There’s a MPSIMS thread over here regarding fist-fighting, which is getting me to finally pose a question I’ve been wanting to ask for a while now.
I’m a guy who has been in no serious fist-fights in my life. I once got into a minor scuffle in middle school where I successfully humiliated a preppy kid to stop picking on me, but it was over in seconds and no injuries resulted. Other than that, I’ve never been in a knock-down, drag-out fight that left one or both people with bloody noses, contusions, broken bones, or anything of that ilk. I’ve had instances where people have wanted to get into a fight with me, but I’ve always managed to talk them out of it.
Not that I’m a wuss, mind you. I played two years of lacrosse in high school. I did my time in the military and have been an active LARPer for 11 years. Some LARPs are more pillow-throwing and talking in bad British accents, but some like mine are geared more toward hard-hitting athleticism. And I’ve got the scars to prove it.
Which brings me to my question: Why do people want to fist-fight? There’s a serious danger to fighting. You’re trying your best to cause as much damage as possible to someone’s face. Permanent injuries are a very real possibility. When you start a fight with a stranger, you have no idea of the other guy’s abilities.
I do have friends who grew up in not-so-great parts of town and have been in plenty of fist-fights throughout their lives. Doesn’t it worry you going into a fight, “Dude, this guy could seriously screw me up permanently. I have no idea how crazy he is?” No one thinks about that?
Again, I’m asking as someone who never really saw a need to turn to fighting to resolve conflicts, not as a delicate flower who is afraid to get hurt. I just don’t get it.
(Oddly enough, I’m interested in taking up boxing as a hobby, yet that doesn’t seem as dangerous to me.)
Good answer. No intelligent person wants to be involved in a fight if at all avoidable. No question about it, but fighting HURTS! The 2 possible outcomes are that you will get hurt - or your opponent will. And either option is likely to have far greater negative health, economic, and legal repercussions than walking/running away, no matter whatever bruises your ego might incur.
In boxing there are no weapons and when you are knocked down/out (or quit) that’s it, it’s over. There’s no guy continuing to wail on your head with a pipe, stealing your wallet, or evacuating his bowels on your head.
Mostly it’s territorial imperative coupled with sexual dominance in a combination with excessive alcohol consumption. Or just assholery. Occasionally for self defense. That’s why spectator sports have always been a safe outlet for pent-up aggression. It keeps the saner among us from acting out.
I’ve only ever been in one fistfight (relatively brief, when I was a kid), but I was absolutely amazed by how much it hurts to get punched in the face. In fact, I was so surprised that I uttered aloud, to the person who had just hit me, ‘‘Shit, that hurt!’’ After I took that first blow, even though I knew I was probably going to win the fight, I seriously asked myself whether it would be worth it to experience that much pain. The whole thing just seemed very silly all of a sudden, and I turned and walked away.
I’ve been in a few altercations that almost went physical. I used to love it when a guy’d say “You want to take this outside?” because he was pretty much confessing that he was unwilling to fight me as long as I stayed indoors. So my response was always something like “No, that’s ok, I can call you an asshole from here.” Never went any further than that.
There was that one time in high school, though. That was before my daily weight lifting, so I was a puny little guy. These bullies just wouldn’t stop picking on me. Every day in last period. So I fought one of them outside of class. They stopped after that, and I just got a tweeked ankle out of it. TOTALLY worth it.
You know what? It likely hurt the other guy’s hand just as much. Punching something hard - like a face - with an ungloved fist HURTS. If not right away, most definitely the next day.
I’ve heard martial artists say something along the lines of strike hard targets (i.e. head) with an open hand, strike soft targets (stomach, etc.) with a closed fist.
I can attest to that - I got into a fist fight in high school and hit the guy a few times. The result is he went down and I got a boxer’s fracture out of it. I didn’t feel it at the time, but after the fight I did.
Fortunately I had some martial arts training and did know how to strike someone without hurting my hand too badly, but yeah, it’s a lot of pain. If you’re going to fight someone, it sure as hell better be for a good reason.
Oh, and just so you know, we were girls. She was about four years older than me and had given me hell for a while and my parents were convinced the only way to get her off my back was to fight her. So, I did.
At least, sort of. As I said, after we exchanged some blows I ended up walking away. But it was enough of a tussle for her to leave me alone from then on.
Actually, I think it was right before she explained to me that if I think there’s going to be a fist fight, bring a knife. And if I think there’s going to be a knife fight, bring a gun.
Yeah, I’ve punched through boards and have had not a bruise to show for it, but in a real fight where you’re all adrenalized and freaked out and you don’t land your punches as cleanly. I got in only a couple tussles as a kid, one as a 7th grader and one in highschool, both were about defending my siser’s honor after anti-gay slurs.
The first one I got a black eye and didn’t even know it at the time. I mean I felt the hit, but in the heat of the moment it was more like when you’re playing a sport and collide with someone. The play keeps going and you sort it out when you’re back on the bench. It was a stupid, scrambly awkward fight that probably looked like a pair of geese trying to do ballet on the sand.
The second time I already had some martial arts training so, the other guy wasn’t able to hit me and I just bounced him off lockers and stuff, making a good point without hurting him too badly and getting myself into trouble. The guy I was fighting ended up with a busted lip. A teacher witnessed a good lot of it, but just yelled at us both to take it outside or knock it off and it was over. Neither of us got in trouble but the teacher pretty much told the other guy he was a douchebag. (My sister was a bit of a sports hero on the girls’ basketball team and was pretty popular.)
I’d say the best thing about martial arts is learning how not to fight. You sort of know how to stay in control. So even in my little dust up (which yes, contrary to training, I started it), I wasn’t just swinging in a blind scramble. I was in control, so it actually felt more like a training exercise than a fist-fight.
Well, I wasn’t really asking why to stay out of a fight. I know that much. My question is, what drives people to get into fist-fights knowing they could be seriously injured? How do you know the other guy isn’t hiding a weapon?
I’ve not been in any major altercations but I’ve seen a good number of them. My friends like to fight. A lot.
From my experience, when two guys are in a fight, even if one has a knife, he’s unlikely to pull it out in the middle of the fight. If he has a weapon that he’s going to use he’ll pull it out beforehand and the fight will be prevented to begin with.
Despite having never been in a fight, I admit that I have a strong urge to. I wear suits, I drive cars with my friends all packed in and we listen to aggressive music with the volume turned up. It all gets me pumped. On my bucket list is “Snap fingers to sick someone onto someone else” and my friends have told me that they’re going to make it happen one day. It’s irrational, stupid, illegal, etc. But that doesn’t stop my testosterone from leaving its mark.
