One should never underestimate that mouthy santa-lookin’ 67-year old Vietnam vet wearin’ shorts and a fanny pack. You just never know.

Audio may be NSFW. Via BuzzFeed.

Kelly O—formerly a Stranger staff photographer, music writer, Drunk of the Week columnist, and more!—finished art school and a soul-crushing internship at a corporate advertising agency in Detroit,...

98 replies on “Lunchtime Quickie: The Metro Bus Fight to End All Metro Bus Fights”

  6. @50- FTW. Two assholes of different colors come together and act like assholes while a third asshole films it.

    Like someone else said, this is just sad.

  12. @61, he could have shut up. He did nothing to defuse the situation, he kept the situation alive. They were both talking about how tough they were. If the old guy had shut his yap that kid would not have walked up there. Yes, the kid is stupid for taking a swing over words, but the old timer knew this kid was willing to scrap over this idiocy, kept talking, and a fight happened.
    Both of these guys needed to shut the fuck up. The few times people flipped me shit, I didn’t talk shit back, and you know how many of those times I got in a fight? 0, goosegg, nada. Old timer was looney and off his meds, kept talking, the kid was full of bravado, kept talking, and got knocked the fuck out. Motherfucker, thuggy g, and the chick filming this are all assholes. The only thing the old man did right was walk away, which wasn’t enough since he kept talking shit.

    So, yes, I did watch the video, and I can tell that you don’t know shit about the nature of human conflict. Maybe you are the tool!

    When I was a kid, my Dad told me he used to talk shit to people to get them to fight, so that he wouldn’t be the one to throw the first punch, the same game this old geezer was playing

  13. Well, that was depressing. One brainfucked old vet and one shit-stupid young failure. One guy got hurt but no one won. There was no reason to escalate the shit-talking to violence but there was no goddamn reason to keep up the shit-talking, either, except stupid fucking machismo. They both oughta land in jail.

  14. Tingley’s got it. Crazy dude gets ZERO credit for walking away cuz he still didn’t stop talking shit. Wannabe gangstah meets PTSD reactionary and they both want to fight but need the other guy to throw the first punch. Schoolyard dickwagging.

  15. Missing Carlin, thank you for getting what WTVT obviously missed. The only forgiveness for the old dude is that he is crazy (he was taken for mental evaluation after the incident). The filmer, in the second video, took joy in taunting this man. Don’t fuck with crazy people, they suffer enough in this world and you never really know what they are going to do.

  16. Only Seattle liberals could be confused by this video….

    Can’t blame the black man, he’s oppressed.

    Can blame Epic Beard man, he has ‘mental health’ issues.

    Why not just sit back, enjoy the show and laugh your ass off like normal people?

  17. Kick, did you not understand the part where I said they were both assholes, that they both needed to shut the fuck up?
    So, if the rest of us are so confused, what is your take? Don’t just sit there telling us how stupid we are without offering some perspective. No perspective to offer? Then shut up! Nobody has let the black guy off, few of us let epic beard guy off either, and some of us even socked it to the bitch filming this. So get off your high horse, if you want to condemn us, tell us what is right, not what is wrong.

  19. I’m fairly certain that a lot of the people cheering on Old Crazy are projecting every young thug they’ve encountered (either in their lives or in the media) onto the kid in that fight. An old man with a beard, crazy or no, is not an automatic reason to feel afraid. But for a lot of people (especially white people), a young confrontational black man is about as scary as it gets. Rooting for Old Crazy – and feeling satisfied/vindicated when he ‘won’ the fight – is a cathartic escape from that fear.

    Of course, that’s just my interpretation. I felt it myself, but I doubt anyone else will admit to that kind of reaction because doing so admits internal fear and hidden racism. Neither of those is a positive thing to acknowledge about yourself.

  20. “Only Seattle liberals could be confused by this video….”

    Amen.

    This is as cut-and-dried as cut-and-dried gets…

    Who initiated the threat of violence, viz. “I’m-a put my foot in your ass!”?

    Who injected the racial element? The guy who said “I’m not prejudiced” and “Why are you being so hostile, man?” Or the black woman–let’s hope she has plenty of kids for society’s sake–who said “Beat his white ass!”

    Who threw the first actual punch? Who walked all the way up the aisle to throw that first punch?

    Ideology makes otherwise intelligent people act stupidly, and this is starkly illustrated by the commenters here drawing false equivalencies between both men as “assholes,” or justifying double standards because role reversal is a “red herring.” (Role reversal is a completely abstract hypothetical which is useful for constructing empathy…ergo, it is a valuable ethical thought experiment.)

    “Crazy dude gets ZERO credit for walking away cuz he still didn’t stop talking shit.”

    He gets no credit for walking away despite being “crazy”? The white guy COMPLIED with the black guy’s peremptory order to go to the front of the bus, and you’re judging him because he didn’t do it meekly enough?

    Again: Who introduced the threat of violence? Who actually threw the first punch?

