The other day I found myself watching yet another one of those “can easily do without” videos that the internet insists on feeding us.

You know the sort.

Two unathletic looking grown dudes standing in a street shouting at each other.

A crowd forms.

Phones come out.

Somebody yells something completely unintelligible.

And thirty seconds later both mugs are rolling around on the pavement throwing punches with all the grace and technique of two washing machines falling down a staircase in unison.

It got me thinking.

Violence is one of the oldest things humans do.

Long before we had governments, laws, courts, social media battles, or forum moderators, people settled disagreements by hitting each other with whatever sharp or blunt object that happened to be within arms reach.

So part of me wonders whether violence is still some necessary primitive instinct tied to survival, competition, and human nature.

Then I watch one of these videos and immediately start doubting the theory.

Because when you look at most modern street fights, there does not seem to be much survival involved.

Nobody is fighting for food.

Nobody is defending the women in the village from invading tribes.

Nobody is battling King Kong.

It is usually two blokes arguing over something so monumentally moronic that neither of them will even remember what started it three weeks later.

The strange thing is that I never look at these videos and think, “Yeah, I hope my guy wins.”

I look at both of them and think, “I would not want to be either of those pathetic muppets.”

Whether you are the one getting punched or the one doing the punching, there is something deeply undignified about ending up flat on your back in a filthy car park while strangers film you for the entertainment of people they have never met.

Perhaps violence still has a place in very specific situations.

Self defence, protecting others, genuine threats.

Fair enough.

But a surprising amount of what passes for violence these days seems less like survival of the fittest and more like survival of the numptiest.

Maybe I am missing something.

I just struggle to understand what part of the human brain looks at a crowded street, a hundred smartphone cameras, and a potential criminal charge and concludes that this is the perfect time to start windmilling punches at some other random bloke.

Says Alpha! Tell us about yourself.

19 minutes ago, Alpha84 said:

Two unathletic looking grown dudes standing in a street shouting at each other.

Is Violence Really Still Necessary?

You'll find these type of people are unintelligent, low IQ, most had poor parenting.

I'm a believer of corporal punishment at schools. If I wasn't introduced to the cane at school I'd be in prison today.

35 minutes ago, Alpha84 said:

And thirty seconds later both mugs are rolling around on the pavement throwing punches with all the grace and technique of two washing machines falling down a staircase in unison.

Nice analogy, though humans are still inherently predatory territorial creatures and nothing is ever going to change that no matter how much humans try to think their way out of it.

1 hour ago, Alpha84 said:

The other day I found myself watching yet another one of those “can easily do without” videos that the internet insists on feeding us.

The internet didn't force 'feed' you a video. You made a conscious decision to eat it. If it's not my idea of entertainment, I simply don't click on it. Everyone has that same choice.

1 hour ago, Alpha84 said:

I just struggle to understand what part of the human brain looks at a crowded street, a hundred smartphone cameras, and a potential criminal charge and concludes that this is the perfect time to start windmilling punches at some other random bloke.

I agree,

Best to use a gun!

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

You'll find these type of people are unintelligent, low IQ, most had poor parenting.

I'm a believer of corporal punishment at schools. If I wasn't introduced to the cane at school I'd be in prison today.

Spare the rod, spoil the child.

5 hours ago, Alpha84 said:

The other day I found myself watching yet another one of those “can easily do without” videos that the internet insists on feeding us.

You know the sort.

Two unathletic looking grown dudes standing in a street shouting at each other.

A crowd forms.

Phones come out.

Somebody yells something completely unintelligible.

And thirty seconds later both mugs are rolling around on the pavement throwing punches with all the grace and technique of two washing machines falling down a staircase in unison.

It got me thinking.

Violence is one of the oldest things humans do.

Long before we had governments, laws, courts, social media battles, or forum moderators, people settled disagreements by hitting each other with whatever sharp or blunt object that happened to be within arms reach.

So part of me wonders whether violence is still some necessary primitive instinct tied to survival, competition, and human nature.

Then I watch one of these videos and immediately start doubting the theory.

Because when you look at most modern street fights, there does not seem to be much survival involved.

Nobody is fighting for food.

Nobody is defending the women in the village from invading tribes.

Nobody is battling King Kong.

It is usually two blokes arguing over something so monumentally moronic that neither of them will even remember what started it three weeks later.

The strange thing is that I never look at these videos and think, “Yeah, I hope my guy wins.”

I look at both of them and think, “I would not want to be either of those pathetic muppets.”

