Meditations on Violence
by Rory Kane Miller · first published 2008
8mentions
5recommended by
8HN commenters
2009–2026first – last mentioned
63% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Written by a corrections officer and martial artist, it offers experience-based insight into violence, de-escalation, and how real confrontations differ from sport; useful for martial artists and others.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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If people want to understand this phenomenon better, there is no better reference I could recommend than Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence[1] - specifically what he calls the "group monkey dance"[2]. The simplified explanation is this: the target of the attack by the group is no longer a person, but merely a target. Group members demonstrate…
on “Internet mob justice can easily destroy innocent lives (2019)” ↗I very strongly recommend the book Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller. One thing he mentions is that his police department tried BJJ and found things like, in BJJ you want to pin your opponent on his back because it looks good for the MMA crowd, but in police…
on “The Master, The Expert, The Programmer” ↗…merely because of hunger, all of human history would have gone differently. I am not sure Maslow is saying what you think he is saying, since after all he grew up in Brooklyn. :-) I would suggest reading Meditations on Violence, which is a beautifully flawed book, including a great section outlining a theory of violence, and what precipitates different types of violent behavior. http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Violence-Comparison-Martia...
on “United States incarceration rate” ↗Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller. It's written by someone who lives violence on an everyday basis, and his insights are amazing. Particularly for people who rarely experience violence, but when they do it will be catastrophic.
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗…you assume you have something to gain, always consider the other person might have little to lose and ( my opinion) never display aggression you are not willing to back up. Sources: 1. Rory Miller: ”Meditations on Violence” 2. Life experiences, that match 1’s observations
on “STFU” ↗For martial arts practitioners (or just those interested in the subject or self defence etc), Rory Miller uses the OODA loop for framing some of his advice in his Meditations on Violence: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3396377-meditations-on-v...
on “The OODA Loop: How Fighter Pilots Make Fast and Accurate Decisions” ↗…to a shaman? As for revenue, if it's any consolation I strongly doubt the dude is getting any more than people in the small-time-grift culture that he left. [0] eg in a more just world, Rory Miller ("Meditations on Violence") might have become an academic, but he grew up poor, and became a cop instead. [1] eg https://dakotavadams.substack.com/p/gunshow , about the time a gun show was programmed colocated with an anime con.
on “Redpill Op: How online White Supremacists ruined 4chan” ↗Fair enough, I'll add a warning. Edit: I wanted to demonstrate the stupidity of this question: "How is Meditations on Violence supposed to convey the brutality of life as well as the other titles?" The quote is not representative of the general tenor of the book, but it is representative of why that question is dumb.
on “Brutality of Life Reading List” ↗