    Your liberal prism is giving you astigmatism on this one…

  21. Two hotheads yelled at each other, and both displayed dick-like behavior. But only one followed the other. Only one escalated it to physical violence. And that one then got the shit kicked out of him, and I savored every second of it.

    I don’t care what got said, by either of the people involved. As soon as the first punch was thrown, the person who threw it gave up any opportunity for moral superiority, and he’s only got himself to blame for getting his ass kicked. And yes, I’d feel the same way if their races or roles were reversed. If the old dude threw the first punch, the black guy would have every right to kick the crap out of the old dude. But he didn’t. He got up, walked away, and then defended himself with exactly the kind of overwhelming physical violence he should have.

    “Don’t start fights, but don’t be afraid to end them.” My father told me that when I was a kid, and I listened. I never, ever have started a fight in my life, and I’ve only been in two. But if someone attacks me I’m not going to huddle like a lump, like some people here seem to prefer the old dude had done. He defended himself from an attack. As soon as he was hit, everything that came before lost all importance, as well it should have.

  22. What’s a Seattle liberal to do? Blame the oppressed black man or blame the under-serviced mental case off his meds and a victim of Reagan’s mental health cuts?

    Who to blame….who to blame…….who to blame.

    What about Amber Land! She’s just sitting there enjoying her white privilege with her head phones on.

  24. I can tell that you don’t know shit about the nature of human conflict.

    Here’s something about human conflict: Don’t start a fight you can’t win.

    Old Nam vet knows his Sun Tzu.

  26. What a kind of stupid Bitch films a confrontation and prompts it to continue by saying, “Say it again Pinky, FUCK his ass”. Why exactly did this happen? Men proving what? They’re both a couple of adrenoline fueled dumb asses – pumped up by the kind of trash who thinks violence is funny.

  27. Read the details of my previous comments. Ultimately, yes, the black guy has more blame because he was the one to make the situation violent. Vietnam Tom does not lack guilt in this though. Talking about how tough you are and how you’ll kick someones ass is confrontational enough that you can’t really say he didn’t dererve it a little. Then again, he did walk his talk. Like all of you, I spent time in schoolyards, I know this behavior. When someone talks that kind of shit they are just looking for an excuse to fight, trying to coax the other guy into throwing the first punch. These kinds of mental games are just as unacceptable, just shut the fuck up. Ignoring crazy shit talking people does actually work often enough. As tough as Tom is, he should follow the advice of Teddy Roosevelt and walk softly while he carry’s that big stick.

    As for the girl filming, yes she’s a cunt, but I think her statements that come off as encouraging were not heard by the combatants, at the least she was indifferent them hearing them. It was more like a sports fan watching a game on the tube.

    so, no, Sirkowski, except for being able to back up his talk, I don’t think Epic Beard Guy knows his Sun Tsu. I don’t think Sun Tsu advocates telling people you can kick their ass before you do. Right or wrong, telling people you can kick their ass is pretty much asking for a fight, thats how the world works. Don’t believe me, go to the ghetto, talk some shit and tell me I’m wrong.

  28. Read the details of my previous comments. Ultimately, yes, the black guy has more blame because he was the one to make the situation violent. Vietnam Tom does not lack guilt in this though. Talking about how tough you are and how you’ll kick someones ass is confrontational enough that you can’t really say he didn’t dererve it a little. Then again, he did walk his talk. Like all of you, I spent time in schoolyards, I know this behavior. When someone talks that kind of shit they are just looking for an excuse to fight, trying to coax the other guy into throwing the first punch. These kinds of mental games are just as unacceptable, just shut the fuck up. Ignoring crazy shit talking people does actually work often enough. As tough as Tom is, he should follow the advice of Teddy Roosevelt and walk softly while he carry’s that big stick.

    As for the girl filming, yes she’s a cunt, but I think her statements that come off as encouraging were not heard by the combatants, at the least she was indifferent them hearing them. It was more like a sports fan watching a game on the tube.

    so, no, Sirkowski, except for being able to back up his talk, I don’t think Epic Beard Guy knows his Sun Tsu. I don’t think Sun Tsu advocates telling people you can kick their ass before you do. Right or wrong, telling people you can kick their ass is pretty much asking for a fight, thats how the world works. Don’t believe me, go to the ghetto, talk some shit and tell me I’m wrong.

  29. Nateman, noone was advocating that Beard guy allow Thuggy to beat him, we suggested that along with walking away, Beard man should have shut up, not because he didn’t have a right to say anything, but because it was obvious that this situation was ripe for escallation. My question to you regarding how you have never started a fight and you’ve only been in 2: How many times have you told people you could kick their ass? I thought so. You talk enough shit and someone will eventually call you on it, that is how the world works, play the game of life on those terms and keepyour trap shut in these situations.

  31. @80 – that’s what I was trying to figure out! But I suppose it makes sense if the guy is crazy that he might’ve thought that.