Whether you are the one getting punched or the one doing the punching, there is something deeply undignified about ending up flat on your back in a filthy car park while strangers film you for the entertainment of people they have never met.

Perhaps violence still has a place in very specific situations.

Self defence, protecting others, genuine threats.

Fair enough.

But a surprising amount of what passes for violence these days seems less like survival of the fittest and more like survival of the numptiest.

Maybe I am missing something.

I just struggle to understand what part of the human brain looks at a crowded street, a hundred smartphone cameras, and a potential criminal charge and concludes that this is the perfect time to start windmilling punches at some other random bloke.

If it is in Pattaya then they are probably 2 sheets to the wind and anything would put them over the edge.

5 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

You'll find these type of people are unintelligent, low IQ, most had poor parenting.

I'm a believer of corporal punishment at schools. If I wasn't introduced to the cane at school I'd be in prison today.

Corporal punishment is considered a form of excessive punishment, violence and abuse.

Edited June 16Jun 16 by bkk6060

10 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Corporal punishment is considered a form of excessive punishment, violence and abuse.

Whatever........it taught me right from wrong

5 hours ago, Alpha84 said:

Maybe I am missing something.

a lot of people are miserable with their lives. and you annoying someone who is miserable could be the straw that broke the camel's back.

or sometimes it's just one person's ego clashing with another's. why should I let your ego get the other hand?

Edited June 16Jun 16 by save the frogs

6 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

a lot of people are miserable with their lives. and you annoying someone who is miserable could be the straw that broke the camel's back.

or sometimes it's just one person's ego clashing with another's. why should I let your ego get the other hand?

Yes so be polite to drivers in Thailand. They work hard for not much.

32 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Corporal punishment is considered a form of excessive punishment, violence and abuse.

Considered by who ? "experts" ?

When I come across (and actually watch) a YouTube video like that, I always read a few of the comments. Turns out that a lot of them are apparently actors, doing it for the clicks. And the comments are along the lines of, "You need to hire different actors next time, they've been in so many of your videos".

YouTube. Caveat Emptor.

Edit: I am sooo glad YouTube wasn't a thing back in the '70s. The thought of videos of any of my fights beatings going viral gives me the willies. And that's when I was in my prime.

Edited June 16Jun 16 by impulse

Aye, nothing like a good fatal beating now and then to instill that discipline into children. If my teachers and parents hadn't given me those beatings I wouldn't be half the man I am today.

Whatever........it taught me right from wrong

We each got to sign my Physics teacher /Football coach's swatter afterwards. He put some white coach tape on a yardstick and that's how he kept order in the classroom.

Strangely, parents were onboard back in the day. And kids could read and do math...

6 hours ago, Olmate said:

Says Alpha! Tell us about yourself.

I fail to understand. What do you mean with this comment? I mean, that he stands behind it, is quite obvious as he started the thread and you replied to the initial post. I am glad we have that out of the way now. That we have the very cryptic "Tell us about yourself". It´s here you lost me. He is just voicing an opinion about a subject that he finds strange. What in the world has that to do with things about the OP as a person?

Please develop this a bit more, because I am very curious. Believe me, I am trying hard to understand, but it just beats me. Please, Olmate.

Is Violence Really Still Necessary?

Maybe more than ever.
When law and the state resources are set against you it becomes the only option.

Boomers forget the violence their fathers and drandfathers had to do to secure their futures and provide easy times.
Easy times created weak men though.

Even asking the question is pretty gay to be honest.

Bloody hippies.
Soon all dead though.

Heartwarming:
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/2056419740952797199

Edited June 16Jun 16 by Tourist2

1 hour ago, Gottfrid said:

I fail to understand. What do you mean with this comment? I mean, that he stands behind it, is quite obvious as he started the thread and you replied to the initial post. I am glad we have that out of the way now. That we have the very cryptic "Tell us about yourself". It´s here you lost me. He is just voicing an opinion about a subject that he finds strange. What in the world has that to do with things about the OP as a person?

Please develop this a bit more, because I am very curious. Believe me, I am trying hard to understand, but it just beats me. Please, Olmate.

Alpha male Gotty, topic suits the

image of the name tag, don't you get that?

2 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

3 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Corporal punishment is considered a form of excessive punishment, violence and abuse.

Whatever........it taught me right from wrong

Solid parenting and decent education is also perfectly capable of the same thing.

25 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Solid parenting and decent education is also perfectly capable of the same thing.

I agree, getting a shoe thrown at me or a kick up the bum from my parents taught me right from wrong.

16 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

42 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Solid parenting and decent education is also perfectly capable of the same thing.

