Question of the Day

[willtruncheon]

Is violence addictive?

(Violence: 1.)Physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing. 2.)The act or instance of violent action or behavior. 3.)Abusive or unjust exercise of power.)

Comments

[gospog]

Well, you recently trounced two wanna-be thugs. Do you now want to thump someone else? The same thugs a second time?

As for me, I grew up with pretty much daily violence. These days, I don't care for it much at all (even dishing it out).

Yes.

[lucael]

I believe it is

[warriorbard63]

It can be. I do not like harming others. Never have. But I'm good at it, maybe because I don't like it. Ending a confrontation quickly and decisively means less likelihood of having more such confrontations? I've had some situations at work, though, where it's been hard to stop once it started. A guy throws his own waste on you, then tries to gouge your face with a sharpened toothbrush...you kinda lose it at some point. (for those on Fyfe's friends list who don't know me, I'm a prison guard) Thankfully, I retire in a couple of months, and look forward to no more violence in my life, except the boffer kind ;-)
I have to admit there've been times when I dearly wanted some asshole to pick a fight though. >sigh

*ahem*

[harmonyjoy]

Seeing as I have quite a colorful history with violent people, I feel the need to say something

[dcltdw]

*passes the salt shaker labelled What Do I Know*

I don't think violence per se is addictive. I think that people often lack the creativity, resources, and/or patience to solve their conflicts, so they resort to violence to solve them. It's not the violence, it's the feeling of control over life.

Because violence is an easy path for some, it can appear to be addictive to others, but I think it's not so much that it's addictive in the clinical sense ("I haven't beaten someone up recently; thus, I feel crappy") in that it's a fairly good solution to a wide range of problems. Well, if you're amoral or immoral, that is.

Or, put another way, these violent people would feel equally satisfied if they walked into a room and everyone applauded, or if they cowed a room full of people by walking in and trashing someone.