Violence

[You]

What have/would you fight for? When is it time to go to war?

 

[Not_Me]

1. This n that.
2. 1:30 pm.

 

[Jaguar]

A good pizza.

 

[Bamboo]

Well, once upon a time I was walking out of a gathering of esteemed individuals and as I was about to open the gate from the back yard to the front yard, I heard a sloshing sound and something hit my back. I turned around and discovered a red plastic cup on the ground, I smelt the hoppy aroma of a well-crafted beer, and I eyed a fine gentleman standing some distance away looking at me menacingly.

To this assault, I could only find one word.

"Really?" I inquired, not quite so chipper.

From there the gentleman inquired what I was saying to his "[fine lady]".

I informed him that no such meeting of minds or words had occurred, and at this point the gentlemen made a quick repetitive motion - a hand gesture, quite like one would make with a ice pick - and informed me that I should "[vacate the premises or he would place a dagger in my thorax]".

I found this quite disagreeable and I went on my way - the same way I would have gone if I had not been interrupted just a few moments prior - and sat in my car for a moment as he then came around to the front yard of the house and threw what appeared to be a large amount of detritus (with much gusto, fervor, and noise) onto the neighborhood cars and properties.


I can tell you that I had little to win there, except some small bit of pride, which in the face of some foolish confrontation that would have ended in one or both of us with grievous injury, is a small enough loss that I find it acceptable, except in my most unreasonable hours.

But I'll pose the answer: Pride.

 

[Qlip]

Texas succeeding. Either side.

 

[Mole]

What have/would you fight for? When is it time to go to war?

I practise liberal democracy within my country and that precludes violence. And although I believe all war is evil, I know, sometimes, it is necessary to choose the lessor two evils.

However it is good to know that the number of wars is going down, and has been for a while. However we can now see that wars are more likely to be fought within nations than between nations.

And it seems literate, democratic nations are less likey to war than illiterate dictatorships. However in the global village of electronic tribalism, it seems war between illiterate tribes is likely to increase.

How lucky we capitalised on the printing press of 1440 with universal literacy. And how unlucky are those illiterate tribal societies being driven to a frenzy by electronic tribalism on top of their illiterate tribalism.

 

[Rasofy]

Never go to war. Especially with yourself.

 

[FDG]

if my country was invaded, probably.

 

[Helios]

if my country was invaded, probably.

An Italian who wouldn't surrender immediately? A rare find indeed.

 

[FDG]

An Italian who wouldn't surrender immediately? A rare find indeed.

We fought a lot against the Nazi invaders during WWII, tbh. It just depends who's coming. Yeah, we're not an aggressive population, but we do have our pet pevees.

 

[Helios]

We fought a lot against the Nazi invaders during WWII, tbh. It just depends who's coming. Yeah, we're not an aggressive population, but we do have our pet pevees.

Italy was an Axis state until it became inexpedient to continue being so.

 

[FDG]

Italy was an Axis state until it became inexpedient to continue being so.

Yeah, that's what the government did. The government isn't necessarily aligned with the population, in a dictatorship. I'd say even now, an extremely large part of the population is not aligned with Berlusconi.

This is what I'm talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_resistance_movement

 

[Octarine]

What have/would you fight for? When is it time to go to war?

Over history, I see two main reasons.

(A) when your are paid/forced to go.
(B) when it comes to your doorstep.

Unless you are a soldier, people feel that war is something that should only happen to other people.

 

[Savage Idealist]

What have/would you fight for?

Whatever I want; depending on who, what, when, where, and why, I may engage in an act of violence if I wish, or possibly need to.

When is it time to go to war?

When the time is right.

 

[Mole]

Body Count

we're not an aggressive population

C'mon, just recently we killed 3.1 miillion Vietnamese on the other side of the world - 2.1 million combants and 1 million civilians.

Such a large body count can only be called industrial killing. And we now know this particular industrial killing was planned in advance with a lie as causam belli.

 

[FDG]

C'mon, just recently we killed 3.1 miillion Vietnamese on the other side of the world - 2.1 million combants and 1 million civilians.

Such a large body count can only be called industrial killing. And we now know this particular industrial killing was planned in advance with a lie as causam belli.

Victor...I'm not american

 

[Lark]

Well, once upon a time I was walking out of a gathering of esteemed individuals and as I was about to open the gate from the back yard to the front yard, I heard a sloshing sound and something hit my back. I turned around and discovered a red plastic cup on the ground, I smelt the hoppy aroma of a well-crafted beer, and I eyed a fine gentleman standing some distance away looking at me menacingly.

To this assault, I could only find one word.

"Really?" I inquired, not quite so chipper.

From there the gentleman inquired what I was saying to his "[fine lady]".

I informed him that no such meeting of minds or words had occurred, and at this point the gentlemen made a quick repetitive motion - a hand gesture, quite like one would make with a ice pick - and informed me that I should "[vacate the premises or he would place a dagger in my thorax]".

I found this quite disagreeable and I went on my way - the same way I would have gone if I had not been interrupted just a few moments prior - and sat in my car for a moment as he then came around to the front yard of the house and threw what appeared to be a large amount of detritus (with much gusto, fervor, and noise) onto the neighborhood cars and properties.


I can tell you that I had little to win there, except some small bit of pride, which in the face of some foolish confrontation that would have ended in one or both of us with grievous injury, is a small enough loss that I find it acceptable, except in my most unreasonable hours.

But I'll pose the answer: Pride.

I very much like the manner in which this is written. Sometimes I try and make my internal dialogue reflect this kind of thing.

If more people did think like this I think the world would be a better place.

 

[Lark]

I can think of lots of reasons to fight, I dont think that may necessarily mean violence on all occasions, it could just mean stratagem. I've made a study of violence and deal with the management of challenging behaviour in my line of work, trying to prevent it happening, trying to de-escalate it when it does, trying to make its reoccurence less likely.

I'm not sure that a lot of people are prepared to contemplate the reality of violence, aggression and threat in life. I think the majority of people prefer to ignore it or deny it or simply not think about it. Its the opposite of the other extreme where people make it their entire reason for being and their entire focus.

I've read good sociological and psychological studies which indicate that violence is a minority pursuit, most people when they become violent are engaged in a sort of "forward panic" flailing, wanting to end something, aggression, threat, whatever. Its the same way in which flight, if it is the choice people make is often disorganised, they'll dash, even into something, not even taking account of the best or safest means of escape or exit. Whether its a person or a fire or something else its the same.