Techie Fight Clubs Springing Up

Browncoat writes "USAToday reports a new phenomenon hitting some of the cubicles of Silicon Valley. It seems that engineers and developers previously confined to sitting in front of their computers are getting their anger out the healthy way: by pummeling each other. From the article 'Inspired by the 1999 film Fight Club, starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton, underground bare-knuckle brawling clubs have sprung up across the country as a way for desk jockeys and disgruntled youths to vent their frustrations and prove themselves. "This is as close as you can get to a real fight, even though I've never been in one," the soft-spoken Siou said.'"

Comments

Weenie Club

[Skyshadow]

Weird, I don't remember Fight Club being about a bunch of dorks in headgear smacking each other with sticks until one of them got a bloody nose while spouting poorly-paraphrased movie quotes at some bored reporter.

Aside from which, I loved how they worked in this:

Earlier this month in Arlington, Texas, a high school student who didn't want to participate was beaten so badly that he suffered a brain hemorrhage and broken vertebrae. Six teenagers were arrested after DVDs of the fight appeared for sale online.

So exactly when did "getting your ass kicked by a bunch of jerks" turn into being "an unwilling Fight Club participant"? I suppose next we'll be hearing about how Ken Lay and company were actually just repeating what they learned by watching "Wall Street" at the executive team-building offsite? Or how the well-abused Zonk and ScuttleMonkey voodoo dolls on my desk are actually just a result of my having seen part of "The Craft" one time on HBO?

Re:Weenie Club

[timeOday]

I don't remember Fight Club being about a bunch of dorks in headgear smacking each other with sticks until one of them got a bloody nose while spouting poorly-paraphrased movie quotes at some bored reporter.

Then again, Fight Club is not real. It's not fair to complain when real life falls short of fiction.

There's no need for RL violence

[UmberGryphon]

The teams I've been on have always handled stress by Quake/Unreal Tournament/etc. deathmatching. What's the appeal of brawling? Same thrill of victory, longer-lasting agony of defeat.

Re:There's no need for RL violence

[Irish_Samurai]

While i will admit that a good multiplayer fragfest will vent some frustrations, there is nothing better than a good sparring match. You don't even have to get to heavy with it, some basic response and counter work is really exhilerating - especially between two equally skilled people who respect each other and are open to practicing variants.

These guys sound like dickless morons who watch way too much UFC. The guy in the photo looks like an idiot using those Kali sticks. When using them you don't get within knee strike range, and you definitely dont try to graple in the manner he is.

In my opinion these guys need to go to a real dojo, roll with some real experts, and learn that combat for the purpose of ego masturbation is fucking pointless.

Unsupport claims

[remembertomorrow]

Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

Is this fact, or just poor reporting?

Re:Unsupport claims

[DragonWriter]

It is probably a fact that "Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor".

It is poor (though typical) reporting that these types of claims are reported simply as "so-and-so says", but it saves journalist from having to have any knowledge of or do any research in the field they are covering, they can simply find the nearest person with a degree or job in a superficially relevant field, and get a quote, and go home for the day. If they are particularly ambitious, they'll get two conflicting quotes from different experts, to show "balance".

Re:Unsupport claims

[nsmike]

Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

Read:

Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from jocks, jerks and bullies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor, who got the sh*t kicked out of him every day for wanting to be a gender studies professor.

Re:Unsupport claims

[slamb]

The article said: Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

DragonWriter said: It is poor (though typical) reporting that these types of claims are reported simply as "so-and-so says", but it saves journalist from having to have any knowledge of or do any research in the field they are covering, they can simply find the nearest person with a degree or job in a superficially relevant field, and get a quote, and go home for the day. If they are particularly ambitious, they'll get two conflicting quotes from different experts, to show "balance".

PCM2 said: I see. And so, in your opinion, not-poor reporting would presumably involve the reporter spending the next six years getting an advanced degree in psychiatry and then stating his own opinion?

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

I can't speak for DragonWriter, but I'd like to see evidence for a wild claim like that. Perhaps a reference to a peer-reviewed study. I don't have much respect for sociologists or gender studies professors. I can't think off-hand how to perform a well-controlled experiment that would determine if what this guy said is true, so I bet he couldn't either.

No weapons!

[khasim]

From TFA:

Kicking, punching and swinging every household object imaginable -- from frying pans and tennis rackets to pillowcases stuffed with soda cans -- they beat each other mercilessly in a garage in this bedroom community south of San Francisco.

What the fuck?

Hitting someone with a frying pan? What fool would take that?

Using your fists on someone ... that I can see. The damage level is low (unless you're trained) and you get really tired really quickly.

But using a blunt object? If you're anything other than a spaz, you'll crush a few ribs the first time you connect. Then the fights over.

Re:No weapons!

[DragonWriter]

Hitting someone with a frying pan? What fool would take that?

