The Message of Violence

A Conspiracy Against Children

“How can people love themselves if the message that they were not worth loving was drummed into them at an early stage? If they were beaten black and blue to make them into a different person? If they had it impressed on them that they were a nuisance to their parents, and that nothing in the world would ever change their parents’ dislike and anger?”—Alice Miller, Out of the Prison of Self-Blame¹

The message violence sends is that we may use violence ourselves as a means to ‘correct’ others who don’t do what we want.² Not without reason, from an early age, beaten children pass on the violence they experience to their own brothers and sisters.³ Hitting hurts, but later in life, the effects of emotional and verbal violence cause greatest psychological problems.

The societal effects of violence against children are difficult to oversee. Childhood beatings increase the chance of mental disorders in adulthood.⁴ Corporal punishment destroys a child’s self-confidence: their whole lives long, they’ll make fewer friends and have fewer relationships.⁵ In adulthood, they’ll develop “a higher chance of depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, [and] various personality disorders.”⁶