Do you LIKE fighting?
 

First off, Im not trying to come over as some kind of tough guy. Lets just say that in my life I've been in fights, I've won fights, I've lost fights, I've been awake half the night scared of fighting the next day, and everything else. Mostly when I was a kid, because obviously as you get older there are different legal and moral considerations.

But do you LIKE the actual act of fighting?

My basic feeling is that almost everyone does, but I dont know if I am trying to pass off my own feelings as "normal" or if I am judging correctly.

I appreciate as you get older you think of the consequences of actions more. There are obviously moral reasons that hurting someone isnt a good thing and self protection feelings that getting hurt yourself isnt good.

But the actual ACT of fighting,whether the last time it happened was when you were a 13, or if you're a prizefighter: does the act of hitting someone, taking punches, measuring them up and getting stuck into them, just that feeling when you swing you a punch and it lands, or someone hits you and you move through it, all that stuff... is it good? If you step outside the moral element, the legal side of things, does it physially feel "good"?

I may have stated this clumsily as I am half drunk, but it was something I was thinking about.

I'm not the kind of person that goes out every Saturday night and gets drunk, but I also do recognise that I do have problems with my temper, my self esteem, that sometimes leads to unacceptable actions. If I wasnt more afraid of the results to my mind I probably would have taken up boxing a couple of times when I was younger (but I was always too scared of getting really hurt and my brains scrambled by 40). I certainly can be and often am a coward and will back away from confrontation. But there is an animal pleasure in just squaring up to a man and trying to take him apart before he does it to you that I cannot deny I feel.

Physical fights? I used to enjoy sparring when I was younger. It was a great way to exercise and get out all of that youthful energy that one has, and it's fun to compete and develop a skill. A broken nose and a permanent scar under my left eye, however, sort of ended my enjoyment of fighting. As a 27 year old, I avoid physical confrontations at nearly all costs.

i walk erect and have thumbs on each hand...

I've never liked fighting and have never been in a serious fight.

I've come close a couple of times when I was younger, but I was always able to diffuse such situations.

I'm not exactly the kind of guy people want to fight.

I tend to feel sorry for those who do like to fight or who would rather fight than seek another path. I wish I could help diffuse such anger, as it does no one any good.

I understand that fighting in self-defense is necessary in certain situations, though I'm not sure even this is something to be liked.

What does it take to like fighting? What conditions of mind?

I think I was kind of angling at a slightly different point when I posted this.

I am not saying a physical fight is better than walking away. I certainly think walking away is better,

I am asking rather, whether in the midst of a physical confrontation the physical sensation of fighting, the act of punching and being punched, is not enjoyable on an animal level

I think the adrenaline and endorphin release is what's enjoyable, if anything.

Or the venting of anger, an emotional release.


So, I guess if one enjoys fighting, it happens on a chemical and emotional level.

how else can one enjoy any thing, other than at an emotional level?

I meant to refer to the particular emotion itself.

I can't imagine enjoying fighting with anything other than negative, destructive emotions. A kind of fleeting and deceptive enjoyment.

Fleeting I would agree with, and "destructive" I guess by definition must be true

But fleeting (true) emotions are still real while you feel them.

It's not a question about their existence. I guess it's a question of their use, their consequences.

Oh, I misunderstood.

I suspect I'd be concentrating too hard on winning to enjoy myself if I found myself in a physical altercation. There's a lot that has to go into fighting, from relaxing and allowing previous training to take over, to adaptive strategies and looking for openings. It's all very engaging and fast. It's also exhausting, which can wear on emotions.

I consider myself interestingly hypocritical about this. I don't enjoy "real" fights, I consider genuine violence to be a disgusting waste of flesh, but that's very likely because being literally half the size and weight of the people who were usually making a honest and sincere effort to do me permanent harm I learned to fight very dirty and it tended to just be an ugly affair all around.

At the same time, to use a terrible metaphor, I've got the G-Gundam thing going. The act of pitting myself against another fighter and sparring to the finish, I consider that to be something very special. Two people pushing themselves to the limit to see who can best the other physically and mentally... there's nothing quite like it.

I suppose the difference is the same as the difference between "hurt" and "harm". The act of sparring on that level is one of mutual respect without intent to... damage... the other person, as opposed to the waste of a "real" fight.

As our Lord and Savior Harry Callahan once said: "A man has got to know his limitations." My limitations are operating Velcro. So I don't fight.

Pong is about as combative as I get. I'm a huge pussy. I don't like the idea of giving someone the chance of ruining my expensive dental work.

...

Spent the last decade playing with guns and studying martial arts in an attempt to be prepared for whatever might happen. It's a control thing.

I understand the value of knowing how to fight but I don't see the point of chasing it. If you're going to be involved in violent things, don't be fair.

Example: Gunfights are two way. You only wanna be involved in shootings... incidents where you do all the shooting and they do all the dying.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

...

I guess my answer here is, "No." I don't like feeling out of control and that is what an actual "we have relatively even odds" fight involves.