Most will disagree with me but the logic of your position also applies to being armed. On October 7, the Hamas terrorists were armed, the Israelis massacred were defenseless. The unanswered question is why did Israel disarm its citizens most of whom are IDF veterans and leave them vulnerable to mass rape and murder by Hamas? An incredibly stupid decision because their disarmed status virtually invited the attack and the Israeli government is clearly culpable. Every Jewish family in Israel (and with growing antisemitism here, the US) should have a 9 mm handgun, an AR15 rifle and plenty of ammunition for both. Every adult and teenage member of the family should be proficient in their use. Have anti-gun Jewish politicians in both countries learned nothing from the Holocaust and the latest slaughter? Isn't it time for the Jewish people to tell them to go fuck themselves? This is the reason I go armed every day and always will.
A great bit of writing, thanks, I really enjoyed reading it. It’s visceral, I can feel the words. You and others may laugh (or not!), but your style reminds me of Hemingway sometimes; no flowers, little window dressing, just palpable words describing things within us that aren’t easily drawn.
“This brings me to the truth about violence people fail to understand. All violence is fear based. Fear for yourself, for other's, for losing something, not having enough, being used, betrayed, discarded, etc. All violence begins with fear.”
Violence is a tool for gain, not just avoidance of threat. A lot of male violence can be motivated by callousness, entitlement & a desire for superiority, control, access, or gain. Putting fear into others or manipulating their behaviors covertly by terrorizing. Plenty of men are not losing control, rather taking control. The amygdala also regulates excitement.
I know a cage fighter, heavy weight mixed martial artist & veteran, that was obnoxious & passive aggressive (dirty) to women in his gym. On the surface pretending to be sweet, silly, charismatic, & even humble. The kind of guy to stick his fingers in his ass & wipe your cup. That covertly used a poison get petty revenge on his wife that refused him sex when she was sick. That would hurt pets because they were a “chore” he no longer felt like taking care of. That would bully his 4 year old autistic nephew to provoke a rationalization to use aggressive force. That would taunt strangers, usually old men. That admitted that he enjoyed provoking patients to have an excuse to restrain them. He enjoyed bullying.
But every word out of his mouth in front of a thrill seeking MMA peer who could kick the snot out of him would be “brother, brother, mad respect, brother”. Big ape, kissing the ass of smaller men with more skill than he had.
He was just callous, calculated & opportunistic. Violence & dishonesty were tools & a pleasure for him.
Your life experience is so very different from mine, which is why I absolutely love to read your stuff. I truly learn a different perspective, without being preached or condescended to. I’m sixty seven so I’m not gonna take up boxing, but an old lady proficient with a gun may get it done!
"This was the hidden truth that those seasoned prison guards understood. The better we became, the easier the their job would be because our presence alone largely kept the peace. No one wanted to start trouble in a block full of maniacs which was how we were perceived by the gen-pop. Our lock was the quietest, most respectful and relaxed in the entire institution."
That checks out since there was a pecking order and everyone knew where they belonged therefore that kept the peace in your block for the most part, but out here that wouldn't work because most of us are civilians, not convicts. And most civilians aren't, in general, physically violent.
My art of choice is Muay Thai. Boxing would be number 1. I tried Jiu Jitsu but because it presents to great a risk of finger injury it's out of the question as I am an illustrator (and previously a guitarist) and I need my fingers.
This article resonated with me and helped me form my thoughts about why the lockdowns hurt me so much. One thing that the lockdowns did was make training difficult. I was doing Muay Thai and my gym did their best to keep the training going. Even going to the point of letting us in from the back alley. We were instructed to not form a line but to keep moving around the block so as to avoid attention. Then one of the coaches would slide open a sheet of plywood to let us in through this grimey back room. It was quite the experience sharing space with the rats and the junkies just so we could go train to fight.
But despite my (and my gym's) best efforts, I lost momentum just as I was beginning to learn to spar. Then I moved town and have not found a gym yet that I can afford or any training partners willing to train indie.
Even two years later I find I still feel an emptiness about this. Your thoughts about anger ring particularly true. It's not that fighting is a release for it. It's that learning violence makes anger feel unnecessary.
I'm glad to say that I have picked up home training again and have a mid term goal of returning to train how to fight.
There’s this about violence, also: when someone is speaking truly, violence doesn’t change that. The speaker may be made to shut up, or even killed, but the true remains true. It may be contingent, or situational, and certainly related to a point of view, but it does not disappear with a beating.
This prescription would work a lot better if we were living in a world where there weren’t powerful people (mostly men) who, never venturing to get their own hands dirty or bloody) have contrived to have other people well-trained in violence, and people with a taste for violence (again, mostly men) take ruthlessly callous actions against others of something they want (usually ‘in the way’ by living ordinary lives somewhere ‘inconvenient’).
The power to project violence is too often the power to take and the willingness have the taking done.
Ferocious courage is called for in confronting this. To bad the ones well trained in violence generally have aligned themselves with those who would exploit.
"This is not to imply victimhood in victimizers. When it comes to responses and consequences, only what we do matters, not why."
In a moral sense I completely agree but my curiosity doesn't. I want to know why because I want to know the reasoning behind the action taken and make sure in my own mind that I'd never be driven to that extend. And possibly if people know why they can find better solutions and learn self-control.
If you know what drives you then to a point you can control what will unhinge you. Perhaps it's a simplistic view but there might be something to it.
