Violence; does it work?

[Universalchild]

i can see violence as a means to an ends and agree that it does often gets results. i won't argue the morality of violence though. i did at one time in my live enjoy violence, not the hurting but the taking part. mainly through fighting or resisting someone else. i liked and still do like the gladiatorial side of violence. not keen on bullying but again, it would i suppose garner results, how long for, i have no idea. as for hurting animals. needlessly doesn't get the best results, most animal trainers will attest to the fact, though there are some nasty bastards out there. i have no problem with slaughtering animals for food and see no reason why we shouldn't utilise their skins as well as every other part of them. i'd say it's much better to eat domesticated animals than wipe out any more species than we already have. i think marital violence gets the least results as sooner or later the aggressor usually ends up on the losing side. i do believe violence through is sometimes inevitable, and gets results but at what cost? often the price paid isn't vomensurate wuth the gains, often we jump in to late or too soon.

Well, I think you make very valid points. Violence probably does achieve a lot. Especially when applied lawlessly. I think the cost is too high. I also admit I kind of just look down my nose at it. It all seems very petty and immature most of the time.

That said... I love dungeons & dragons, video games, live action role-playing, martial arts, etc. etc. so maybe I'm just supressing my inner-desire to be violent. I love all forms of faux violence. I get excited when reading Game of Thrones.

On the animals part, while I am anti-killing-for-fun (including pleasure food/pleasure clothes) on a personal level, I don't think it's particularly unacceptable or anything. Just human nature. But that doesn't justify factory farming or mass farming, the former of which is cruel, the latter destroying countless amounts of rainforest, helping global warming, etc.etc. (insert some more hippyshit here) buuut whatever it's not like a boycott really does that much effect, it's more a personal choice. I would feel very guilty personally, but luckily for everyone I'm not everyone.

Oh hoh what a complex thing.

Oh and I'm also pro the cows getting shot for reasons mentioned below. World > Cows in my opinion. Not that killing all the cows will bring the forests back but at least we could convert that land into agricultural farming and get more people fed, maybe.

I find this hard to answer! No, I do not agree with violence in the home, bullying, murder etc. but I do not believe LIGHTLY smacking a child in a controlled manner is harmful either, there are times talking just doen't work with some children and the point has to be driven home because thye are putting themselves into a dangerous situation,nor do I disagree with heavy penalties for serious crimes so the threat of violence does appear to work (eg Singapore/death penalty/whipping etc gives this city a VERY low crime rate) I agree with Billy on the domesticated animals for food and leaving other species alone, history proves our meat eating tendencies and it's very yummy! This is one of those situations where if all violence is banned, (disciplining children/retaliation against bullies/protecting your home and family etc) things get out of control and if nothing is done it gets out of control.

I don't think the problem is eating meat, because you are right, that is natural. The problem is the fact that mass meat farming is causing an enormous amount of damage to the environment (both through gas and also through rainforest deforestation, food and water consumption, and blahblah) - I am not a vegetarian because the idea of killing bambi makes my eyes water, in fact I secretly love the idea of hunting and killing my own food. I also have a thing for taxidermy. But I cannot in good conscience be part of the "machine" of meat farming. And I don't think I could justify killing something now unless I had to. Buuuut life is short and to be enjoyed so I get why most people don't do this. If meat is worth it to you, it's worth it, and that is opinion. I just don't value it that highly.

Just defendin' my corner here, I mean nothing by it.

I've met kids who are the product of "don't spank it's bad" parents. They're not pleasant.

But then, I like my steak bloody. I even prefer to have reared it myself.

I really want to know what all the vegetarians plan to do with the cows once they're freed. Let's set them loose on the lentils.

No, wanton violence for its own sake is not useful in any way. Consider intent before preaching.

I've met plenty of kids who weren't spanked who are wonderful (example - my own brothers : P) and kids who were spanked who are little shits (example - me as a child!) - I don't think spanking has anything to do with it. It's just parenting itself. Plenty of good parents spank, plenty of bad parents spank. To be honest, I don't think it is a big deal. I don't like it, I would try to avoid it, but it's not abuse and it doesn't do damage. It's just one of those things I think.

Oh, and as a vegetarian, I think we should kill most of the domestic meat cows. Bang bang boom dead. The cost of beef farming on the environment isn't worth their lives. I think the world has a priority over any single species. I love cows and think they are beautiful, gentle creatures, but there is a huuuuugely unnatural amount of them in the world, and they are the third biggest contributors to global warming. I'm a veggie with priorities. Also, an enormous amount of rainforest (and general forest) is cleared to make way for fields that grow feed for cows, and also fields for grazing. Personally I find it disturbing that about 40% of agricultural product is fed to animals, with 26% of the worlds non-ice terrain being grazing fields. That is a lot of fields. And with overgrazing causing problems with the soil, they need to continually expand and create more fields. I'm not even touching on the huge amounts of water that go into each animal, nor the amount of waste each beast excretes. Eating meat that you have raised or caught is not an issue. The problem is mass farming.

But people like their beef, so alas, I try to care as little as possible for it. There is no point feeling deep passionate emotions towards a lost cause. I used to really, really care. But over time you learn to deal with it. You just accept that you can only do your best to change things, and sitting there feeling shit or trying to preach to people who don't want to hear it doesn't work. You make small changes and hope. And I believe things will turn out all right in the end. We'll either make it, or we won't, and if we don't, then we don't, and we're dead, and we'll be dead, so we won't care.

Sorry for the splurge, I like to express these thoughts.