Annually, more than 1,500,000 people are killed around the world from suicide, homicide or war. Most assume this is a natural part of the human condition – that humans are essentially hardwired to kill one another and that nothing can be done about it. And most people believe history seems to bear this out.
 

Why do we accept killing as “normal?”

Recent research, however, indicates that more than 99 percent of people have never killed another human being. Likewise, both historically and currently, many communities around the globe rarely if ever experience homicide. We are not hardwired to kill (as also evidenced by the negative impacts on those who do kill, even if considered justified). Why then do we accept killing as “normal?” And why do most people tend to think there is nothing we can do? Largely, because people in most cultures around the world are taught or “socialized” to think this way.

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The Center for Global Nonkilling is working to change this, and we need your help. We are working on a new frontier, with many other like-minded organizations, including groups some might find surprising, such as police and military forces. The Center is working to change the perception that killing other human beings is normal and something we just need to accept. Killing can be prevented and we believe eventually eradicated.

Make a difference this year when purchasing games or movies and ask yourself, Am I teaching a child to kill?

In particular, the Center is exploring ways to counter the prevailing assumptions and socialization associated with killing. For example, one of the ways young people are desensitized to killing is dehumanization of the “other.” This dehumanization is reinforced in many ways, not the least of which is the excessive violence portrayed in television and video games. Leaders we have talked with in Africa firmly believe their young people are being negatively impacted by the onslaught of violent television, movies and video games.