Disarmament Through Provocation

Daniel and Ian got into a complicated conflict, where Daniel had some toy that Ian wanted, and then he was chasing him around with it, and there was a lot of screaming, and eventually Ian came around and told me in great detail about how Daniel was trying to throw the toy at him, and he was standing behind the couch calling Daniel a baby...

I eventually told Ian, "But none of this is good."

Finally, Ian explained the sophisticated strategy behind what had previously seemed like gratuitous hostility:

"I was taunting him so he would throw it at me, so he wouldn't have it anymore to throw."

I'm not a veteran, by any means, but I'm quite sure that there must be a well-established military tactical dogma, with its own distinct vocabulary, that outlines just this kind of methodical disenfranchisement of an armed adversary on the battlefield.

(February 9, 2010)