The scientific jury is out on whether drunken violence is a genetic trait. Interesting enough idea. "So your father was an alcoholic" is common among alcoholics and their friends looking for explanation.

Violence is also one of those "fallback" mentalities that stupid people embrace when cornered. Genetics aside, stupid people have few resources at their disposal. Violence is there, justified by a century of iconic pop culture that says "when your friend sleeps with your girlfriend, punch him in the head, it's what you must do".

As for convict Australia. Very few Australians today are the decedents of convicts, and very few of those convicts would have been violent.

What do smart people do when they are cornered?

A lot of CCTV footage of violence shows initial verbal altercation that turns physical. The perpetrators abandon words due to lack of verbal skills and general violent drunk or 'gangsta-wanna-be' nature. Victims too, often miss the opportunity to walk away, misreading the situation by running their mouths.

Street smart is about reading the situation, like defensive driving. 3AM Sunday morning as you walk home, awareness of you surroundings at all times is smart - also fun and challenging and just good way to be. Doesn't have to mean "guard up", it just means not careless.

Smart people avoid getting cornered in the first place.

Around the time that Australia was founded as a penal colony, English property-defense laws were pretty insane, to the point that it became known as the Bloody Code[1]. Grand Larceny, a capital offense, was defined as theft of anything valued at twelve pence or higher. In modern terms, that's somewhere between five and two hundred fifty pounds. There are some interesting lists[2], but mostly they are low-level theft, poaching, livestock-rustling, smuggling and desertion. Also, transported prisoners had a pretty high chance of being Irish.

There are elements of class warfare and repression of minorities that are not unlike current narcotics law.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Code

[2] http://www.convictrecords.com.au/crimes

It started as an English prison colony - a much more damning link, in my eyes.

Only if there is a connection between a predisposition of Germans misusing eugenics research to the Second World War.

You honestly are a buffoon.

Can someone please flag the above post as idiotic?