    On the one hand, I completely support ‘Nam Tom’s right to beat the shit out of that guy. He was being a prick, he struck first, and frankly I support any opportunity to take a “thug” down a few pegs (call me racist if you must … i know it is the intellectually unchallenging way to dismiss out-of-hand any criticism of bad behavior by people whose skin color isn’t white, and I guess I can’t blame anyone for taking the path of least resistance. Even if their outcome is complete bullshit).

    On the other hand, certainly, Tom’s macho bullshit (and mental instability) show through pretty clear here, and he’s culpable for contributing to the escalation of the fight. Take your freaking meds, dude – and maybe get on something to chill out those testosterone spikes.

  32. “What a kind of stupid Bitch films a confrontation and prompts it to continue by saying, “Say it again Pinky, FUCK his ass””

    Apparently the kind of ‘bitch’ who is called a ‘college student’ in the African-American community.

    Mind you, California colleges will take anyone with a heart beat.

  33. Pheeeew, thank you for getting it. If Tom is as crazy as he seems to be (watch the other 2 vids and tell me he isn’t crazy, who gets tazed at a baseball game) I can see where something thyggy might have made him think he was offered a shoeshine. Of course, what elxe is a blackman to think when something involving a shoeshine (on a bus?) comes up.

    If someone hits you, hit back until they are on the ground, step back, see (don’t ask) if they want some more, repeat as necessary, and keep all the witnesses nearby for the inevitable visit from the Po-lice.

    I have looke at other forums about this situation, this video has shown the worst of our society. It has shown how suspicious and afraid of each other we are, it has shown people’s willingness to choose sides instead of seeing the bigger picture. This situation was a symptom, not a problem. Pretty much everyone agrees that you should be able to defend yourself when attacked, most people agree that punches shouldn’t be thrown over words, but noone seems to get that our sense of morality does not override nature (especially when one of the people involved is fucking nuts), and most of the time when someone in the world is talking smack, it is best to shut up and walk away. Old Timer walked away, but he kept flapping his jaw, and while I admire that he could take care of business like that at his age, he should also know that part of taking care of business is not having business like that to take care of, which he failed to do when he wouldn’t shut up.

  34. I don’t know what’s funnier, watching ‘Amber-land’ get his ass kicked by Pinky, or watching the loony lefties here twist themselves into knots trying to choose between the oppressed black man and crazy, Reagan-took-his-meds white guy. Tingley found the solution, blame society!

  35. Tingley said:

    so, no, Sirkowski, except for being able to back up his talk, I don’t think Epic Beard Guy knows his Sun Tsu. I don’t think Sun Tsu advocates telling people you can kick their ass before you do. Right or wrong, telling people you can kick their ass is pretty much asking for a fight, thats how the world works. Don’t believe me, go to the ghetto, talk some shit and tell me I’m wrong.

    Ok, so you want me to go to a ghetto and pick a fight with people, even though I said:

    Don’t start a fight you can’t win.

    It’s pretty simple so I’m not sure what you don’t understand.

  36. Great job by the camera operator. She framed these chaotic moments — the confrontation, the retreat, the blows — with canny prescience. A compelling document.

  38. “Old Timer walked away, but he kept flapping his jaw, and while I admire that he could take care of business like that at his age, he should also know that part of taking care of business is not having business like that to take care of, which he failed to do when he wouldn’t shut up.”

    What did the white guy say?

    He said, after the black guy threatened to physically hurt him, “Oh no you won’t!”

    He stood up for himself…something you, Tingleyfeeln, find fault with. You’re mad that he didn’t take the threats and intimidation lying down, as you evidently would.

    If you believe it is appropriate to bend over for bullies, you’re certainly entitled to do so. But don’t expect most people to respect such an attitude.

  39. “…I doubt anyone else will admit to that kind of reaction because doing so admits internal fear and hidden racism. Neither of those is a positive thing to acknowledge about yourself.”

    I was glad the violent thug got his ass beat. That’s my reaction and I’ll admit to it.

    But I ask you: Who ISN’T fearful of being assaulted by a thug? Racism has nothing to do with that, since all thugs aren’t black, correct?

    And what’s wrong with being GLAD that the thug got a royal comeuppance? Why shouldn’t all non-thugs take pleasure in that?

    Also, I think that internal fear and racism you allude to doesn’t come from a vacuum…that may be the least positive thing to acknowledge…

  40. A young black man was basically race-baited into a fight. There’s no pleasure in that.

    Yea I’m glad the old guy was able to defend himself (albeit robbed), but not encouraged by him being a typical old man jackass (confrontational, “what’s your problem”, unsympathetic).

  44. Curious all the elaborate racially tinged interpretations here about what was going on when the only thing that is clear is that it is not at all clear what was going on.

  46. Haha looks like he stopped talking shit after getting owned in the nose. He deserved what he got. Sometimes people fight back and this guy found out the hard way.

    The only real winner in this video, though, is that chick with the headphones for been too hot to care about it.

  47. I read that the black man was actually 50 years of age. I guess black only cracks with fists. Racism schmacism, I just like seeing people get beaten-up

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