Both of the men on the bus were antagonists. To address your query (but if you have some better way to stop violence, I would very much like it if you would enlighten me....), both need to shut up when tensions start to overheat. Remove ego from the situation.
Seems like Epic Beard Guy had the perfect "way to stop violence" - incapacitate the attacker.
Worked well for him, and possibly many others.
Uh....the young dude’s tensioned fist was pounding the old guys perfectly relaxed face. :oO Are you saying to just bleed and smile and hope everything works out swell as we are getting beaten?
Who defends you when you are threatened ?
Do you ever leave your MAC and go out in the real world ?
If you leave your house, do you ever get out of mom’s SUV ?
Let me guess; you were a theater major.
that all sounds good...but in reality, it does not work...
I have dealt with these kinds of people more often than I would ever want to admit. That kid will think twice before hitting someone again. But if ya just let punks like him think he has won by walking away, he will just keep getting braver and braver each time.
Also, notice that both the young punk and the old man withdrew at one point. The kid realized he was ticked off, admitted it, and withdrew. The old man left and sat elsewhere. It was when the old man withdrew that the youngin started to feel empowered and then became aggressive enough to get up and walk toward the old man. Eventually he decided that he had achieved alpha status to the level that he felt secure enough, and powerful enough to resort to violence. He is exactly the type of thug that feeds his violent tendencies by interacting with people he expects to withdrawal. He would have never pulled that stunt on a 67 yr old man sitting amidst 20 of his biker buddies.
I wish the world was as easy as just turning from violence in order to prevent it.