Badly Flawed Signal

[Doktor Howl]

The only way to affect real change, I am told by wiser heads than myself, is to find the fatal flaw in a false belief, which will allow the entire false structure to collapse.

Say, for example, that a middle-aged man is walking through a portion of Congress Street that is under contruction, and has those wooden tunnels.  At say, 11:30 PM last Saturday Night.  And just suppose he sees a young lady coming the other direction with a look of terror on her face.  And - just as a hypothetical, imagine there are two other college students, both male, following her and cat-calling and making lewd suggestions, with the sort of smiles that say that the evenings entertainments might involve more than scaring the shit out of a 21-ish girl.

To futher the example, the middle aged man calls them cunts and gives them a one-time offer to fuck off.  The young lady panics completely and freezes, as her instincts betray her...So the situation does not end, and instead becomes a testosterone thing.  The offer expires, and a fairly brutal beating ensues.

That's how it might seem, but every assumption is a product of bad signal.

In no particular order:

1.  The boys thought they were beer-fueled studs.  If they had been, they would have had willing girls that wanted to do more than act like a terrified bunny in a world of coyotes.
2.  The notion that this isn't exactly what the boys were after.
3.  The girl had it in her head - for reasons unknown - that walking in a deserted section of the road, blocked by wooden panels from vision to and from the club entrances 200 meters away, was a proper plan.
4.  The idea that the midde-aged man was there to save her, rather than merely taking out his aggressions and pent-up frustration in a way that generated no moral qualms.
5.  That there was a fist fight.  Middle aged men do not win fist fights with men less than half their age.  This may have been the most important part; the boys expected a fist fight.  The did not expect 30 inches of #35 chain.

In addition several basic instincts were ignored.

1.  The girl sought cover behind her "defender", instead of hauling ass as fast as possible while said "defender" was between her and her tormentors.
2.  The boys were presented with something out of the ordinary, something almost surreal, and (probably due to intoxication) attempted to bluff and talk shit to a sober man who had absolutely no interest in what they had to say, and was in fact moving up for a confrontation involving lots of SHUT UP LIKE HELL.
3.  The boys failed to register the fact that a middle-aged man most likely has kids the exact same age as the young lady.
4.  The boys seemed to fall to the - understandable - belief that this was a white knight thing, which of course it was not.  It was an excuse.

The interesting point here is that if any of the above assumptions/instincts had been properly examined, the beating would not have occurred, and - more importantly - a middle aged man would not have VERY stiff muscles in his back.

[Eater of Clowns]

Holy crap dude. No other injuries besides stiffness I take it?

[Doktor Howl]

Holy crap dude. No other injuries besides stiffness I take it?

Not on me.  I got a little carried away and yanked the crap out of my right paraspinal.   The girl was not physically harmed at all.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Did it work from a "working out pent up aggression" standpoint?

[Doktor Howl]

Did it work from a "working out pent up aggression" standpoint?

Quite nicely.  It was win-win all around.

[LMNO]

Tucson has the hero it deserves.

[Doktor Howl]

Tucson has the hero it deserves.

No.  It deserves sharks strapped to skateboards.

And the point is that this wasn't "heroic".  I wanted to fight.

[Reginald Ret]

I assume they survived.
I'm glad you had fun and that it ended this way instead of the other ways it could have ended.

[Meunster]

This is why we need to arm the general populace so we can achieve true equality. If the girl was caring a long arm I'm sure she'd get alot less cat calls.

[LMNO]

Tucson has the hero it deserves.

No.  It deserves sharks strapped to skateboards.

And the point is that this wasn't "heroic".  I wanted to fight.

I guess I meant Tucson deserves middle aged men roaming the streets looking for someone to fight.

[Doktor Howl]

This is why we need to arm the general populace so we can achieve true equality. If the girl was caring a long arm I'm sure she'd get alot less cat calls.

This is Arizona.  Everyone involved would probably have been armed, except they'd been to the pub.

But thank you.  I shall place in my Big Book of Weird Right Wing Bullshit for later.

[Doktor Howl]

Tucson has the hero it deserves.

No.  It deserves sharks strapped to skateboards.

And the point is that this wasn't "heroic".  I wanted to fight.

I guess I meant Tucson deserves middle aged men roaming the streets looking for someone to fight.

Well, the fuckers can find someone else.  I didn't get a glove laid on me, and my back hurts like hell.   

Also, I am now in love with sharks strapped to skateboards.  With rockets tied to them.

[Doktor Howl]

I assume they survived.
I'm glad you had fun and that it ended this way instead of the other ways it could have ended.

If you kill them, they don't learn.

[The Wizard Joseph]

I assume they survived.
I'm glad you had fun and that it ended this way instead of the other ways it could have ended.

If you kill them, they don't learn.

This!

No such thing as a fair fight, but if it's not educational something is missing.

It's just basic street sense that if you're called out by 1 older man, apparently armed only with a GRIN, and you outnumber him it's time to stop and think.

Sadly even basic sense is in short supply. I don't blame you for taking the opportunity man.

[Doktor Howl]

It's just basic street sense that if you're called out by 1 older man, apparently armed only with a GRIN, and you outnumber him it's time to stop and think.

Sadly even basic sense is in short supply.

Booze was in stock, though, which may at least partially explain this.