2755

Exactly!

If Richard Spencer gets his Nazi ass beat and I witness it? If the cops ask me who did it I ain’t saying shit. I won’t interfere, but I also won’t help.

2756

On a purely ideological, theoretical level I can’t but completely agree with @Matt_W on the childish barbarity of communicating through violence. Yes it is wrong.

But I’m a burly male and and if punching a motherfucking nazi is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

2757

That’s a mean thing to say to your future Secretary of Defense.

2758

He neglected to mention Zombie Paul Newman. You know, so the vaccine can be snuck into salad dressings.

2759

I agree with this sentiment, but is that whats being talked about here?

The situations described are people that purposely take advantage of the system, to leverage their agenda on others and/or get ahead or abuse the system for their own gain. My mindset is, if you are abusing the system to gain an advantage, then you likewise suffering like actions in kind, are a karma of sorts.

Someone spitting in your face is often the first person to be outraged if its done back at them. They prey on that, I get to break the rules and you have to take it, because you care about the rules. There is no justice or balance if such actions don’t result in direct consequences.

It’s not about might makes right, at least in my mind, it’s about whether the rules apply to all, or none, you cant break the rules, and then hide behind it.

I believe in this, wholeheartedly, more than a few times in my life i have pointed out to someone, you just breached social norms, do you think what you did was right? The usual response it, f-you and then i respond mirroring specifically their own behavior back at them. Then ask ‘So this is ok then? Should this be the norm? Maybe it should be a law then?’

It usually results in a conflict of some type, which I really have never sought, and even when i actively avoided them in my youth, they tended to find me BECAUSE of that mindset, bullies sense when you avoid conflict at all costs. Which is where i learned to defend myself, and learned this lesson…which is how you actually fight the might makes right mindset IMO

2760

If someone spits in your face that’s battery in many or most jurisdictions. The law is a recourse that’s at least as likely to be effective as retaliation. And again, retaliation isn’t an option at all for most people. You have to be capable of pressing your point with force. If you effectively retaliate you have specifically demonstrated that this intimidation technique is not effective against a stronger individual, i.e. might makes right.

2761

Ive seen this not work in some cases. When i was in the service in Iowa for instance, police did not respond at all to situations like this unless they witnessed it themselves. Even then getting a consequence for the offender was hit or miss (usually released with a warning).

I had 3 football players put me in the hospital because my friend flipped them off when they made unwelcome advances to our gfs, when i first got to Iowa after boot camp. As a result, I had a concussion, lost a tooth, broken nose, bruised ribs, and several broken fingers, and nothing came of it. My ‘friend’ ran as soon as he saw them jump out of the van, and I turned around to see why he ran and boom I was getting wailed on. After that, i started learning to defend myself with the resources the service offered

The west coast is a little bit better with enforcement. Still…I hear active protestor friends of mine tell stories about being spit on by anti maskers though, and nothing comes of it for consequences either (the specific example that was running through my mind).

In my experience, there is the letter or ideal of the law, and there is the practical execution of it, which often allows offenders to get away with it.

Spitting is just a hypothetical example, I have more extreme real life examples that I could either walk away from, or hold the line against ‘might makes right’.

I dont feel bad one whit, for holding the line, when bad plays out in front of me (without resorting to anger or further aggression, and limiting it to it as a example of what is being thrown around)

EDIT: Standing up for whats right doesnt mean you are mightier, just means you wont let wrong/evil go unanswered. It may cost you broken bones, or your life, but often bullies back down when called out as well. Its just not being ok with wrong running amok and standing up for whats right, and NOT waiting for someone else to fix the wrong. Though Ill admit im 6 3 bigger guy these days, so i may have some inherent privilege because of that factor, but it was a also huge deficit when i was young and sought to avoid conflict at any cost.

2762

Yeah, well, a rules-based system works because we trust that it generally works, and it’s generally good for everyone. There’s no lack of situations where it does, in fact, very much not work like that, and people will defend/be against “diplomacy by other means” depending on how much it affects them (but not only, we do have empathy).
Being a total wimp on the bravery scale, I’m inclined to ask why should I bother about a situation that I think ultimately doesn’t matter, but rational enough to know it’s sometimes bullshit that doesn’t even help me sleep better.
So I, like I guess most people, really, appreciate that some people stand up for what’s right, just like some people stand up for themselves. But I also think that’s somewhat part of the system of society, otherwise the bad outliers would have made the thing crumble ages ago.

2763

To be clear, everytime i did it, I was terrified every moment before and during. Like legs shaking and queasy, and may have vomited a few times after lol

The two times i was not, was when someone hit my sister in my eyeline, and when a neighbor threatened/bullied my kids (a group of of 5 10 year old girls which included my stepdaughter and daughter playing on our culdesac). In those cases, i was ok with whatever the consequences would be…just as long as they never were hurt /scared again.

In the neighbor’s case, id heard stories about him bullying other people on the block, but never witnessed it. Lots of domestic abuse calls to his house, real anger issues i guess. He worked nights and the kids were too noisy during his sleeping time which caused the incident. In that specific case, I wanted him to throw a punch, but i kept cool on the outside, and like most bullies when you point out threatening violence against a group of children is a ‘life as normal’ ender anyway you cut it, the message oddly enough got through.

Want accommodations? have a conversation with adults as an adult, I conveyed as i stood several cm from his nose fuming with anger. That surprisingly ended peacefully, despite everything i heard about him.

every other time, i can recall thinking of all the reasons i should just walk away, including people getting mad at me for acting like i had to be their protector. That happened a few times, my response was to that was it has nothing to do with you… it has everything to do with what my grandpa Brooks used to drill into me as a kid, “For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing”. the only time i can recall walking away was when I WAS angry (for other reasons), too angry to respond proportionately. I knew in that case it was me who would BE the problem.

I had a really crappy life as a kid, but he was always my safe space and the person i could count on, the person i wanted to be like and yearned to earn his respect. It wasn’t about rescuing, or white knighting, it was that simple truth he taught me, and my obligation to help build the world i wanted for my own future and eventually those of my kids.

2764
2765
2766

Well c’mon, who’s gonna believe that an illness is caused by billons of tiny Koosh balls floating around inside your body?

2767
2768

Is there a sign-up sheet to become a transhumanist semi-robot anywhere?

2769

How about a trans-robot semihumanist?

2770

good god

Humanoid_Original_Costume_05

2771

The Black Hole?

2772

Bingo

2773

Don’t worry, they can only run ~5mph.

I guess now we know why they target old people’s medicine.

2774