Is violence ever necessary?

[Saphire]

As Will Smith seems to be all over the news since he whacked Criss Rock at the Oscars, the question comes up...is violence ever necessary or justified?

Wars, self-defence, and flattening others in the name of sport and entertainment apart, is instinctive violence, whether it be a slap, a punch, or anything else designed to hurt or humiliate, ever justified, in your opinion?

 

[Dolores]

Self-defense, absolutely yes.
It's not according to the Christianity but I won't let someone hurt me or my son, without any consequences. If I'm able to fight back, I will.

Just saying, to me offensive jokes, or jokes about your appearance or health condition is violence, a verbal one, but not less harmful.

 

[Saphire]

Self-defense, absolutely yes.
It's not according to the Christianity but I won't let someone hurt me or my son, without any consequences. If I'm able to fight back, I will.

Just saying, to me offensive jokes, or jokes about your appearance or health condition is violence, a verbal one, but not less harmful.

Definitely self-defence, and protecting your family, even your property, and in many cases it is allowed in law.

The 'joke' wasn't funny, though whether Rock knew the woman had a medical condition, or just thought she was following the shaved head fashion, would put a different slant on it, imo.

Reacting to a spoken word with physical violence isn't really the best way to deal with the situation though. Can you imagine the carnage if we all went round thumping people who said something we didn't like.

 

[Dolores]

Reacting to a spoken word with physical violence isn't really the best way to deal with the situation though. Can you imagine the carnage if we all went round thumping people who said something we didn't like.

Definitely, and t is not if we like a statement or not, in a sense of an argument, but whoever is abusing someone verbally should know that there could be some non-verbal reactions Some people are just not that good with words.

 

[LadyOnArooftop]

Self defence is the only justification for violence. You cannot use violence because of something that's been said. The answer is to shame them for the words they've spoken, or to just walk away. Regarding the incident at the Oscars, @Saphire spotted it well when she pointed out in another thread, that Will Smith was laughing until he saw her face. Then the macho man took over. He no doubt regrets his actions now.

 

[Wojcik]

Only in self defence or protecting family members from harm, in my opinion. Violence should be a last resort option when you're left with no choice.

On the whole Will smith debacle with Chris Rock? Will Smith was in the wrong here. Yes, Chris Rock's bad joke offended Jayda, who didn't look amused. And that's what you should do when someone says something ridiculous. Just roll your eyes at them and treat them like the idiots that they are. What you don't do is go up to someone and smack them across the face for saying something you didn't like.
If people start justifying violence like that, and it goes unpunished, don't complain when you see more of that type of behaviour in society, when people start justifying it.

But i think Will's reaction was a lot more than just Chris' very lame joke. This has to do with Will's open marriage to Jayda, which is well documented for the public to know. Will lost his temper, and is an emotional wreck. And when you're in that frame of mind where words can trigger you, you become a dangerous individual who could act irrational and cause harm to others in an instance.

But whether this is real or not. The messaging is there. The message that you can willingly assault someone because they said something you didn't like. It sets a dangerous trend. Where does it end? Comedians, Politicians, Actors, Religious figures, You, Me, family, friends? No one will be safe if this is justified and normalised.

 

[Saphire]

It was wrong to let him sit back down, enjoy the rest of the show, pick up his Oscar, and claim love for his family (just like his Oscar winning role in King Richard) drove him to act in the way he did.
Maybe he deserves an Oscar for that performance too. Tears and snot (and apparently he even spit on the stage) always pull on the heart strings dont they??.

It's not sending a good message to his fans....smack someone in the gob and 10 minutes later get a standing ovation.

 

[Saphire]

Definitely, and t is not if we like a statement or not, in a sense of an argument, but whoever is abusing someone verbally should know that there could be some non-verbal reactions Some people are just not that good with words.

The problem with reacting with violence to insults, is that it can quickly escalate.
It would definitely make some people think twice before they started verbally abusing others, but then again, they would probably just go home, sit behind their keyboard, and make some poor sods life hell on social media.

 

[Dolores]

The problem with reacting with violence to insults, is that it can quickly escalate.
It would definitely make some people think twice before they started verbally abusing others, but then again, they would probably just go home, sit behind their keyboard, and make some poor sods life hell on social media.

I agree, and the best way, if it is not too personal, just to ignore them, because some people are just feeding from the negativism and aggression.

 

[Saphire]

I agree, and the best way, if it is not too personal, just to ignore them, because some people are just feeding from the negativism and aggression.

I couldn't agree more.
Sometimes it's hard, and I personally don't always succeed, but nothing annoys a verbal abuser more, be it online or offline, than all their vitriol falling on deaf ears.

