Abuse
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:33 am
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =101937985
What causes it? Have we always been this way? Is it, in fact, "normal" to be abusive? How can we change it? Why do some people seem to lack empathy?
I like to think that it is abnormal to want to abuse people. I like to think that most people would not participate in something like this. That "human cockfighting" using mentally retarded patients in institutions is something only done by sociopaths who lack human empathy and emotion. But, the abuse seems prevalent. Whether it is institutional systematic abuse of those with special needs and the elderly in facilities, or it is domestic abuse between husband and wife, it is incredibly pervasive.Researcher Dick Sobsey, who studies violence against people with disabilities at the University of Alberta in Canadia, agrees. "There's really sometimes peer pressure for people to engage in abuse," says Sobsey. Although many good, caring people come to work at institutions, he says some cruel ones come, too. And they can sort of infect other workers.
"Where some employees are abusive and others are not, the ones who are not abusive, there's always a danger that they're going to report the ones who are. If everybody's abusive, then everybody's hands are dirty, and so they're safe with each other," Sobsey says.
What causes it? Have we always been this way? Is it, in fact, "normal" to be abusive? How can we change it? Why do some people seem to lack empathy?