# Lethal force justified? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lethal-force-justified/736104 "2015-10-29T17:18:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 130
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lethal-force-justified/736104/130 "2015-10-31T02:18:01Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Most of the posters in this thread have gone out their way to dismiss the OP’s assessment of the guys tone and demeanor. > > If from the outset, you’re skeptical that the OP accurately read the guy’s non-verbal signs of hostility, I question why you would even entertain his question. Because his claim to self-defense largely depends on whether he would had good reason to believe the man posed an imminent danger to him, and that’s largely a subjective judgment. WHAT assessment of the guy’s tone and demeanor? There’s nothing in the first post that actually addresses any part of the guy’s demeanor or non-verbal signs of hostility, and the OP has yet to articulate clearly why he thought the man posed an imminent threat. There are vague references to “that demeanor”–okay, what demeanor? What specific verbal or non-verbal signs is the OP relying upon? Yes, it’s a subjective judgment. However, unless it is a REASONABLE judgment, the case is not self-defense but murder. Without even knowing what signs the OP was reading, why should we assume his reading was accurate or reasonable? > [@Why do so many African leaders have english/western first names?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/68): > > Did the OP describe a scenario involving a grown man acting like a puppy-dog five year old? I thought he described a situation involving a grown man acting like hostile jerk. What specifically in that first post (“A random guy walks up to me with a 2 by 4 in his hands and asks me what I’m doing”) conveys hostility as opposed to curiosity or some other emotion? What in this sentence, or any other sentence of the OP, demonstrates that the approach was pointed and aggressive? If the story is that the guy came out of a house 200 yards away and immediately started shouting at **split p&j** very loudly while running towards him swinging a four-foot length of 2x4, those are relevant details that would change my opinion. Those are details not present in the OP, and I’m not willing to read them into the account unless **split p&j** tells me that’s what happened. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lethal-force-justified/736104)._