someone over the brink of rationality.
It is unfortunate that problems at work often spill over into home life. The U.S. Department of Justice reported in 2003 about 1.3 million women and 850,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually, and more than 1.4 million men and women are stalked annually in the United States alone. In addition, the National Crime Victimization Survey reports African-Americans experience significantly more domestic violence than white women ages 20 to 24.
When the numbers are crunched, violence at the workplace and at home have not only increased in incidence over time but reflect a sad truth. Society may not formally accept the violence, but willful violence is a common outlet for many people to relieve extreme bouts of anger, stress, revenge, frustration or even happiness. The fact that one in four women will experience some sort of domestic violence in her lifetime is simply not acceptable.
So, I encourage everyone at Tech to keep an extra eye out during midterms and finals; chances are, “aid” has not been rendered.
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