What has weather got to do with violence?
We in Sri Lanka have a culture which we cannot change irrespective of the weather. It was fascinating to see the mobs outside the Magistrate’s Courthouse in Colombo when Namal Rajapaksa was released from prison.
by Victor Cherubim
( July 21, 2016, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Many of you would have read that we have a heat wave in Britain over the past two days with temperatures soaring as high as Sri Lanka, in the 30 degrees centigrade.
The way we put up with it is different to Sri Lanka. To us variation in temperature is tolerable if it is cold weather, but for some unknown reason, a spike of temperature causing “heat and humidity” even for a Sri Lankan living in London, to say the least, is unbearable. The way we adjust to high temperatures is also rather different. We run to the coast, to the beaches surrounding England with our bikini’s and sun creams.
The twists and turns in the summer
How many of you know that it is mostly in the summer that Judges before they go on the midsummer recess come up with the most so-called “hideous” judgments. Today, we are told, the Supreme Court of England & Wales made an overriding decision in regard to a fraudulent insurance claim. According to Common Law, when a claim has been fabricated or dishonestly exaggerated or embellished, or in layman language, “lied upon,” there is valid reason to dismiss the claim. But in Versloot Dredging BV v HDI Gerlung Industrie Versicherung AG, the Supreme Court held if a valid claim is honest and a lie in respect of any part of it, is dishonest, the claim stands and cannot be rejected.
In another instance, summertime is the ideal time to take twists and turns of not only the road (Kaduganawa), but also of difficult decisions. Britain today announced she will relinquish its Presidency of the European Council, which she would have occupied in rotation after the Slovak Presidency in January 2017, taken in turns by the 27 Members of the European Union every six months. What is seen is that Britain means business.
We also note that it is in the summer of the Northern Hemisphere, whether we live in England or in Sri Lanka, that we read about the escalation of acts of violence against humanity. I need hardly mention that in the month of July in particular, man gets vile and appears to lose control of his senses and has the tendency to vandalise, violate become vicious in more ways than one. We have seen the July riots in Sri Lanka in 1983, the recurring violence around Europe this summer.
The link between crime and warming climate
A pattern has become evident around the Northern Hemisphere and experts (Scientists) have stated that violent behaviour is regarded as climate related. The rise in the numbers of murders and assaults, violence, even coups, are seen as we research historic data as well as contemporary statistics.
The findings of Professor Paul Van Lange of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam does state that heat does contribute to more aggressive and violent behaviour.
How to self-control?
As the weather in Britain is continually changing and the days of scorching heat will be automatically followed by thunderstorms and heavy downpours soon as predicted, people in Britain are more tolerant.
It is not just the heat but how much there is variation in the weather, that changes people’s behaviour.
We all know that heat makes people feel uncomfortable and irritated which makes them more aggressive. But, why don’t government’s plan for tacking aggressive behaviour a
t the height of the hot weather? Why are there no contingency plans to tackle heat wave induced crime?
Mood swings are well known. They affect people in different ways. “How people approach life is a part of culture and culture is strangely affected by climate.”
“Namal’s release from his high mattress in Welikada”
We in Sri Lanka have a culture which we cannot change irrespective of the weather. It was fascinating to see the mobs outside the Magistrate’s Courthouse in Colombo when Namal Rajapaksa was released from prison. Someone said that the thousands, who thronged in and out of the Court, were all “bussed in.” It appeared otherwise, as there was no violence. Was it planned by the Police authorities to keep a low profile, to allow the crowds to have their own “tamasha.” Who knows?
