# Great, now I'm one of them.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-now-im-one-of-them/93522>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [November 15, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-now-im-one-of-them/93522 "2001-11-15T13:37:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-now-im-one-of-them/93522/41 "2001-11-16T13:52:01Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Zoff \*  
> \*\*Lord knows I’ve been pissed off in traffic before, but I just can’t accept that hitting a guy for flipping you off is appropriate.
> 
> And even if we assume that flipping **lieu** the bird is assault, it doesn’t justify the battery. If lieu felt threatened he could have simply walked away from the guy. \*\*

The alternative is to be a doormat and let the bastard walk over you. And it wasn’t just the flipping off. The asshole attempted in his every way(if **lieu** ’s story is to believed) to bully. To simply walk away from a bully is to surrender to him. Sometimes walking away is the smart move, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking it’s a morally superior move. Sometimes you have to stick up for yourself.

I’m a peaceful man, but I got no problem with what **lieu** did.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-now-im-one-of-them/93522/42 "2001-11-16T15:04:58Z")

</div>

**lieu**  
My bad. I thought the guy was in his car. I’m not going to try to crawl in your head to determine whether you thought the guy was about to hit you. If you felt that way, the self-defense argument is understandable.

**spooje**

> [@](#):
>
> To simply walk away from a bully is to surrender to him.

I was directing my comments toward the attempts to _legally_ justify the punch. You might feel that lieu had a moral right or whatever, but there is no legal justification for hitting a guy just because he’s being a bully.

If lieu felt that a physical battery was imminent, then he’s justified in using the force necessary to prevent personal harm. But, if he didn’t feel physical battery was imminent, then the punch isn’t legally justified. He could have walked away.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-now-im-one-of-them/93522.md?page=2)