What are your views on violence?

This topic always brought about interesting conversation at other places so I'm curious to see how you all feel about it.

Heres some of the questions;

1. When is violence necessary?
2. Violence as entertainment; good? bad? or something else?
3. Are humans inherently violent or is it a product of culture?
4. What are your views on violence as a sport or as a philosophy (martial arts etc).


My views,
1. When all other choices have been used (verbal, persusasion, diplomacy) sometimes you have to attack someone physically to achieve a goal or to protect yourself.

2. Its a guilty pleasure. No i don't think we should be glamorizing murder, fighting, violence etc but it is pretty entertaining to watch a good action movie, a good fight on the UFC etc.

3. I think we all have the inherent qualities of violence within us, but culture does take a big role in what we do with these inherent qualities. Yeah I've gotten in fights like almost every person but do I actively seek out people to off them for insults? no. A vendetta culture would though.

4. Fighting as a sport is the best possible way to handle our natural violent urges in a safe and socially acceptable way. I love doing my SCA fighting, grappling, wrestling, fencing, boxing etc. Its like body chess. As far as philosophy's, a good warrior culture/philosophy can help a lot of people to become better then who they were. Not to mention the discipline/dedication and camaraderie fighters share. However if the fighting culture you go into is based upon egoism and base desires (I fight to get money and hot bitches!) then your still a base person..except now you know how to hurt people more effectively. I hate seeing fighting being used as a crutch to prop up a childlike ego or as a tool for someone to lash out at people and treat them in the same horrible way the person themselves was treated.

1. Violence is occasionally necessary... but only because sooner or later we all encounter that person who lacks the intellect, wisdom, and imagination to recognize the dozens upon dozens of better solutions to their problem, and thus refuses to acknowledge any method of communication other than that dictated by base emotion. However, while occasionally necessary as a method of self-defense, violence rarely actually solves problems. All it really does is create feelings of resentment, vengeance, and hatred that ultimately lead to more violence, counterproductive to the improvement of the world or of the people in it.

2. I could almost just repost Velvet Tongue's comment on this one. Violence in movies and on TV is definitely a guilty pleasure, but only because of the camera's ability to make violence appear cinematic. Real-life fights and murders are never as pretty as the media portrays them. (I have far more personal experience on this subject than I'd care to.)

3. Humans are nothing more than slightly-evolved animals, and therefore inherently violent. Violent acts as they're being committed can have a relieving sensation similar to that of an orgasm, and humans seem overall happier when such base instincts are being sated.

4. Fighting for sport is entertaining (and in the case of martial arts, which is more like dance, even disciplining and artistic), but I'm reluctant to say that it relieves the violent tendencies of those who watch it. Most of the time it just seems to encourage the viewer to try at home all that they've just seen, even on unwilling participants... or such is the behavior I've witnessed in boxing and wrestling fans.

To sum up, violence has entertained me, kept me in shape, and even saved my life on more than a couple of occasions... but I wouldn't call myself a better person for any of it.

1. When is violence necessary?

Only when it is unavoidable.
There are many other ways to solve most problems.
But when your life is in danger, or someone attacks you, you have no choice.

2. Violence as entertainment; good? bad? or something else?

As long as it's mutual. Like MMA, etc.
But it's somewhat twisted to just watch violence inflicted
on someone when they are an innocent victim.
But there is still a sick fascination, I have to admit...

3. Are humans inherently violent or is it a product of culture?

Inherently violent. But it can be controlled.
Culture or not, people get mad, and want to hurt each other...

4. What are your views on violence as a sport or as a philosophy (martial arts etc).

That's totally fine. It's good to know how to fight, how to shoot, etc.

Rocky has shown me that you're only a real man if your day job involves spilling blood on people and beating the shit out of nancy boys and faggots.

"A man who depends on the law to protect him is either a fool or a coward
A man who cannot defend himself without those laws is both
And the wounded man shall say unto his assailant
'If I live, I will kill you; If I die, all is forgiven'
Such is the rule of honor"

I work on machines that weigh lots of tons and use knives that can get up to 14feet long for a living...............................without my industry the world would be an extremely different place, so violence, used properly can be very effective to get done what needs doing.

the universe is a violent place

1. When is violence necessary?

Violence is necessary when someone else brings violence. Yeah, you should look at why people are being violent and try to stem the cause, but not at the cost of other people's well being.

2. Violence as entertainment; good? bad? or something else?

Are we talking real violence as entertainment or fictional violence? Personally, fictional entertainment of any kind is ok by me. It allows people to indulge in things they would not or could not do.

Putting executions or accidents on youtube for entertainment, that is bad for too many reasons to list in a forum post.

3. Are humans inherently violent or is it a product of culture?

Yes. Nature and nurture are both factors. However culture should allow us safe ways to vent our violent nature like sports, video games and Clive Owen movies. :D

4. What are your views on violence as a sport or as a philosophy (martial arts etc).

As far as sports goes, whatever people agree to do to themselves is ok by me, as long as they honestly agree. I think we need some better social safety nets if we are going to have people beat each other stupid for our amusement, but I think we need better social safety nets in general.

Philosophy... I enjoy a martial art (when I actually practice), but I don't necessarily tie them to philosophy. Sometimes they are a good focus for a philosophy, but so are a lot of things. I have met ballerina's more disciplined than marines and monks, but I do not consider ballet inherently good or bad, If martial arts makes someone something besides a better fighter, it is good, if not then not.

Ironically I think everyone should loose a fight once in their lives, just to see what it does to a body. Being tore up for a few days makes you think a little harder about when violence is needed.

What does not kill me makes me stronger

Violence makes the heart grow fonder.