Conflict is a complex matter that we encounter almost every day of our lives, whether within ourselves, with others or witnessing in the media. The causes of these clashes are often hard to pinpoint as they can develop over long or short periods of time and can involve many differing opinions. Fear is definitely a major instigator of conflict, whether the initial cause of the disagreement or developed throughout other aspects. However, we see how religious views and political differences time and time again cause conflict around us, but is fear involved here as well?
Fear can be of many forms – inner fear, fear of a person and fear of a group – and is a belief one has that something is dangerous or a threat. This dread can sometimes be heavily hidden by individuals who refuse to or cannot bear to deal with the fear and apprehension they feel, which may often lead to the person voicing their frustration towards others and retaliating to simple things that push them over the edge. Unfortunately most of us have witnessed school children dealing with family problems at home and refusing to express their issues to people who want to help, yet they continuously choose to rebel and test boundaries. Their fear of being vulnerable and letting their guard down causes them to believe they cannot show weakness and try to prove themselves by fighting back at others, misbehaving and prompting conflict. In other cases we observe those individuals who struggle to deal with their fear of others around them, whether a group or singular person. Bullying is a phenomenon that is continually increasing and can result in inner fear, low self-esteem and confidence, and in worst cases suicide. The feeling of being afraid of someone is a challenge too many people have to deal with on a day to day basis and the opinionated individuals that confront these victims cause extreme self issues. The constant reminder of being fat, or being smart builds up within a person and in the case of 15 year old Australian Casey Heynes, we saw that his fear of being bullied took in the form of violence as he retaliated and body slammed his abuser into the ground. In this situation fear initiated Casey’s physical reaction and sparked overwhelming conflict around the nation as there were mixed feelings about whether Casey be praised or condemned for his actions.
However, there are other elements that continuously cause and create conflict within society that can result in equal if not larger scale controversy. Differing political views on issues constantly trigger arguments that spread throughout the media, Australia and the world. Liberal and Labour opinions on health concerns, economic factors, and environmental problems and so on frequently cause conflict as they almost always oppose one another’s decisions. Although predominantly opinion based this clash may also rise from fear as the parties fear failure, or one group fears the other, proving that again fear is an important factor contributing to conflict.
Similarly, the endless amounts of religious views of different cultures continuously instigate disagreements as people are brought up to believe one thing, but when others are taught different they are thought to be wrong. Regrettably I’m sure we have all taken part in racist behaviours toward other cultures and religions of which we have little knowledge of. The perception we have that there is only one way of belief and that ours is right generates discrepancies that can prolong for years. Conversely, fear is an aspect of this type of confrontation as we can fear listening to others’ traditions and dread stepping out of what we have always known.
The strict religious ways in The Crucible lead the people of Salem to fear the Devil, and their strong beliefs cause them to be afraid of anything associated with this spirit. When