More than two cents

[causticangel]

K has suggested some reading for the blokes on his flist

Comments

[rhube]

Yes! Oh yes. To all of that.

Although I find particularly interesting: "It's scary, when someone stops being civilised. " It is, you don't know what to do. I'll confess to being a complete coward in such situations, to my shame. But so much that you said was so true. Thank you.

[realrealgone]

"It's scary, when someone stops being civilised."

hmmm, I found that the most interesting comment too.

I think civilisation is such a veneer (albeit a rather essential one). However, inside (I'm starting to think) we are alot closer to animals than we would like to admit. Scary stuff.

[rhube]

I think to contrast or differentiate between civil behaviour and animal behaviour is a mistake. We're civilised animals. What struck me about it was the way it reminded me of when I saw a woman being attacked in a street. I'd been watching the argument for a while. He'd already threatened her several times, and I had my phone out, but I didn't dare call the police. Fortunately, he was stupid enough to do it on broad daylight on a busy road. Half a dozen people called the police, and a couple of men quickly intervened. But I didn't. I was affraid of him. I didn't even want him to see I had my phone out, in case he came at me. It wasn't even that major of an incident, relatively speaking. He threw his keys at her. It cut her quite badly, but it could have been worse, a lot worse. He was just so out of the bounds of civilised behaviour. It wasn't like watching violence on tv. It was one of the most shocking things I'd ever witnessed in person. He stepped through the invisible barriers that even stand between oneself and drunken idiots

[realrealgone]

yes, I agree that human beings are horrifically capable of taking the ability to terrorize others to disturbingly sophisticated new depths - in a way that animals most definitely are not. however, was the fear that you felt in this incident not your own very primal reaction to this guy's reversion to a more UNpredictable, reactionary, UNthinkingly aggressive animalistic state? the old fight-or-flight thing

[ultharkitty]

Well said.

[wizardsteve]

Taking the 'next step' as you describe it will make this world a better place in all contexts. Certainly if more people took a closer look at themselves and thought to question their behaviour then we would live in a better society. Maybe some people never make the choice to try to be more civilised because they ask the question? And so it's up to people like us to ask the question for them, I guess. Certainly I'm quick to lose respect for the sort of men you've described and though I would be unlikely (unless there were extreme circumstances) to confront a group about it - I'd get beaten up - I won't hide it either. To be honest though, I don't think I've ever actually spent any time in the company of men like that before, even though I went to a boys' school. From what I've seen I think you have the vast majority of people (in the uk at least) on your side, but as the article points out, you don't need that many to cause a big problem.