I agree, getting a shoe thrown at me or a kick up the bum from my parents taught me right from wrong.

Thats corporal punishment - again, not necessary with solid parenting and decent education.

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Thats corporal punishment - again, not necessary with solid parenting and decent education.

Yep, bring back corporal punishment.

We need to harden up the Jellyfish generation.

1 minute ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Yep, bring back corporal punishment.

We need to harden up the Jellyfish generation.

Sounds like you don't have children yourself and are judging the next generation through a narrow lens - seeing a few kids out and about, then projecting that onto millions of them.

Most of my friends have children ranging from about 6 to 20 yrs old. Different personalities? Of course.

A few minor discipline wobbles from time to time - sometimes. But not one of them is the "jellyfish" caricature you're describing. Parents set boundaries when necessary, which is usually all that's required.

The old fantasy that previous generations were held together by canings, beatings and kicks up the backside is largely nonsense romanticised by people looking back through rose-tinted spectacles.

As for this "Jellyfish Generation"...

Watch some of them on a rugby or football pitch getting absolutely flattened and getting straight back up and you might change your mind.

Watch them break a finger catching a cricket ball, tape it up and carry on and you might change your mind.

Watch them spend an hour or two every evening on homework after a full day at school and you might change your mind.

Watch them navigate technology, information and subjects at ages when many of us were still trying to work out how to programme the video recorder and you might change your mind.

Watch them sit through a twelve-hour flight without so much as a blink and you might change your mind.

Watch them sit in a restaurant, engaging well with their parents and trying different foods they've never experienced before and you might change your mind.

Watch most kids with healthy balance and through unhinged optics and you might change your mind.

The problem with labels like "Jellyfish Generation" is that they're usually built on a tiny sample size and a lot of nostalgia.

Every generation remembers its own strengths and conveniently forgets its weaknesses.

Many of the youngsters I see today are better educated, more informed, more socially aware and, frankly, more adaptable than we were at the same age. They'll make mistakes, just as we did. The difference is that their mistakes are now recorded, shared and dissected on social media within minutes, whereas ours disappeared into the ether.

And that's the irony. Calling them the "Jellyfish Generation" says far more about the generation doing the judging than the generation being judged. It isn't that we were better. We were different. We also had less competition, less scrutiny, fewer academic pressures and far fewer permanent consequences for youthful mistakes.

Every older generation eventually convinces itself that it was tougher than the one that follows. History suggests that's usually vanity rather than fact.

1 hour ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

eI agree, getting a shoe thrown at me or a kick up the bum from my parents taught me right from wrong.

Corporal punishment teaches nothing except a fear of painful retribution, pragmatic avoidance of it, and the use of violence to achieve aims.

The "right and wrong" that it allegedly teaches is entirely subjective.

Had a child been physically punished by a parent for not pickpocketing enough (it happens) would they have learned "right from wrong"?

Brutes beget brutes.

Maybe only small brutes begetting equally small brutes, but brutes nevertheless.......they are all over AN.

"They **** you up, your mum and dad.

They don't mean to but they do.

They pass on all the faults they had,

And add some extra.....just for you"

Edited June 16Jun 16 by Enoon

6 hours ago, Tourist2 said:

Is Violence Really Still Necessary?

Maybe more than ever.
When law and the state resources are set against you it becomes the only option.

Boomers forget the violence their fathers and drandfathers had to do to secure their futures and provide easy times.
Easy times created weak men though.

Even asking the question is pretty gay to be honest.

Bloody hippies.
Soon all dead though.

Heartwarming:
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/2056419740952797199

You must be a really tough guy! Wow! You actually wrote about 69 words, according to online counters, without making any sense. Congratulations! You won the stupid medal of the year! Proud now?

6 hours ago, Olmate said:

Alpha male Gotty, topic suits the

image of the name tag, don't you get that?

Ok, so you are an old mate of everyone then, right? Really?! Grow out of your diapers!

Violence is for weak unevolved minds.

3 hours ago, blaze master said:

Violence is for weak unevolved minds.

Said every weak gamma male ever.

Boomers forget the violence their fathers and grandfathers had to do to secure their cushy futures and provide easy times.
Easy times created weak men - hippy f****** w****** in their lazy boys

Edited June 16Jun 16 by Tourist2

3 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

You must be a really tough guy

Not saying I'm the toughest but, at a certain point, If I have to whack someone, I will.
Sometimes violence is justified for the greater good.
Only creepy gammas who need a punch would argue otherwise.
https://x.com/Parodyjeffx/status/2066941884098888158

Edited June 16Jun 16 by Tourist2