Roel of Violence in Flatland
Some people turn to violence when something does not go
their way, or someone says something they do not agree with. It
does not take brains to solve a problem with your fists; it just makes
people look immature, and uneducated. Fighting and violence is
more prevalent at Bloomsburg than in many of the students home
towns. It seems that people are to busy or to drunk to just sit down
and talk things out like reasonable people.
Violence plays a major roll in the novel Flatland.
It seems like someone is always disagreeing with someone, and creating a
conflict, as when the square resorts to violence by sending his
hardest right angle into a violent collision with the stranger, only
because the square would not let himself be convinced of the
mysteries of Spaceland, or if an infant whose angle deviates by half a
degree from the correct angularity is summarily destroyed at birth.
If we destroyed all the mentally retarded people at birth because
they have flaws, and are not like everybody else, or if everyone
attacked people just because of something they said that we did not
believe--if this happened all the time, we would completely destroy
the world.
The college scene is really horrible when it comes to violence.
Members of fraternities and sororities are terrible at staying calm,
and controlling their temper, because of alcohol, and other drugs.
When a person drinks he becomes this monster of violence, a
fighting machine. People lose all senses of right and wrong when
they have the beer muscles on. A slight bump of the arm at a party
can trip the switch of a drunk, violent person. Even the weakest
person can experience this amazing feeling of power if she drinks
excessive amounts of alcohol. In small towns about the only
violence there is to see is in the bars, and taverns. Usually it is the
uneducated, lower-class people just blowing off a little steam. Life
in a small town is for the most part simple. People get up in the
morning go to work every day, and then come home to the same
people and have dinner. Most people in a small town know each
other fairly well, and sometimes even call each other by their first
name, but the one thing that is nice about a small town is that most
of the time people can solve their problems with words rather than
violent actions. Do not get me wrong, every body sometimes has
the urge to just flatten somebody else.
One of my best friends from home was up here at Bloomsburg
University for a weekend visit. We made plans to out to a fraternity
party with a couple of my newly made friends. The party itself was
fine, but on our walk back to my dorm room my friend was jumped
by three frat brothers that belonged to the fraternity that we had
just left, for no reason at all. These guys did not just punch him a
few times, they literally used his face for a punching bag, and their
was nothing I could do to stop it. This brutal beating probably
would not have taking place if alcohol was not involved. Without
the alcohol these guys probably would not have been so angry, and
bored enough to just beat up on some innocent bystander.
Everywhere college students are being lectured by highly
qualified people, in college orientations, and in classes such as
Psychology, and child development. Students are given handouts of
all kinds, an the only thing these handouts are good for is kindling
for a campfire. College students need to be shown something tragic,
something that will stick in their minds for the rest of their lives.
Rape is on the uphill on college campuses. It is a proven fact
that when a guy gets a couple drinks in him he begins to bet rather
friendly with the female race. This is also true for females, when
they become intoxicated they like to dance, and even flirt around a
little. This is not a bad thing as long as both people understand the
limitations, but as soon as one person disagrees with the other, this
is when the violence begins. Males all of a sudden forget what the
word no means, and end up in court because he just could not stop
himself, and a female is practically helpless in this situation. This is
the kind of situation that should be shown at orientation, not just a
handout of five or six pages on why alcohol, and drugs are bad for
you.
It seems to be the cool thing to do when college students get
drunk to drive around and have a good time, but after all the fun is
over someone usually ends up in the emergency room. It happens
all to many times in college, one gets to graduate, and tell the story
to the new freshman class on how his best friend went out and got
drunk, and tried to drive a car. The one who graduates also gets to
live with the painful memory of helping kill his best friend
It is a proven fact that on a college campus individuals are
going to consume alcohol responsibly, and irresponsibly. Those
people who do it irresponsibly are the people we need to watch for;
they are the people who will pick fights, or cause trouble. These
people live by the same rules as the square in Flatland did. They are
stubborn, and self centered, and nobody is going to change their
minds.
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