- Violence is applied across lots of different levels for lots of different purposes, with different intended (and actual) effects. In that last sentence I pointed out three independent variables, each of which has countless options. Violence is complicated.
- Violence is, or has been, used by pretty much everybody (and will be for a considerable time yet).
Say I get into a fight with someone, an otherwise civilised gent who loses his temper and goes physical. The engendered socialized side makes way for the inexperienced animal side, and what starts small can suddenly escalate if he gets a pen, I pull my keys and in the space of half a second we're both beyond where we initially were prepared to go psychologically.
That is when it's stupid. Stupid to start something without considering where it will end up. The guy who mugs you at knifepoint when he isn't prepared for the consequences (killing, dying, wounding, arrest, jail) is stupid. The guy who mugs you at knifepoint when he has considered risk vs. return may be an immoral heartless inhumane bastard, but he's much more likely to do it successfully and he's not stupid.
I know I'm not considering morality here. There are a few reasons for this, but only one will fit here: Not everyone is a moral being. Assuming that humans have a lower limit on how they depraved they can be is dangerous. By closing your mind; shutting your eyes and ears and saying it isn't so, you help hide the elephant in the room. It's important to acknowledge it's existence, even though the thought can make you sick in the stomach.
