Poll: Which is worse, punching up or punching down?

[FirstNameLastName]

Personally, I say neither one is better or worse than the other and it should be taken on a case by case basis. From seeing the way this punching up/down concept often gets used it seems like a step towards the idea that you can do no wrong since you've declared yourself less privileged than your opponent, therefore, your attack is inherently more just.

If we're talking about comedy on the other hand, the same thing more or less applies. The purpose of comedy is to make people (of a certain comedic persuasion) laugh, not to be an arm of some political group. You can use your comedy for that purpose if you wish, but you should not expect anyone else to do so if they do not wish.

 

[Abomination]

It's all subjective - though more often than not, punching down is worse.

 

[sageoftruth]

No mention of the "Power Dunk" a.k.a. rising above someone and then punching down at them?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

People shouldn't be punching at all. Better to grapple, then subdue an opponent with tender kisses on the neck.

 

[FalloutJack]

It's not really the punching that's the problem. It's the C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!

 

[Frankster]

Punching up causes more damage because our frail human bodies isn't quite designed to withstand blows coming from below, granted our frail human bodies isn't immune to punches from above either but punches from below are far more likely to cause serious damage and hit somewhere vulnerable.

Oh wait that's not the topic. Well depends on the case, in general the one who started it tends to be the bad guy imo.

In OP's example though... I actually side with the person who start it simply because I hate the "oh but I'm rich whilst you're wasting your life having a mundane job trolololol" vibe.
I fucking hate this mentality in our society, a job is a job and it's uncool to spit on someone because they are a janitor and be all like "lol what a loser"!

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

I always found uppercuts easier in Mortal Kombat but I haven't played that for over a decade probably.

The worst is punching me of course.

 

[Rahkshi500]

It depends on who you're punching and what the quality of the punch is. Some might say that punching up is less harmful, but I find to be something that can easily be abused and lead to dehumanization. On the flipside of the coin, some might say that punching down only marginalizes groups that are already marginalized; while it's easy to see why that would be the case, at the same time, it's a flawed argument as well because that's implying that such groups are beyond criticism because they are marginalized, and that can lead to members of those groups doing horrible things and have others condoned them for it.

 

[kris40k]

On-Topic: Should have a "neither/both" option. The whole punching up/down us just some crap people who want to excuse their bad behavior came up with so they can lie to themselves to feel morally right while acting like assholes.

Off-Topic: Punching up is worse. That's how you knock people off the ground and into the spikepit or acid.

 

[gLoveofLove]

Punching first is worse. The same statement provoked would create a very different feeling.

 

[FPLOON]

You punch-out, not punch-in! If you punch-in, you're part of the punching game... If you punch-out, you win the game...

Other than that, I prefer slapping... especially with fancy [white] gloves...

 

[SecondPrize]

Here's the thing, people who punch are dicks. Dicks like to come up with reasons for their actions so others think they're not dicks. So you run into situations where someone punches a speaker at a convention for something he said and even when it turns out he may not have exactly said that, 90% of the media and voices screaming about the matter back the puncher then who is it that's above the other? If you're the one getting interviews for the GamerGate fracas and all your friends are gaming press and by a large margin your voices are the only ones getting heard anywhere outside of social media, how is it you can claim you're punching up at gamers on behalf of the marginalized when it's the gamers in this situation who are at the margins?
Someone who's going to hit someone else is a ****. Who was that dickbag who got his dumb ass fired for tearing into Felicia Day out of nowhere on twitter or some shit? He was some no-name wannabe journalism and she's done shit in the industry and he was punching up to get some attention and it was still fucking cuntish.
Punching up and down are expressions used by horrible people to excuse their own actions while they decry those same actions when perpetrated by others. No one likes a hypocrite.

 

[MisterLiver]

Well, if everyone punched within their own weight class, the common Twitter/Facebook/forum-user (Keybordicus Narcissus) would basically be the bottom of the barrel forever, and nobody who had a large following would ever be challenged. In the specific incident to which you're referring, I don't think Tom from Myspace is exactly "above" anyone at this point. In general, it's better to punch up, to argue against a popular notion that you find irrational or simple-minded, rather than argue against a point without a lot of exposure, about which you feel the same way. If you argue against something unpopular that you think is silly...I mean what's the point? It's already being phased out, there's no point in arguing with someone who has no voice.

 

[Vault101]

while the complaints about punching down always come down to someone not wanting to be the punchline of a joke, criticized, or otherwise reminded that they are flawed

oh sure its not like being constantly dehumanized/erased/mocked over things like race/gender/sexuality is like...[I/]real[/I] or anything or have "effects" or shit like that, I mean I make jokes about she-males and trannys all the time but untilatmley we all know transwomen are treated with respect and understanding in our society

or me "I" never got my panties in a twist over silly things people said about fat ugly dykes or women [sub/](amiright? women huh? fuckin women)[/sub] in general, I just used to be severely unhappy all the time but that's normal right?

/SSSSSSSSSS

 

[Drathnoxis]

I have no idea what you are talking about. Is this the hip new lingo that the kids are using nowdays? Because I've never heard 'punching' used in that fashion before.

 

[DerangedHobo]

Depends if the punching up or down was a warranted act. Punching up at a politician for a rather questionable statement or a corporation for pumping shit into the water table, for example. Punching down could be warranted if it was punching down at a group of individuals whose ideologies could also be questionable.

Granted, this can come down to opinion but provided the evidence is concrete in either specific group or individual(s) having a negative effect, I'd argue both can be appropriate.