Stop Calling Protestors "Violent”

The words we use matter. As a researcher who has studied aggression and violence for the past 30 years, one pet peeve I have is that people often misuse the words “aggression” and “violence,” even though researchers largely agree what these words mean.

Defining Aggression and Violence

What is aggression? In everyday conversation, some people may describe a pushy salesperson who tries really hard to sell merchandise as “aggressive.” The salesperson does not, however, want to harm potential customers. Most researchers use the following definition of aggression: “Aggression is any form of behavior directed toward the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment” (Baron & Richardson, 1994, p. 7).[1]

This definition includes four important features. First, aggression is a behavior—you can see it. Aggression is not an emotion, such as anger. Aggression is not a thought, such as mentally rehearsing a murder. Aggression is not a physiological response, such as increased blood pressure or heart rate. Second, aggression is intentional (not accidental), and the intent is to cause harm. For example, a dentist might intentionally give a patient a shot of anesthetic to numb the pain before filling a cavity (and the shot hurts!), but the goal is to help rather than hurt the patient. Note that behaviors that are intended to harm others are still acts of aggression even if they don’t actually harm them. For example, if a person shoots a gun at you but misses, it is still an act of aggression. Third, the victim wants to avoid the harm. Thus, again, the dental patient is excluded because they are not seeking to avoid the harm (in fact, the patient probably booked the appointment weeks in advance and paid to have the dental work done). Suicide and sadomasochistic sex play are also not included because again the victim actively seeks to be harmed. Fourth, aggression involves at least two people—the perpetrator and the victim. Thus, suicide is once again excluded because it involves only one person. However, if a person threatens to commit suicide to harm someone else (rather than the self), it would be classified as aggressive behavior.

Aggression can also apply to animals other than humans, Animals are living beings, and they do not want to be harmed or injured.

Researchers also use the term violent in a more precise way than the general public. A meteorologist might call a storm “violent” if it has intense winds, rain, thunder, lightning, or hail. Most researchers define violence as aggression that has as its goal extreme physical harm, such as injury or death.[2] Thus, all violent acts are aggressive acts, but not all aggressive acts are violent—only the ones designed to cause extreme physical harm are violent.

Not all crimes are violent. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies four crimes as “violent crimes against people”—homicide, aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery. According to the FBI, nonviolent crimes are against property (not people), and include burglary, larceny (theft), motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Researchers would also classify other physically aggressive acts as violent even if they do not meet the FBI definition of a violent crime, such as getting in a fistfight with someone. But a person who screams and swears at someone would not be committing an act of violence by this definition.

Acts of violence can be committed by individuals or by groups. But the target is always a living being, not an inanimate object.

Are Protestors Behaving Violently?

A few protestors destroy property, take things from stores, etc. as a form of protest out of anger, not out of greed. Are these protestors committing acts of violence? No, they are not, at least according to the definition of violence used by researchers. They also are not committing acts of violence according to the definitions used by the FBI. I wish people, including news reporters, would stop calling their actions “violent.” Their actions should be called something more precise, such as “vandalizing” for deliberately destroying property or "stealing" for taking things from stores.

The main problem with calling any of these actions “violent” is that it puts them on equal footing with real violent acts such as assaults and murders. Importantly, the protestors, most of whom are peaceful, are protesting against acts that meet the definition for violence (aka police killing black people and police brutality as a whole). In other words, not only are the protestors not committing acts of violence, but they are protesting against acts of violence.

Sadly, many protestors are confronted by police officers who commit acts of violence against them (e.g., use of physical force, clubs, rubber bullets, tear gas, mace).[3] Many police officers wear riot and military gear too, so they are far more protected than the protestors are.

In summary, the words we use matter. Please use words that accurately describe the actions in question. Most often it is police officers rather than protestors who are committing violent acts.