In the last 3500 years there have been only 230 years of peace throughout the civilized world.
Think about it.
How many days of peace in a year did you have in your family, among your relatives? In your community? In your school? In your town?
What's wrong with us?
What's working?
Did you know that in 1989 Japan experienced 1.3 robberies and 1.1 murders per 100,000 population?
In 2018, the murder cases dropped to 0.3, which leaves the police plenty of time to deal with minor offenses like groping (which isn't as minor as it looks, but I would leave this to another debate).
In his autobiography Undesirables, British criminal Colin Blaney said that English thieves have hit Japan because Japanese people are unprepared for crimes.
The coordination between the police and volunteers have helped prevent crimes.
The use of cameras is also an important factor.
Suicides are also declining.
So why is Japan so peaceful?
- being peaceful and non-violent has become a question of honor, especially after the sufferings caused by the atomic bombs during WWII
- commiting a crime brings years of unbearable shame and disgrace to the family
- As a result, citizens police themselves
- social comformity is stressed and highly praised (you are employed for life. There are no graffiti or litter.)
- kids are taught social values in a better way than elsewhere
- Japan get rid of guns. Buying a gun undergoes background checks and safety classes.
- Japan has a low rate of drug abuse, poverty, and unemployment.
- Japan treats suspects as guilty until proven innocent and emphasizes repentance along with punishment.
The dark side of this is that people who are different do not fit the society and live in isolation because they don't feel accepted. (What's new?)
People who make mistakes or commit crimes are meant to feel so ashamed, they may be driven to take their life.
Individualism does not exist. The strict militaristic culture might feel stiffling for some.
But Japan is a society you are free to leave.
Which makes me conclude that peace can only be obtained through a comformist society that does not allow individualism. But this has been attempted several times in history with disastrous results. Some peace spokespersons nowadays believe this is the only way.
At the same time, I wonder if teaching compassion instead of comformism could actually work much better. Ghandhi tried that and it didn't end well because he tried to separate people and isoloate them.
But could there be another model that works better? A model that combine what works with more freedom?
Ghandhi ended up dividing people in respect to their beliefs.
Could another model of compassion avoid doing this?
Could we live in a melting pot or in a soceity that is not mono-cultural as in Japan, but multi-cultural and actually reduce disputes and crimes by using compassion?
At least, that's what Islam teaches.
- We try to find a million of excuses to other people's actions
- We take what is good from others and reject what is bad without (in theory) judging. Muslims have been able to live all over the world and mix with other cultures and religions peacefully.
- We are tolerant (our Prophet and model didn't harm a Bedouin when he urinated in his mosque, which tells a lot about how we should behave)
- The best Muslim is the one who is kind to others, whose words and actions do not hurt others
- A Muslim have to make sure his or her neighbors are okay
- Muslims help travelers and the poor
Compassion is only good when everybody acts compassionate and caring.
We often end up hurting people's feelings because they are not open to our arguments, and they have already prejudged us before we speak.
If the other people are not acting compassionate, then we are facing a wall and only hurt ourselves.
Ceating a society of compassion can only help people fight less and reduce crimes.
If compassion is taught as a strength and not as a weakness, then we could reduce bullying and wars. Sure, we cannot fix someone who is being abused. Compassion is not enough, but caring can help. We can direct them toward people who can help them. And sometimes compassion therapy is more effective than medication.
Behavioral therapists are there to talk and care about people who have problems.
I think the Japanese example is great and some of their policies make great sense.
It's not an ideal society. They do have their own problems.
Still, the results are here.
They managed to cull the majority of crimes.
We sure can admire their efforts and think about the way we teach our children and the way we react to others.
Another thing we can learn from Japanese is that if we view our actions as contributing to the greater good of the society, we can change things.
Individualism is just creating dysfunctional societies all over the world.
- it creates less opportunities for those in poverty because few people care about them
- it creates less jobs because everyone tries to fend for himself. Job security leads to less crimes.
- it makes people feel less secure and push them to buy weapons which are readily available
- less caring for others and their basic needs (shelter, food, safety, health. Islam emphasizes the need to get all these basic needs met and that's why we pay the Zakat or obligatory yearly tax we give to the poor)
- less caring for the future of the society
"The shift from a classless socialist society (communalism) to a competitive free market economy (individualism) comparable to what is seen in America today, has indirectly driven crime rates substantially higher: homicides have increased by 71%, assaults by 171%, robbery by 353%, larceny by 72%, theft by 237%, fraud by 239%, and counterfeiting by 947%." [see Cultural Influence on Crime]
So, yes, care more for your city, community, environment.
References:
Schwartz, Sandi. "How a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist CanHelp Kids Manage Anxiety." http://happysciencemom.com/cbt-for-anxiety/
"Cultural influence on Crime." http://www.psychology-criminalbehavior-law.com/2017/02/cultural-influence-on-crime/