August 21, 2004

• "How can you be consistently honest or just if you don't have the mettle to take a hit?" I think I'm consistently honest without having put myself in a position where I had to take a physical hit. Not sure why hitting someone else is a better proof of honesty than debating, or reasoning, or negotiating.
• "How can you be consistently honest or just if you don't have the mettle to take a hit?" Ask This Guy.
• I did, and he said "That is is just wrong."
• Gahndi took hits, he just didn't give 'em. If know you can take a hit physically or intellectually you won't compromise.
• Any 'scholarly' article that begins by quoting the waste of time that is Fight Club is not really worth reading.
• What Treeboy said, path. It's about making a compromise, to confront being hurt (both physically and emotionally). Of course, if you can make your point without hurting anyone or getting hurt much better. But unreasonable fear of getting hurt or hurt someone won't help you take any chances. Boxing, as an amateur sport, is an exercize in confronting your fears. To know that no move you make will ever be safe enough and you will have to heal wounds, yours and others, eventually. Although in my opinion boxing it's not much diferent from many other rude (soccer counts) or extreme sports, or even 10m platform diving (yes, I have an unreasonable fear of diving). I'm not defending the article much. I found it somewhat silly and naive. Yet, dismissing it over a phrase is like dismissing anything your grandparents have to say over their unhipness.
• But Gandhi put himself in a position to take hits out of conviction for a cause and the idea that not giving hits back would lessen the overall violence in his world. It was important that he and others who agreed with him could express their opinions peacefully without being beaten, but his world wasn't giving him the freedom to do that. I don't think that was just an off-center version of machismo. And, it does seem inappropriate to present someone who was for *no* violence as an icon for a sport based on violence. Just my opinion, of course. And, Zemat: I am your grandmother.
• Boxing is an exercise in getting hit in the head repeatedly. I fail to see how this constitutes an aid to matters of the mind. Fight Club was a great novel and film and all, but let's not take it too literally, huh?