Right hooks, Uploads, and Consequences

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“So run away with your fist fight ways; Mutha***** this aint back in the days….Things done changed.” Notorious B.I.G.

Many of us have been there. Glasses hit the floor, voices raise, everyone’s attention shifts, bouncer rudely rush through the crowd, the music either decreases or stops altogether, and that one annoying girl/woman either screams or yells something stupid like “Oh my God” or the ever so clever “Stop!!!” (because that always works). Yes people, it’s a bar/club fight – welcome. Or at least that was what a bar/club fight was like; these days the scenes and happenings are a bit different.

Bravado or machismo has never been so costly. These days, fist fights turn into hospitalizations, national embarrassment (more on that later), permanent bodily damage, or in worst cases – death. Wow, how could I forget jail time? Actually, a close, married friend of mine with child was incarcerated for a little over a year, for his participation in a fight just outside of a night club here in Manhattan. He not only lost a year of his life and invaluable quality time with his son and wife, he lost his job and his clean record. In another incident, a childhood friend’s father was involved in a fist fight that lead to a hospital bed and thousands of views on the internet’s popular video sites “Youtube.com” and “Worldstarhiphop.com”. Although there are obvious connections between these two incidents-like the fact that both of them took place in Manhattan, involved violence, and had horrible outcomes-there are two that people may overlook: the ease with which these incidents begun and why they carried on as long as they did.

In the first event, my friend, let’s call him “Rob” was only trying to protect his brother “Reggie.” We now live in a time where the very idea of a “fair fight” is obsolete. Teens, and adults alike, “ratpack” or “jump” their enemies for fear of what nasty outcome awaits their friends or family members. Outsiders may blame low self-control; I don’t know that I disagree, perhaps it is a combination of both–see, although, I’m always right, I can allow others to feel that same satisfaction… sometimes. Nonetheless, it was this very fear-as Reggie and Rob were outnumbered-that lead to Rob actually joining in and protecting his brother. Some people will lie–or tell the truth in few cases- and say that they would have called the cops before they joined in, but if my younger brother were involved and outnumbered there is no way I’m simply spectating. Unfortunately, many of you are like me, and can agree that you would have done the same thing, and thus been involved in a life changing debacle.

In the second situation with my friend’s father -let’s call him Tony’s dad-it was the ever–so- common war of egos. You’ve seen it or been a part of it: what starts off as a trivial disagreement, features one or two comments too many that take the heated conversation to a series of verbal chest bumps, and soon both parties are too deep into a battle to retreat. Well to make matter worse, in this scene Tony’s dad had an audience of instigators who were absolutely no help to the situation. You know the kids who talk a huge game until you say something like, “well why don’t you fight them?” and their pile of excuses is almost as big as the pile of excrement they are-I know “excrement”? really? Sorry, my mother reads this blog. Let’s just call them “punks”. If one were to watch this video-yes the video
was quickly uploaded and received several tens of thousands of views in its first week on both of the aforementioned websites-we can see that Tony’s dad was trying to appeal to his opponents more rational side by asking him if they were really about to fight over the (Mcdonald's public) bathroom. With the instigators and the challenging comments made by both parties, he was unsuccessful in his efforts, and was on the bad end of a street fight turned beat down. While watching this video, it was easy to see how this escalated into a situation neither man may have anticipated.

The only thing that could have stopped those two men from fighting was a cooler-headed bystander, and in an ideal world that bystander would have showed up and stepped in. In our world, however, fear of a weapon has become much more powerful and paralyzing. It seems that it is easier to find a gun or a knife than it is to find a hero-and in no way am I calling for a hero because capes aren’t bullet proof. The only thing more alarming than our paralyzed heroes is the sad fact that people would rather record an assault than stop one. I can honestly say, I’ve seen more fights in the past 365 days than I have in my 20 years before that – yes I’m only 21 in my mind…ugh the digression-thanks to the internet and the many who find violence entertaining. Maybe we are all victims of reality television. It’s unscripted and unexpected violence and drama has become a source of both adrenaline and amusement. If only reality T.V. were all about the Kardashians, perhaps the world would be a better place…no?

Whatever the case is, I fear for my children who I want to be tough enough to defend themselves but smart enough to walk away. For what good is the pride we try so hard to protect, if we are deceased or brain dead?