Thoughts on the Walking Dead to Date.

[JDP]

Violence and the threat of violence has always been used to keep people in line. I'm failing to see your point here. If history has shown us anything it's that the group in power will always resort to a violent method if their power is in danger, be that at home or abroad. Plenty of tyrants throughout history have shown such behavior: tyrant eliminates another tyrant and his entourage and puts himself and his entourage in place, and so on. So it is hardly surprising that a total thug like Negan would employ such methods. However, as was pointed out earlier in the thread, the way he is going about it with this particular rival group is what it's a bit strange. Killing one Alexandrian at random does not make much sense, considering that this group has been nothing but a thorn in Negan's side. He has nothing to lose, they are already his archenemies. In reality this guy would be so pissed off at the Alexandrians for what they have already done that he would execute a bunch of them (specially their leader and those next in command) as a warning to the rest never again to take up arms against his "new world order". PS: Yes, we know Negan is more interested in enslaving than killing people (he made that very clear in his speech directed at the captured Alexandrians), but that plan works best for more "docile" groups, like the Hilltoppers, who are more easily intimidated by force and thus prefer to seek a more peaceful solution even if it means they get the "short end of the stick". The Alexandrians have already shown to Negan that they are nowhere even near as easy to "tame". These people are friggin' dangerous and so far have had no fear to take the fight back to the Saviors! A more forceful approach would be necessary in this case. A larger scale execution (specially of their leader and all those next in command to him) might just do the trick to put the rest "in line". Plus, if I'm not mistaken, it was Team Rick who drew first blood in this case. That may have the Saviors feeling justified in Negan's response to the situation. The first group of Saviors to be killed by the Alexandrians was that group of bikers who intercepted Daryl, Abraham and Sasha on the road back to Alexandria, and who were about to murder two of them in cold blood for not ceasing to ask questions. Had it not been for Daryl's timely intervention with the RPG, Abraham and Sasha would be dead. So techincally it was the Saviors who started the whole mess (even though the Saviors probably don't know it yet, as no witnesses survived that encounter except the three Alexandrians.) Not that I think that Negan and his men would care, though. These thugs do not seem interested at all in "who started what". They only seem interested in subjugating other groups and stealing their property/belongings. As far as they are concerned, anyone other than themselves is "fair game".

[shootemindehead]

/\ Wasn't that more of a random highway robbery type thing though? I don't think anything was planned there. Whereas Rick and Co set out to specifically eliminate what they though were "the Saviors" and it backfired spectacularly. I may have this wrong mind, it's been a while. Either way, it allows the Saviors a "they attacked us" mentality, which allows a lot of people to turn off the rational side of their brain, irrespective of any inconvenient facts.

[JDP]

/\ Wasn't that more of a random highway robbery type thing though? I don't think anything was planned there. Whereas Rick and Co set out to specifically eliminate what they though were "the Saviors" and it backfired spectacularly. I may have this wrong mind, it's been a while. Either way, it allows the Saviors a "they attacked us" mentality, which allows a lot of people to turn off the rational side of their brain, irrespective of any inconvenient facts. Yes, that encounter with the Saviors was totally unplanned (it shows very well what kind of people they are, though; they attack people without any provocation.) At first the Alexandrians did not make much of it, probably just some random group of desperados, until they met the Hilltoppers and then put two and two together: these "Saviors" are the very same gang who almost killed Abraham and Sasha. Rick even specifically refers to this incident in order to justify their all-out massacre mission against the Saviors.