Originally Posted by
horus11B
In most of the cultures I've lived in, casual contact only happens between people who know each other. Alot of asian cultures refrain from touching each other at all in public. Arabic cultures do no allow men and women to touch each other in public at all. Some south american cultures view close proximity as a threat. If you stare someone in the eye in any of these cultures its considered an invitation to fight.
I guess we see it differently. I'll agree that excessive physical contact is not welcome in a lot of societies. However, the same Arab cultures have a lot of physical contact between men. Take a walk along Ipanema and you'll see young Brasilian men horsing around, with a lot of physical contact. Getting off a domestic flight in India involves getting dry-humped by some impatient jackass behind you.
Northern Europe is probably the place where random/casual physical contact between strangers is the least welcome and even there, it is perceived as unwelcome and not an overt act of hostility.
A hand on the shoulder is leverage, its probably an exagerration to view it as such because it always comes down to intent, but with one hand on one of your sholders I can move you in any direction I want you to go.
And that would probably escalate into a fight, b/c if someone grabs any part of my appendage in order to control my body, my jujitsu reflexes kick in and I will try to counter/trap you - in which case you will respond in kind, and before we know it, we are fighting. Which would have been the absolute opposite of my intent.
That was my point - I can understand you dont like being touched. But with all due respect, your response to incidental contact is FAR more likely to result in an innocent interaction being blown into a fight, than be a useful act of self-defense against hostility.
And I have to admit, I find that mindset a little disturbing. If you were some crazy, hopped-up meth user, it'd be one thing. But you seem like a pretty reasonable guy based on our interactions here, so I am a little surprised that you consider such a response to be appropriate.
Anyway, we'll have to disagree here - just dont punch me when I get off the bike and give you the Guadzilla Special 3 Euro Cheek Kisses, which is what I do to every roadie I encounter
