[user104658]

Originally Posted by GiRTh

Thats all very subjective and we need to be in that situation to truly know how we'd react.

Its about making that aggressive physical move and when that happens we cant predict what people will do. The fact that there were two bolsters your argument but, you put your hand on me, I put my hand on you. Its not right its how it goes.

While it may sound like an extremely odd flex - I've been in more aggressive physical encounters with bigoted 70+ year olds than I can even count, and I would say around 5 or 6 that involved a shove, clothing being grabbed, a vague swing being taken and while I was never actually punched, the worst incident did involve tables being flipped & chairs thrown.

I will I suppose add that there was obviously no race element, and also that I was working at the time (although I don't think that part is relevant in terms of talking about people losing their temper - I certainly didn't have any sort of conflict training).

But I can say with absolute certainty that I have never and would never take a swing at an old man, because the likelihood of serious harm is just too high. Being really blunt... In those situations they seem pathetic, a bit sad, and you're mainly worried that if they don't calm down they're going to end up hurting themself.