What is On Violence?
On Violence analyzes the political, ethical and cultural effects of counter-insurgency warfare, military and foreign affairs, and, of course, violence. It is written by two brothers--one a soldier and the other a pacifist. We publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with an occasional extra post every now and then. Please check our sidebar to find out when we are publishing next, or to subscribe to our RSS feed, facebook page, or twitter profile.
On Violence is an Amazon affiliate. If you click through and buy a book from our site, we’ll earn a dollar or so in commission. We appreciate your support.
We want to thank everyone who has read our posts, and especially those of you who have tweeted, shared, linked to, or commented on them. Special thanks goes out to long time readers Matty P, Chris C and Will, who have been commenting, reading, and giving us feedback since the beginning. Also, especially big thanks go to our web designer Jeff, whose design work has been invaluable.
Also, thanks to all of the blogs that have blog-rolled us, or linked back to us.
Who We Are
On Violence is written and edited by both Michael Cummings and Eric Cummings. We co-write every article and have decided not to differentiate authorship. Every other Thursday, On Violence hosts a guest post by Matty P. To contact us, or guest post, click here.
Michael Cummings graduated in 2006 with degrees in History and Political Science from UCLA. He joined the ROTC program and commissioned as an Officer in the U.S. Army. He has attended the Military Intelligence Captain's Career Course, Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course, U.S. Army Ranger School and U.S. Army Airborne School.
In 2007, he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom VIII with the 173rd ABCT as a Heavy Weapons Platoon Leader. During his service, he has earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Bronze Star Medal. After his Platoon Leader time, he worked as the Battalion Adjutant. He currently works in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Michael's work has appeared on Thomas Rick's The Best Defense Blog, The Atlantic/Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish, Problogger, and Milblogging.com.
The views expressed on this website are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government.
To contact Michael, please click here.
Eric Cummings graduated from UCSB in 2006, where he majored in English.
During college, Eric was the secretary of the Isla Vista Surfrider chapter and led the successful campaign to save “Claire’s Park” a local bluff top open space set for development. His senior year he co-chaired the campus Environmental Affairs Board, and co-led an effort to create The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF), a student wide green fund that has now been replicated on 5 other campuses across the country.
Since graduation Eric has travelled around the world, worked as a reporter for a local paper, and delayed applying for grad school. He currently lives in Orange County, writes, and contributes to www.onviolence.com.
His work has appeared in The SC Times and The DP Times; and on Write To Done, Daily Blog Tips and Daily Writing Tips, Fuel Your Writing, Blogussion and more.
To contact Eric, please click here.
Matty P graduated from UCSB in 2006 with a degree in biological sciences.
Since then, he has worked as a part time youth pastor and a full time EMT. The son and the brother of soldiers, Matty has been inundated by what it means to be a part of a military family. Working with the not-for-profit organization Refugee Relief International, he has also seen first hand the result of war and attempted genocide.
A Brief History
This website began when, as an ROTC cadet at UCLA, I tried to write about Violence. Starting with a definition from Webster’s Dictionary, I was only able to express a vague feeling that we -- society -- needed to stop violence. Initially, I stopped there.
After a failed mission during training, my urge to explain violence returned. I played the OPFOR (military jargon for Opposition Force, re the bad guy) and took on the role of an Iraqi civilian/insurgent, depending on how the US Army played its role. First the Army approached the door, pounded on it and bellowed, “Open the fucking door.” With such an opening they preceded to zip tie everyone inside and search the house. One of our members ran out of the house and, though he was not running at Americans, was killed in a hail of imaginary gunfire. I asked myself, “Is this how we fight our wars?”
This simple question led to an internal search and probing about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the larger Global War on Terror. What are we trying to accomplish? Politically? Socially? What do Iraqis think? What do they feel? I started asking these questions, probing in small parts, collecting my thoughts and journaling my experiences. As I continued through graduation and commissioning, and Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course (IBOLC), the frequency of my questions only increased.
Then I deployed to Afghanistan and I saw violence and its effects first hand. I saw the economic degradation of a society and the effects of fear and hatred. After deployment, fed up with much of the Army and its management style -- probably the only thing more maddening then war is Army bureaucracy -- I decided to create this website.
On May 6, 2009, we launched onviolence.com.
Our Purpose
When I was growing up, I was taught that the U.S. Army fights only moral wars. I cannot say whether I still believe that. I want to believe that when our Army fights a war it obeys the rules of Just War theory. I want to say that. Unfortunately, the complex requirements of Just War, including discrimination, proportionality and avoiding the deaths of civilians and noncombatants are easily forgotten in the modern counterinsurgency battlefield.
I want to believe that the Army cares more about saving lives -- both our own soldiers and the civilians in countries where we fight -- but the only way I can be sure is to study it and share my experiences.
What I want to do with this website is save lives. It sounds pretentious, but I want our Army to return to that simple vision I had of it as a child. If our Army is so bloated and bureaucratic it can’t function, this needs to be addressed. If our strategies in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots actually weaken America, and hurt innocents, this needs to be addressed. On a real, direct level, I want to throw my voice out there to make the US military better. I want to help America fight wars more effectively, and hopefully, morally.
Our Approach
While primarily a website and blog focused on foreign affairs and military culture, with a focus on the Global War on Terror (GWOT), these are only the most obvious incidences of violence in our world today. We want to cure the sickness not the symptom and so we cover all violence.
To understand it, we will use non-fiction, journalism, statistics, and history. We will blog on all the topics of academic knowledge including philosophy, economics, history, sociology, psychology and science. More radically, though, we will use fiction, personal experience and art to try and tease out the larger truths about violence.
That is the what of our approach. This is the why: Violence is such a commonality of life that a mundane approach will not work. Only an approach that uses every tool will lead to a greater understanding.