November 08, 2004 - 12:29
I actually stood up to my dad yesterday when he started freaking out about something that he shouldn't have:
"Ryan says your grandma, Aunt Mary Ann, are over there saying you guys don't have any food."
"I guess that's because you don't give Mom money for groceries."
"What?! I don't give her money for groceries!" etc.
It was a lot better than stammering out something that would calm him down as quickly as possible, because I know I didn't do anything wrong. People getting angry scares me. I think that once they get past a certain point, they'll flip out, start throwing things, push or grab me. And with him especially. I remember when I used to fight with him all the time, and just go on talking, not thinking about anything I was saying, and before I knew it I'd be pushed down on the floor with him screaming in my face. And I don't know why I did it. I could never even remember what the fights were about afterwards.
So, yeah, people are like vicious dogs. I just read the section on aggression in this book on animal behavoir. In organizing a rank society, the younger animals challenge the older, stronger animals. Once the fighting is over and everyone has taken up a place in the society, it settles down. And by then the younger, weaker animals have learned, through losing over and over again, that they might as well not try, because they can't win. Also, animals that consistently lose fights show much lower levels of aggression than ones that win all the time.