ParadiseLost
Well-known member
This is something I have been thinking about for a while.
Something I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to understate how important actually physical build is these days.
In an argument on Reddit, someone insisted that using physical force (including physically striking) a 6'+ and almost 250 lb individual was child abuse because the person was a minor, and that because the person was a minor, they were not actually a threat.
There was also whataboutism about how "all people can be dangerous."
I also notice that when discussing police brutality, few people discuss the size differences that can exist between police and the people they are arresting.
Imagine a cop who is 5'8" and 150 lbs. Realistically, how do you expect someone to easily/peacefully restrain an individual who is 6'4" and 250 lbs? Its just not going to be pleasant on either side, because the physical differences call for desperate measures on the part of the cop, who has to worry about how quickly things could go very badly for him if he loses the upper hand.
Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to investigate this, but I suspect you would see a substantial correlation between police/civilian encounters resulting in a civilians death and the size of the civilian in question, especially when controlling for other factors.
More broadly, there are the memes of "women are just as strong as men," that you sometimes see - videos of women expressing such beliefs at college campuses, for example. You also see videos like this, where some... radio hosts (?) discuss the subject, and the dude has to basically inform these grown women that they would not be able to take a 14-15 year old boy in a fight. Then you have just plain hilarious videos like this one about tennis.
Honestly, I kinda blame Hollywood more than politics for once. Hollywood portrays nearly all sizes and genders as being roughly equal in an encounter, when in reality, when unarmed, physical differences are incredibly hard to surmount.
People really don't understand just how vulnerable a women is, for example, or just how aggressive a smaller man is going to have to get against an individual who is substantially larger than him in order to subdue him in a fight.
Something I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to understate how important actually physical build is these days.
In an argument on Reddit, someone insisted that using physical force (including physically striking) a 6'+ and almost 250 lb individual was child abuse because the person was a minor, and that because the person was a minor, they were not actually a threat.
There was also whataboutism about how "all people can be dangerous."
I also notice that when discussing police brutality, few people discuss the size differences that can exist between police and the people they are arresting.
Imagine a cop who is 5'8" and 150 lbs. Realistically, how do you expect someone to easily/peacefully restrain an individual who is 6'4" and 250 lbs? Its just not going to be pleasant on either side, because the physical differences call for desperate measures on the part of the cop, who has to worry about how quickly things could go very badly for him if he loses the upper hand.
Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to investigate this, but I suspect you would see a substantial correlation between police/civilian encounters resulting in a civilians death and the size of the civilian in question, especially when controlling for other factors.
More broadly, there are the memes of "women are just as strong as men," that you sometimes see - videos of women expressing such beliefs at college campuses, for example. You also see videos like this, where some... radio hosts (?) discuss the subject, and the dude has to basically inform these grown women that they would not be able to take a 14-15 year old boy in a fight. Then you have just plain hilarious videos like this one about tennis.
Honestly, I kinda blame Hollywood more than politics for once. Hollywood portrays nearly all sizes and genders as being roughly equal in an encounter, when in reality, when unarmed, physical differences are incredibly hard to surmount.
People really don't understand just how vulnerable a women is, for example, or just how aggressive a smaller man is going to have to get against an individual who is substantially larger than him in order to subdue him in a fight.