Most will disagree with me but the logic of your position also applies to being armed. On October 7, the Hamas terrorists were armed, the Israelis massacred were defenseless. The unanswered question is why did Israel disarm its citizens most of whom are IDF veterans and leave them vulnerable to mass rape and murder by Hamas? An incredibly stupid decision because their disarmed status virtually invited the attack and the Israeli government is clearly culpable. Every Jewish family in Israel (and with growing antisemitism here, the US) should have a 9 mm handgun, an AR15 rifle and plenty of ammunition for both. Every adult and teenage member of the family should be proficient in their use. Have anti-gun Jewish politicians in both countries learned nothing from the Holocaust and the latest slaughter? Isn't it time for the Jewish people to tell them to go fuck themselves? This is the reason I go armed every day and always will.
A great bit of writing, thanks, I really enjoyed reading it. It’s visceral, I can feel the words. You and others may laugh (or not!), but your style reminds me of Hemingway sometimes; no flowers, little window dressing, just palpable words describing things within us that aren’t easily drawn.
“This brings me to the truth about violence people fail to understand. All violence is fear based. Fear for yourself, for other's, for losing something, not having enough, being used, betrayed, discarded, etc. All violence begins with fear.”
Violence is a tool for gain, not just avoidance of threat. A lot of male violence can be motivated by callousness, entitlement & a desire for superiority, control, access, or gain. Putting fear into others or manipulating their behaviors covertly by terrorizing. Plenty of men are not losing control, rather taking control. The amygdala also regulates excitement.
I know a cage fighter, heavy weight mixed martial artist & veteran, that was obnoxious & passive aggressive (dirty) to women in his gym. On the surface pretending to be sweet, silly, charismatic, & even humble. The kind of guy to stick his fingers in his ass & wipe your cup. That covertly used a poison get petty revenge on his wife that refused him sex when she was sick. That would hurt pets because they were a “chore” he no longer felt like taking care of. That would bully his 4 year old autistic nephew to provoke a rationalization to use aggressive force. That would taunt strangers, usually old men. That admitted that he enjoyed provoking patients to have an excuse to restrain them. He enjoyed bullying.
But every word out of his mouth in front of a thrill seeking MMA peer who could kick the snot out of him would be “brother, brother, mad respect, brother”. Big ape, kissing the ass of smaller men with more skill than he had.
He was just callous, calculated & opportunistic. Violence & dishonesty were tools & a pleasure for him.
Kinda like peace through strength.
Your life experience is so very different from mine, which is why I absolutely love to read your stuff. I truly learn a different perspective, without being preached or condescended to. I’m sixty seven so I’m not gonna take up boxing, but an old lady proficient with a gun may get it done!
Know Thyself and be Fearful!
Your best work yet. You get better every time. Your sincerity screams from the page. Please keep it coming.
"This was the hidden truth that those seasoned prison guards understood. The better we became, the easier the their job would be because our presence alone largely kept the peace. No one wanted to start trouble in a block full of maniacs which was how we were perceived by the gen-pop. Our lock was the quietest, most respectful and relaxed in the entire institution."
That checks out since there was a pecking order and everyone knew where they belonged therefore that kept the peace in your block for the most part, but out here that wouldn't work because most of us are civilians, not convicts. And most civilians aren't, in general, physically violent.
My art of choice is Muay Thai. Boxing would be number 1. I tried Jiu Jitsu but because it presents to great a risk of finger injury it's out of the question as I am an illustrator (and previously a guitarist) and I need my fingers.
This article resonated with me and helped me form my thoughts about why the lockdowns hurt me so much. One thing that the lockdowns did was make training difficult. I was doing Muay Thai and my gym did their best to keep the training going. Even going to the point of letting us in from the back alley. We were instructed to not form a line but to keep moving around the block so as to avoid attention. Then one of the coaches would slide open a sheet of plywood to let us in through this grimey back room. It was quite the experience sharing space with the rats and the junkies just so we could go train to fight.
But despite my (and my gym's) best efforts, I lost momentum just as I was beginning to learn to spar. Then I moved town and have not found a gym yet that I can afford or any training partners willing to train indie.
Even two years later I find I still feel an emptiness about this. Your thoughts about anger ring particularly true. It's not that fighting is a release for it. It's that learning violence makes anger feel unnecessary.
I'm glad to say that I have picked up home training again and have a mid term goal of returning to train how to fight.
Best thing I have read lately
There’s this about violence, also: when someone is speaking truly, violence doesn’t change that. The speaker may be made to shut up, or even killed, but the true remains true. It may be contingent, or situational, and certainly related to a point of view, but it does not disappear with a beating.
This prescription would work a lot better if we were living in a world where there weren’t powerful people (mostly men) who, never venturing to get their own hands dirty or bloody) have contrived to have other people well-trained in violence, and people with a taste for violence (again, mostly men) take ruthlessly callous actions against others of something they want (usually ‘in the way’ by living ordinary lives somewhere ‘inconvenient’).
The power to project violence is too often the power to take and the willingness have the taking done.
Ferocious courage is called for in confronting this. To bad the ones well trained in violence generally have aligned themselves with those who would exploit.
"This is not to imply victimhood in victimizers. When it comes to responses and consequences, only what we do matters, not why."
In a moral sense I completely agree but my curiosity doesn't. I want to know why because I want to know the reasoning behind the action taken and make sure in my own mind that I'd never be driven to that extend. And possibly if people know why they can find better solutions and learn self-control.
If you know what drives you then to a point you can control what will unhinge you. Perhaps it's a simplistic view but there might be something to it.
Men are crazy. Calm the fuck down. You're ruining the planet with this bullshit.
None of you should even be allowed to vote. It's obvious.