Meditations on Violence

What Hacker News says

1. niemandhierJan 2026
   This is dangerous advice.

   You need to read the situation very carefully:

   Antisocial behavior is often an attempt to gain status in the subjects in-group. Breaking rules in a way conveys power.

   Violence against members of the out-group is an even more effective way to display dominance and hence gain status.

   Unless you play a repeated game with the other person there is little to gain for you by initiating conflict.

   Even if you assume you have something to gain, always consider the other person might have little to lose and ( my opinion) never display aggression you are not willing to back up.

   Sources: 1. Rory Miller: ”Meditations on Violence”

   2. Life experiences, that match 1’s observations

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2. nordsieckJul 2020
   If people want to understand this phenomenon better, there is no better reference I could recommend than Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence[1] - specifically what he calls the "group monkey dance"[2].

   The simplified explanation is this: the target of the attack by the group is no longer a person, but merely a target. Group members demonstrate their loyalty to the group by gradually escalating the violence they do to the target.

   ___

   1. http://amazon.com/dp/1594391181

   2. https://ymaa.com/articles/violence-dynamics

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3. SingletonedFeb 2019
   Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller.

   It's written by someone who lives violence on an everyday basis, and his insights are amazing. Particularly for people who rarely experience violence, but when they do it will be catastrophic.

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4. whiddershinsJun 2013
   I think if people were willing to be violent within their in-group merely because of hunger, all of human history would have gone differently.

   I am not sure Maslow is saying what you think he is saying, since after all he grew up in Brooklyn. :-)

   I would suggest reading Meditations on Violence, which is a beautifully flawed book, including a great section outlining a theory of violence, and what precipitates different types of violent behavior.

   http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Violence-Comparison-Martia...

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5. gaiusDec 2009
   I very strongly recommend the book Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller. One thing he mentions is that his police department tried BJJ and found things like, in BJJ you want to pin your opponent on his back because it looks good for the MMA crowd, but in police work you want to pin your opponent on his front so you can then handcuff him.

   But the really interesting bit of the book is in the description of the mindsets of different fighters. Cheating has no meaning in the mind of the true predator. Martial arts, even BJJ, designed for the ring, can't be transferred to "real world" scenarios (the author has worked in SWAT and as a prison guard) not just because the techniques aren't suitable, but because the mindset is wrong.

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6. 082349872349872Dec 2022
   The attention from my part is because it is uncommon for someone to be able to articulate the experiences of two[0] very different perspectives[1]; think of it as the modern equivalent to paying attention to a shaman?

   As for revenue, if it's any consolation I strongly doubt the dude is getting any more than people in the small-time-grift culture that he left.

   [0] eg in a more just world, Rory Miller ("Meditations on Violence") might have become an academic, but he grew up poor, and became a cop instead.

   [1] eg https://dakotavadams.substack.com/p/gunshow , about the time a gun show was programmed colocated with an anime con.

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