Why Violence is Good.
Sometimes good things are too expensive, and sometimes bad things are worth it.
Some things are desirable for the effect they produce, and somethings are good for their own sake. Money and exercise are good because of what they bring us, whereas happiness is worth having for it’s own sake. In contrast, things like fentanyl are bad because of their consequences, whereas pain is just bad. Food, I’d argue, is a neutral thing because it has good consequences when it’s required but bad consequences when it is surplus. There’s a lot of agreement on which things are good and bad, but considerable disagreement on which things we should pursue. I submit that the reason for the disagreement is that bad things have their uses and good things come at a price.
Sometimes, the trade off is obvious. Pleasure is a good thing to have, but if you pursue it using oppiods, the price isn’t worth paying. Pain is really bad, but if you avoid pain with drugs the cure becomes worse than the disease. What we should take away from this is “Whenever we pay a price for something good, we are also receiving a benefit from something bad.” The difference is a matter of perspective, and unless we distinguish inherently bad things, from good things that aren’t worth their bad consequences, we’ll never have a productive argument.
For example, an argument over whether or not alcohol is evil is much less productive than an argument over whether or not it’s benefits outweigh its bad consequences. I’d like to suggest that violence is not an inherently bad thing, or even a neutral thing. Violence is a good thing that we avoid due to it’s high price.
I define violence as “the display of destructive physical power”. Violence is distinct from cruelty because, it can exist completely independently from suffering or malice. Volcanic explosions or asteroid impacts can be extremely violent, but nature lacks the intent necessary to be cruel. Also, violence is not inherently harmful, controlled demolitions display enormous destructive power while rarely hurting anyone. Pure violence, inspires a sense of wonder and alertness which makes us feel more alive. This is probably why successful entertainment products often contain consequence free violence as their primary constituent.
Viking warriors envisioned Valhalla as a place of constant combat. Warriors would spend eternity hitting each other with axes and swords, only to watch the opponents wounds close after the weapon was removed. If Viking Warriors primarily loved killing and inflicting pain, then constantly hitting an opponent who never died would have been torture much like rolling a boulder uphill for all eternity. Instead, Vikings looked forward to getting the thrill of smashing a skull without the attendant downside of human suffering. If it’s possible to conceive of a paradise without pain or death, but filled with violence, then violence must be one of those good things that we avoid because of its high price.
It’s always exciting to discover that something commonly thought of as bad, is actually pretty good. It gives us an opportunity to get in early and stock up before everyone else figures out the secret, like Bitcoin miners in 2010. All we need is a method of “mining” violence by separating it from the coarseness of the pain and injury that typically surround it. The best method I know is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).
What could be more violent than forcing another human being into a prone position and choking them with lethal force? How about throwing them to the ground first? The genius of BJJ is that it allows people to pursue these extreme levels of violent behavior without causing attendant suffering or injury. You get the rush of destructive power without the awkward consequences.
Most people get the occasional taste of violence by watching films or reading religious texts,but they inevitably encounter diminishing returns. A recent Marvel Movie wowed audiences by depicting the murder of half of all life in the Universe, but the result was barely more exciting than Die Hard. If the next film blows the entire universe to smithereens with some kind of quantum super-bomb, it’s unlikely to double audience enjoyment. In contrast BJJ delivers non stop action as fast as the human mind can absorb it. A typical training session, consists of a violent assault every 5 minutes, and the imediacy of the violence makes the effect much more scale-able than in the case of vicarious simulated violence. Furthermore, the two forms of violent entertainment are not mutually exclusive. BJJ practitioners are free to listen to rap music as they choke each other and then watch the Avengers when they return home.
Violence is wonderful medicine, it increases our alertness, fosters a healthy hormonal profile, and builds emotional integrity by encouraging self examination. Violence makes us less fragile. Tragically, the suffering and pain that result from violence increase fragility. We should be skeptical of people who encourage us to become “anti-fragile, at the cost of increasing other’s fragility.” Training in a martial art like BJJ is a wonderful way to get the benefits of violence, without the hypocrisy entailed by actually harming others, and some of us will lose weight at the same time.
