I Am Not a Violent Person

After watching the Rocky movies again in the weekend, I went home last night and a strange thought occurred to me; has anyone else noticed that my favourite things to watch are all based on violence? I mean, first you have The Rocky movies, then pro-wrestling – Miami Vice and The A-Team both have excessive use of weapons and firearms. Heck, even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles suffered the wrath of caring parents when I was a kid for being too violent!

It isn’t really something I can explain, because for the most part I would dare to say that I love these shows for reasons other than the action/violence. In the case of TMNT and the A-Team, it is the humour that has always made me appreciate the shows, while Rocky and Miami Vice have strong stories and characters that I can really care about and get involved in. And as for pro-wrestling… I’m not sure - I think that is just the redneck in me.

But do we think this exposure to violence has affected me, like groups have always claimed it would? Well, my blogs usually are filled with references to hurting someone in some way… but does that make me a violent person?

Perhaps

But then, I’ve never actually engaged in any sort of ‘physical violence’ myself; at school, I managed to avoid any actual fights (somehow – like, seriously, just thinking about it now I’m amazed. I was such a smart arse and used to be a lot smaller than what I am now… and at the roughest school in Hamilton… how on Earth did I not get beat up?) And any time I have ever had any sort of ‘injury’ was through complete stupidity on my part (like falling over on to a chair and slicing the side of my face – that sort of thing). I’ve been watching pro-wrestling on and off for 20 years, and other than a sharpshooter for everyone I meet in this life, I don’t think I’ve tried many wrestling manoeuvres on people. I’ve been on the receiving end on many, but I’ve never actually slammed anyone. Maybe if I was bigger…

And as for The A-Team and Miami Vice, I don’t see me buying guns or building tanks out of washing machines.

But I do have to concede defeat on the TMNT side, as my friends and I all had serious desires to become ninjas when we were 10; we wouldn’t hit each other, more tried to make our own nunchukas and practiced using them. We were even planning a venture into the sewers one day via the manhole in my front yard. Luckily we decided it wouldn’t be worth it, as the TMNT lived in New York.

I loved being a kid.

What was I saying about violence? I think I was trying to say that it doesn’t have influence on children. I get really annoyed every time I see someone in the paper or on TV saying that young people commit crimes because of what they see in movies, on television or in video games. To me, it is a complete cop out and an excuse for lousy parents. It also gives society something new to complain about. But I think I have actually given some weight to their argument here… I do want to put everyone in a sharpshooter. I do want to perform a corkscrew plancha over my fence onto pedestrians. I do want to live in the sewers and fight evil forces that try and take over the Earth.

But do I want to go beat someone up? No. Do I enjoy watching someone get legitimately hurt? No. For me, any sort of violence has a limit; any time I see a wrestler injure themselves, I cringe and think “arrrgh”. Every time Tubbs & Crockett shoot someone, I laugh at the lack of blood (and how there really shouldn’t be any drug dealers left in Miami, as I’m sure they had killed them all by the 4th season). And despite being weapons specialists in the Vietnam War, no one in The A-Team ever shot anyone.

Bah I hate how ‘on the fence’ I’m sounding on this. I’m really not – like I said, I’ve watched so much violence in my life that if we are to believe some people, I should have committed numerous killing sprees by now, and left everyone else injured from multiple power bombs. Saying someone is going to be violent because they have seen it in media is like saying a rich white kid is gangster because he listens to 50 Cent.

What I’m dancing around is this:

‘Fake’ violence is funny
Real violence is not