What era are we in? We are in the age of abuse. We are in a period where love, love, knowledge, and all social and spiritual values are exploited unlimitedly. Everything that belongs to or is related to humans is exploited and exploited like never before in history. In the past periods of human history, women, children, family, labor, politics, morality and religion were always abused. But they have never been exploited as brutally as they are today. So much so that we live in a period where abuse is abused. All kinds of abuse are so manipulated; We are not really interested in the pain and internal devastation experienced by the person or animals subjected to psychological, physical or sexual abuse (violence).
We discuss cases of abuse and violence, at best, on very superficial dimensions or in terms of their consequences. I wish it was limited to this! Unfortunately, cases of abuse can be discussed on ideological grounds by people from different sides of society. I say front because; The divisions and polarizations have now formed fronts and people are shooting at each other from here. Even on a painful issue like abuse, we cannot talk about it without putting our minds and consciences aside and mixing up "ists" and "isms". We lost our sincerity.
What's worse is that our repressed dark sides revived and went into a murderous frenzy. When we look at the rumors, allegations and news, all our evil impulses that traditional religion and morality try to prevent are unleashed. It is possible to say that a significant part of our society lives with hedonism (the principle of pleasure). Rape, incest, violence against women, femicide, and pedophilia in schools and dormitories have reached levels that threaten social life. When we look at the statistics, we see that marriage is on the verge of becoming one of the most violent institutions.
In our country, especially in the last decade, the abuse and violence suffered by women, children and animals has increased significantly. The numbers regarding violence remain serious. According to the data of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, 409 femicides were committed in 2017. 387 children were sexually abused and 332 women were subjected to sexual violence. 4,500 of our women were killed in the last 10 years.
The way people treat the person they live with cannot be separated from the cultural environment in which our relationships occur. It is no longer difficult to say that abuse has become central in our culture. The prevalence of abuse at the level of consciousness and in society fundamentally changes our ideas about the relationship between love and power. The increase in sexual abuse and its spread and visibility increases emotions such as fear or anger, which harden people and push them back. It destroys our human and emotional sides. We are becoming more problematic as a society with problems related to love and sexuality. We treat and discuss love and sexuality as if they are harmful to the body. Romantic love, in its deepest sense, was something worth dying for. In its worst aspect, abuse makes love and sexuality something worth killing for.
Like all kinds of increases in violence in society, sexual violence represents a collapse, not repressed emotions, and its increasing prevalence is an indication of a gradual loss of control. Literary and social critic Irwing Howe makes an important distinction between what he calls the “civilizational crisis,” a social problem that is often cultural or psychological in origin, and more widespread social crises that arise primarily from institutional arrangements. According to Howe, “social crisis indicates a collapse in the functioning of society: it feeds poverty, fails to resolve intergroup conflicts within it, drags the country into endless war,” therefore requiring economic and political reform. But “the crisis of civilization is less about the functioning of the economy or the correctness of social arrangements than it is about the transmission of values, that is, the unspoken but deep-rooted assumptions on which people regulate their behavior.” Howe therefore comes to the following conclusion: “Usually social crisis is expressed by political struggle, and civilizational crisis by behavioral inconsistency.”
“Behavioral inconsistency” is a very appropriate concept for Turkey's current situation. All social, political and cultural aspects that enable us to have a basic respect for each other Intrinsic values and ideas seem to have abandoned us; More precisely, we are gradually abandoning them. We stomp on our civilizational ideals and ideal society teachings. We have lost the basic respect we should have for the existence of another human being. Turkey has now become a society open to physical and sexual violence at all levels. We are more willing than ever to expose abuse and violence, and we agree that there is much more real abuse and violence than meets the eye. However, as a society rich in thoughts and ideas but devoid of action, we watch ongoing violence and abuse.
We have turned into an indifferent society. By uninterested, I mean not only that we don't see each other, but that we are not interested in each other. It must be a terrible situation for a society whose origins are a change in mentality that can be defined as indifference to the existence of others. We are unprecedentedly indifferent to each other's lives, each too ready to treat the other as our natural property or right. Violating the rights of others has become part of the polluted air we constantly breathe. Since this air pollution has now replaced the natural one, all violations of rights and unlawfulness are becoming increasingly commonplace. We have a very high ability to destroy each other in meeting almost all our desires, from our sexual desires to owning someone else's iPhone.
The period when our common good and common bad disappear. We all have thoughts about the good, the right, the beautiful. We don't need to discuss where this comes from. Each of us has different stories, experiences and habits. Even though we came from very different points of view, we always had common good and common bad things. However, we are living in a period where our common good and common bad are gradually disappearing.
Yes, Türkiye is experiencing a complete "inconsistency of behavior" situation. Turkey is neither experiencing an economic nor a social crisis; Turkish society stands on the brink of a "civilizational crisis"... We have lost our respect and sincerity for the existence of the other.
Read: 0