 

[BronzeSquirrel]

I think he might have felt some need to demonstrate his alpha male to his missus who humiliated him by porking that younger man not so long ago.

 

[Wojcik]

The problem with reacting with violence to insults, is that it can quickly escalate.
It would definitely make some people think twice before they started verbally abusing others, but then again, they would probably just go home, sit behind their keyboard, and make some poor sods life hell on social media.

But then again, anything you say could offend someone that you may not have found offensive, resulting in the situation escalating fast, potentially turning violent, depending on the person and their current psyche. Some people are ticking time bombs full of emotion and rage, and one little thing could trigger them off into a violent rage.

This is why i think the messaging is the important aspect here. What kind of message does it send if a grown adult live on television, in front of millions of people watching, decides to go up on stage and smack a comedian across the face? But not only does he get away with not facing a civil lawsuit, but also escaping assault charge and going to jail. He then went on to win an Oscar, even though the people who organise the event put out a message that they don't condone violence, but Will was still allowed to keep his Oscar and not have it taken away from him.

 

[Saphire]

But then again, anything you say could offend someone that you may not have found offensive, resulting in the situation escalating fast, potentially turning violent, depending on the person and their current psyche. Some people are ticking time bombs full of emotion and rage, and one little thing could trigger them off into a violent rage.

This is why i think the messaging is the important aspect here. What kind of message does it send if a grown adult live on television, in front of millions of people watching, decides to go up on stage and smack a comedian across the face? But not only does he get away with not facing a civil lawsuit, but also escaping assault charge and going to jail. He then went on to win an Oscar, even though the people who organise the event put out a message that they don't condone violence, but Will was still allowed to keep his Oscar and not have it taken away from him.

I agree. Will Smith should have been evicted from the ceremony, he is lucky criss Rock didn't press charges.

He won the Oscar, I dont think it should be withdrawn, but to allow him to publicly collect it, make his toe curling speech, and recieve a standing ovation from the sycophantic audience, that was condoning, even rewarding his bad behaviour.

 

[hell2bwith76]

One of the TOU for this chatsite is that any "threats of violence" against another chatter may mean an immediate Ban
One thing i found though is that a chatter can insult /abuse a member of anothers family and the desire ( verbally) is to threaten that abuser but they are ,in some way ,protected if the family member who they abuse isn`t a member of this chatsite !
That`s true ! i was told it by a member of staff a while back.

 

[Saphire]

One of the TOU for this chatsite is that any "threats of violence" against another chatter may mean an immediate Ban
One thing i found though is that a chatter can insult /abuse a member of anothers family and the desire ( verbally) is to threaten that abuser but they are ,in some way ,protected if the family member who they abuse isn`t a member of this chatsite !
That`s true ! i was told it by a member of staff a while back.

I dont know if that's a fair assumption or not.
Are the chat room rules different to the forum rules?
On most forums I have been on, talking about or insulting another posters family members is usually frowned upon....as it should be.

 

[hell2bwith76]

I dont know if that's a fair assumption or not.
Are the chat room rules different to the forum rules?
On most forums I have been on, talking about or insulting another posters family members is usually frowned upon....as it should be.

Complain to a staff member and they tell me to block the other chatter.

 

[Moriarty]

Define violence.

In todays culture words are construed as violence.

Theres nothing wrong with getting a slap if your getting out of hand, thats male vs male, not including women in this.
Although women often resort to violence against both men and women.
Usually with women on man violence it is unreported, men dont want to appear weak.

Toxic masculinity, my ass
Take that from a man who was hit many times by an ex but never responded to violence.
When I talked to her about it she simply said "Well thats what my ex-husband did"
What did I know, I was 21 at the time and she was 10 years older than me, I was insecure and timid back then.
Today, I would probably slap her back.
Thats self defence is it not?

As for Will Smith, he was laughing at the joke, right until he saw "She" didnt like it, then he acted.
I feel sorry for Will Smith, she has emasculated him completely, its sad, he should have divorced her years ago, but he wants to honour his vows.

Violence has its place, it is a social requirement in any society.
Yet only the government can do it legally.

 

[clactonolderguy]

cannot agree anybody slapping or being violent to another deliberate .anger needs to be controlled. kids maybe but adults? if he was offended it would be right to object and even if really emotionally upset go up to guy and state he has hurt you and wife's feeling and caused embarrassment. expect an public apology but react with violence is wrong and sends out wrong messages to impressionable people. where organisers went wring was to to not escort Smith out of sight and request he leave premises unless go back on stage and apologise for his behaviour ( also asking comedian to apologise for mocking his wife as maybe was not aware of emotional state the two were in.) It is simply a pat on back all round show and actors thrive on being in the limelight. Thats my two pennyworth.

 

[Dolores]

View attachment 9137

Rules of the game, eh?