Assault.

According to this report.... a 21 year old man was charged with throwing a snowball at a woman who was waiting for the bus. There was a mistrial, then a new trial was set, and then the crages were dismissed.

The consensus of netizens everywhere is that this lady is a cry baby and that this case is frivolous.

This may shock my regular readers but I for one don't think so, and am proud of her for a few reasons.

1. She had to anticipate this reaction, and yet she went ahead. That's courage. Some women are too afraid to report rape for fear of local ridicule, this woman risked global ridicule over simple assault and perhaps even principal.

2. Assault is assault. Either we are allowed to hit the people that annoy us or we aren't. This position smacks more of integrity to me than pettiness. of course I don't know the woman.

3. I've been nailed with a chunk of ice before and I'm pretty sure that was my first broken rib.

4. She was with her boyfriend and did not brow beat him into physically beating the other man, and he did not rush to do it himself, so she seems to have chosen well I think with regard to her mate, something very rare among females. (every woman has a parade of idiot ex boyfriends in their past they are more than happy to tell you about if you just ask... so don't think I'm just bitching because women hate me :P )

5. She could have played the sex card by saying he threw it at her butt or something but she decided to be honest.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm as much a hater of typical damsels in distress as anyone, thats what my next post will be. And people do need to whine less about some things(and more about others, like say income tax, and the federal reserve), but if someone nails me in the back with an ice ball I would report them as well.

The idiot wisdom on this is that I should just throw one back or 'be a man and kick some ass' but I don't subscribe to the fight-for-face culture. Fighting should be attempted murder, if should be that serious and that much avoided. If I'm fighting someone it's because they are trying to kill me and I will try to kill them. In my opinion there should be no crime classification 'assault'. It should be assumed that if you were attacking someone you wanted them dead.

Fighting without lethal intent is worthless antler bashing and I won't do it. Which means my only other option is the legal system. Every time I've ever been in a fight I was trying to kill the other person. I haven't fought in my adult life because I don't fight unless I'm prepared to kill, and if I'm going to have to kill, I'm going to have a good, and very likely legal, reason to do it, hence my concealed weapons permit.

This case and the cultural reaction to it is a prime example of whats wrong with our school system and our child rearing laws. All the idiots who don't understand why this woman called the cops, or think she's weak for doing so are simply angry because at some point in their lives they were assaulted, either by their parents, a teacher, or a fellow student like this, but were too scared to stand up legally for themselves. They were told that their demand for justice and fair play and personal space was a sign of weakness. ('walk it off boy' 'don't be a pussy' etc.) and they either internalized this edict (if you cant beat'em, join'em.) or they don't want her to see justice because they saw none.

Now, I've been in that situation, I know it sucks to get hurt and not be able to do anything about it. But I'm not going to let that corrupt my idea of ethics. Here is the foundation of all ethics, you do not act in a fashion which causes a net drop in human happiness. Now some long term happiness requires an investment of short term happiness, such as building a deck, or saving your money, but thats not a drop so much as a lack of rise, which is a whole other essay.

I have a series of questions for those who thinks this woman is weak. Would a hand full of talcum powder be any better? How about a hand full of change? At what density does it become assault?

The point is, legally, we've drawn the line at intentional contact. You're not supposed to strike another person against their will. If you don't like it, bitch at the law, not this woman.