Violence, properly, begets violence

Oh, how many times we have heard the phrase, “It takes two to make a fight”.  That statement appears to assign equal guilt to the defender and the perpetrator, which is the same as saying that you do not have any right to defend yourself, or to be defended by anyone else.  By the time I reached high school in 1972, two kids caught fighting were both punished equally (’cause fighting just isn’t cool, man).  I see it as no mere coincidence that the arena wherein I’ve heard this phrase uttered the most, if not exclusively, is the public school system.

Its time to modify the phrase slightly, based on the application of intelligence guided by experience:

“It takes at least two to make a fight– one perpetrator and one defender.”

Col. Jeff Cooper was once asked whether violence merely begets more violence.  His answer went something like this (I’m going from memory, so I can only paraphrase): “It is my sincere endeavor to see to it that it does.”  In explaining his answer, he said that if someone is going to perpetrate violence against innocents, that person should get more violence in return than he can handle.

How many times have you heard some version of “Don’t judge me, man” or “You’re being too judgmental”?  Similar to the “it takes two” quote, this seems to be designed to prevent us from doing that which makes us human– it asks us to stop using our ability to reason.

If we really value “Peace And Love, Man” we should be ready to dish out both blame and praise appropriately.

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