The sissification of America
You know kids aren't allowed to fight at recess anymore? When I was a kid growing up, if you had a problem with somebody, even in elementary school, you handle it. High school, you handle it. I bet you 95% of millennial men out there today-and the number might even be higher-have never even been in a fistfight. Ever! Man, that's how you worked your way up back in the day. You know, if you talked shit, you'd get hit. But now, with social media, everyone's sissified. You can say what you want without getting punched in the teeth for it.
19 comments
I bet you 95% of millennial men out there today-and the number might even be higher-have never even been in a fistfight.
I’m a millennial man, and I got in one fistfight in eighth grade. I’d rather not got into the details, but it’s not something I would ever do again or want anyone else doing. Anyone who thinks this is appropriate is an asshole.
Also, kids dueling at recess to be the “alpha male”? What the actual fuck, dude?
...and I bet you were up before the principal so many times, the door was changed to a rotating one just for you.
Still can't handle that, I see.
So why is it that so many people who grew up from such halls of academia aren't scumbags such as you are today...?!
You clearly haven't learned the lesson then: Those reduced to violence have already lost the argument.
You still have today.
I’m Gen-X and in my experience, most “fistfights” in my day were bullying victims getting tired of being beaten and hitting back. Suddenly the ongoing violence which adults barely paid attention to became significant and it’s time to severely punish the victim! Oh and I guess we gotta do something about the bully too, let’s give them a little wrist-slap. If that’s what you’re thinking of, then 🖕🏻 you.
Regardless, you’re assuming that all kids have the same physical capabilities and fighting talent, that certain bigotries aren’t real or don’t matter, neither does significant age differences, and also that we should be encouraging violence as a valid method of resolving disputes. That’s neither remotely true nor the world most people would want to live in.
Hey, internet tough guy, why don’t you send me your address so I can come over and punch you in the nose. Maybe we should stop having elections, and just have the candidates slug it out in the ring. That way we’d know for sure who was the alpha male, at least by one of many criteria.
You know, what’s so freaking great about being so unempathetic that you have no trouble hurting other people badly? How does that make you a good leader? Or even a good man? I never got into a fist fight, not because I was a sissy, but because the thought of hurting someone badly disgusts me. It’s brutish. Who the fuck wants people who relish in it to rise to the top, aside from other, similar assholes? I don’t get it. Ultimately you self-described “alpha males” always think that being macho and violent will automatically always push you to the top, when in reality either bigger, nastier alpha males, or more likely more intelligent and crafty people will leave you in the dust. Violence is the last resort of the woefully incompetent after all. If you know of no other way to handle such situations, you show just how pathetic you truly are.
Like in caveman movies presenting archaic humans like Gorillas? With the leader eating most of the food and having access to the captured females, until old enough then defeated, usually getting killed. Or the ridiculous honor duels of the 1800s, or those romanced in Spaghetti Western movies? Although these used more sophisticated weapons rather than fists and bats.
I did some martial arts but the goal was not really to fight. It's also not only a male thing, there are many girls in Tae Kwon Do. My religious parents would not have allowed it, so it had to remain a secret. Then like many I think, I did a lot of play fighting with friends in school yards, where injuries were minor and rare.
Even when illegal, some fights happen and get under-reported. At least it permits some type of non-vigilante action when required, hopefully before conflicts become gang wars or escalate resulting in death, or to allow to cover the cost of expensive healthcare caused by an attack, paid by the attacker by court order if necessary. I only really had to fight a few times in my life and remember of those events precisely because they were either embarassing or followed by periods of heightened anxiety. The older I get the stupidest they seem. I used to know someone who sometimes cried retelling when he punched his brother in the face so hard that it caused facial injury that still affected his health years later.
I think that the concept of alpha male is simplistic in relation to humans. And that the OP's statement is also one of antifeminism. Feminism that is of course not only about women's rights and is not about men repression, but extends to human rights and equality in general.
So basically, you want bullies to rule. The biggest guy with the least qualms about hurting others should get to swing his dick around, no matter who suffers for it. Clearly you never developed past elementary school if you think that's an appropriate or desireable way to live. Why don't you and your buddies go whale on each other in a parking lot like the bunch of simpletons that you are and leave the actual decision-making to adults with functioning brains?
@Croquemitaine #136132
The concept of alpha is woefully simplistic when used to describe any animal. Even wolves, the first to have alpha and beta popularized, it turns out the “alpha” wasn’t actually in charge of the pack, but just the parents of the pups assuring their pups get taken care of. If you see in “alpha” pair in a wolf pack, you also see the young. Come back a year or two later, find another litter of puppies, and you’ll likely find another alpha pair. It’s always just the parents of the pups, making sure other members of the pack let the pups get their share.
“You know kids aren't allowed to fight at recess anymore?”
Um, my last recess was about 1974. We weren’t allowed to fight at recess then, either. I got in fights, but i still ended up in the principal’s office.
“You can say what you want without getting punched in the teeth for it.”
There’s a reason why, outside of delimited context (warfare, sport, law enforcement), violence isn’t something to encourage but to limit, apart if you want to go full Social Darwinist wanting to “purge the weak”.
"Gentlemen" legally making a public spectacle of murdering one another because one scuffed the others' shoe went out of style just before slavery did. Wonder if there's a connection?
If it came back into law it would certainly make any attempt to denounce street thugs a touch awkward but I'm sure tossing a racial line between the letter of the law and it's application would make everything much more palatable.
You're a manly man, right? Not afraid of someone from the "wrong" side of town having the right to take issue with something you might say to them and the law being on their side as a matter of victory rather than a matter of convincing a jury of your peers to take your side?
@Passerby #136543
I know I’m wondering how wroth they had to be at the world on a daily basis for dueling to be such a default solution…assuming fiction didn’t overemphasize it, anyway. But how did they understand Honor, that mortal duels didn’t make them look even more dishonorable/malicious/etc.?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.
