Violence Paradox a smart, uplifting series
As someone says, early on in the BBC-produced The Violence Paradox (now streaming on DocPlay): no journalist ever began a report with, ‘‘I’m speaking to you from a peaceful and trouble-free country’’.
And that might be the problem. Ever since the invention of the 24-hour news cycle, the fourth estate have had to spin every story further and faster, just to fill up the minutes until the next ad-break.
So that if you, or I, spend too much time online, in front of a TV, or even flicking through the pages of a newspaper, we will come away thinking that the world is shot to hell and our chances of meeting a violent end are getting more likely every day.
The truth is the complete opposite. There really has never been a better and safer time to be alive than right now.
The Violence Paradox takes a likeable dive into the work of Dr Steven Pinker, who pulled together facts and figures on conflict and homicide from all over the planet to prove beyond doubt that the world is a more peaceful place today than at any time in history. And that your odds of being killed by someone else have been trending down for centuries.
Pinker argues that we have the keys to a world without violence in our hands, and we may be already using them,
without even realising. It won’t surprise you to know that literacy, prosperity and participation in society – democracy – really are the magic bullets in the war for peace.
But, what we know to be true and what we believe, can be very different things, and so the film has a huge hurdle of people’s preconceived notions to overcome.
The facts stack up though, and I came away from The Violence Paradox ina terrific mood, more optimistic than ever that this ridiculous human race we belong to might be capable of sorting out the messes we get ourselves into.
Admittedly, those words are easier to write in my little idyll in the people’s republic of Aro Valley, in the bleedingheart liberal stronghold of Wellington Central, than in, say, Gaza or Baghdad.
Except that The Violence Paradox ends with an extended riff on Baghdad and the ways in which a community football league is breaking down divisions between religious factions and promoting peace among neighbours. It sounds trite, but the results are fascinating and astonishing.
The Violence Paradox is the definition of a smart, well researched and uplifting documentary series. Have a look. It might even put a smile on your face.