AthenaAwakened
Contributor
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2003
- Messages
- 5,338
- Location
- Right behind you so ... BOO!
- Basic Beliefs
- non-theist, anarcho-socialist
I remember watching the evening news with my Pop and seeing a story about a boy being shot to death because he stepped on another boy's sneakers. When the commercial came on, my father asked a rather profound question. "Whatever happened to a fist fight?"
I have been thinking about that question quite a bit of late. People today are so easily angered, so demanding of swift justice and blood atonement. A jackass says an asinine thing and he must be fired and never allowed to work again. A comic makes an offensive joke and must be banned from college campuses for life. A candidate for public office takes a stand you don't like? Gather a group of friends together, arm yourselves to the teeth and walk around outside that candidate's political rally. Think immigration is problem? Build a wall and ban Muslims.
Whatever happened to a fist fight?
Across time and distance, there have always been confrontations that went too far, excited people who wanted too much. But usually the greater society did not make such behavior a norm. That may not be true today.
Everything from Trump rallies that call for the assassination of Hillary Clinton to campus protests over what is and is not authentic Vietnamese cuisine, all point to a loss of both civility and perspective and a total lack of knowledge about how to disagree. Every confrontation jumps from "I feel hurt" to "You must DIE!"
Whatever happened to a fist fight?
Don't get me wrong. I am not advocating beating the shit out of each other, but is does appear to me that there is some wiggle room between butt-hurt and homicide.
I have been thinking about that question quite a bit of late. People today are so easily angered, so demanding of swift justice and blood atonement. A jackass says an asinine thing and he must be fired and never allowed to work again. A comic makes an offensive joke and must be banned from college campuses for life. A candidate for public office takes a stand you don't like? Gather a group of friends together, arm yourselves to the teeth and walk around outside that candidate's political rally. Think immigration is problem? Build a wall and ban Muslims.
Whatever happened to a fist fight?
Across time and distance, there have always been confrontations that went too far, excited people who wanted too much. But usually the greater society did not make such behavior a norm. That may not be true today.
Everything from Trump rallies that call for the assassination of Hillary Clinton to campus protests over what is and is not authentic Vietnamese cuisine, all point to a loss of both civility and perspective and a total lack of knowledge about how to disagree. Every confrontation jumps from "I feel hurt" to "You must DIE!"
Whatever happened to a fist fight?
Don't get me wrong. I am not advocating beating the shit out of each other, but is does appear to me that there is some wiggle room between butt-hurt and homicide.