The same fool, I suppose, that would say "I'm bored, let's find some other techies and start beating the crap out of each other."

Or, I suppose, that would watch the fictional account of a character that went completely and destructively insane (but who may have, at the end of the story, "saved" himself by shooting himself in the head) and say "hey, let's imitate that."

Fight Club is a good movie. Imitating because your life is boring is, well, a sign that you need serious help.

Re:No weapons!

[Adult film producer]

"Hitting someone with a frying pan? What fool would take that?

But using a blunt object? If you're anything other than a spaz, you'll crush a few ribs the first time you connect. Then the fights over."

We live in a nation where 45% of eligible voters believe the world is 6000 years old and their kids think WWF wrestlers are quality role models to be emulated.... It doesn't surprise me at all that people are smacking each other around with frying pans.

Re:No weapons!

[molarmass192]

According to a 2001 Gallup poll on the origins of humans, they estimate that 72% of Americans believe in some form of creationism (as defined above). They also estimate that about 45% of Americans concurred with the statement that "God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years."

Supporting link, link, and right from the horse's mouth link.

Utopian Nostalgia

[GeekLife.com]

Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

Hopefully we can someday return to the world where none of thoseexisted, and men never fought each other.

Consumerism

[oSand]

"You get to be a superhero for a night," Klimanis said. "We have to go to work every day. We're constantly told to buy things we don't need, and just for a couple hours we have the freedom to do what we want to do."

Yes, buy things like the Fight Club DVD, you sheep. Some people, if worried about excessive consumerism, would stop buying shit.

Men involved in fight clubs often carry bottled-up violent impulses learned in childhood from video games, cartoons and movies, said Michael Messner, a University of Southern California sociology and gender studies professor.

Videogames. Always videogames. I'm surprised he hasn't blamed myspace.

"The freedom to do what we want to do"

[MavEtJu]

"You get to be a superhero for a night," Klimanis said. "We have to go to work every day. We're constantly told to buy things we don't need, and just for a couple hours we have the freedom to do what we want to do."

And that is beating each other up? Idiots...

Re:Repetition Club

[linvir]

It's sad, too, because if people would give it a rest I actually liked the book and the movie.

You know, you are allowed to like them despite a load of other people being dicks about it. Kind of like the internet.

I'd say that picture was staged.

[khasim]

Look at the position of the leg with regards to the arm.

If it was a straight in kick, his leg would be tangled up with his opponent's hand.

If it was a side kick, his leg would be connecting with his opponent's shoulder. Look how his kicking foot is outside of both their bodies.

"Superhero for a night"

[DragonWriter]

Along the line of the parent:

"You get to be a superhero for a night," Klimanis said.

Superheros go out and fight wrongdoing in society.

Beating up (or being beaten up by) other geeks is not being "a superhero for a night".

Reading comprehension

[Profound]

If you got "the solution to our problems is kicking each other" from Fight Club the movie, then you must have only watched the 1st 1/2 of the movie.

Extremists misinterpreting literature for ideology is hardly new, though. These people are hitting each other with heavy metal objects, they are probably addicted to the body's painkillers or the feeling their brain makes while it is being made retarded.

Confusing to say the least

[ArchAngelQ]

Ok, as someone who *has* been in more than my fair share of fights, studied martial arts, etc, I'm confused by this to a certain degree. Not by the fight clubs, just the news story. I haven't had to use my martial arts skills in anger or self defense, because my insturctor taught self respect and that first rule: the best way to not get hurt by a punch is to not get hit by it. That means he focused on avoiding blows, not blocking them, but it also means he focused on avoiding fights in the first place. Anyway.

The reporter is making these folks out to sound like crazies.... They aren't. They are men frustrated by their daily lives. I can understand this desire to vent physical frustration in a very real way. I learned that I don't need to hit anyone in order to do that, just pratice the martial arts forms I have learned. That is either not something these guys have tried, or found to be satisfactory. That's fine, and as long as they all agree to what they are doing, have at.

He focuses on one guy at the end who is making... questionable choices, certainly from how they where presented. Married later in life (than social norms, mind, for all that's worth), choosing to go to this fight club instead of taking the time out to be with his wife, on their first anniversary, for a very important event in her life. Talking about how tough it makes him feel... sounds like he's got other issues to me. Sounds like the writer is trying to focus on that.

Oh, and the trying to link teen violence to this stuff, and childhood media exposure? That's just poor reporting, and poor taste.

I'm modding this story -3 troll.

Sorry ...

[willtsmith]

Sorry, "Fight Club" was about rebellion and self realization. Same thing with another movie of that time "American Beauty".

The protaginist (he has no name) is a bitch office worker who subconsciously develops an aggressive persona that manifests itself when he "sleeps". There was no homo-sexuality in the film. The only person who got fucked was Marla. The fact that men were hugging in a testicle cancer support group is meant to be farscicle.

Quit projecting.