Place a sign at your workplace, akin to the slap on the back:
"Fondling female employees is a morally neutral act".
200 years ago, there probably weren't any female employees, but if there were, and they weren't getting fondled, then it was probably their own fault.
Today, we regard it as foul and vile, because: it is an unwelcome violence upon their personnage. Not because of the forcefulness, nor the speed at which the intrepid fondler is capable of. Because it is an invasion of their personal space. A violation of the social contract. A violent act upon another. See? Violence in this sense requires neither speed nor force. Regardless of physics.
Back to the miscreant chair stealer
Your interjected arm has not forced anything upon me, other than perhaps to cause pause in my stride. I'd be a pretty poor specimen of the human race if I found this level of "force" to afford some measure of insurmountable problem. I might be a tad surprised at your forwardness however, and probably appreciative of your keen eyesight, and thank you for bringing the decrepit old bag to my attention. Or I could collapse in a pile of asthmatic TBC, coughing blood and bile up on all in a thirty foot area, before passing out. (and making you and everyone else sitting in a seat feel very self conscious). Still I would not rank the encounter as a violent one. You have not invaded any personal space, nor inflicted any harm upon me in the least. If I fail to manuever around an arm in a crowded bus, then perhaps I should look into alternative methods of transportation.
Slapping your dear friend on the back is different from slapping a complete stranger on the back. Nevertheless, a slap on the back has its own value. Strip away everything, and how would a stranger react to your invasion of their personal space? I can tell you, I do not view this act of inflicting random lunacy upon me as a positive experience. Therefore, devoid of other considerations, walking around and slapping people on the back is unacceptable. I am within my rights to use appropriate force to cause you to desist from slapping me on the back. Hopefully, it would be enough to communicate my displeasure.
Felix, consider the concept of "cup" Not a specific instance of any particular cup, but the idea of a cup. It could be said to be an "ideal" cup. As many people have experienced cups in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, we have no problem recognizing a cup, even if we should come across some new design, shape, or colour, which we have never experienced before.
The many instances of cups are never exactly alike. Yet they all share common attributes that we can recognise. Reflections, so to speak, of the "ideal cup". Even stranger; we can still recognise cups even when certain attributes are absent. Even when they render the cup incapable of performing the duties of a cup.
In this manner, we can also regard actions. We can view actions as having attributes and properties. Reflections of an ideal act. Thus, metaphysically, owning a slave can be regarded as inherently evil, even though in a practical instance, the slave could be treated as part of the family, and even if the slave professes to prefer its position. This raises the question "So what is different?" The specific circumstances modify this "ideal action" as it is applied into a real physical environment.
Thus, it is possible to reduce actions to their bare minimum, and reveal their inner most essence. Violence against others is basically wrong. You need a justifier to excuse your reason for invading their personal space. You need the old lady, just to place your arm in my way. You need at least acquaintenceship and a celebretorial reason to slap someone on the back. Both are still hardly violent acts. Yet without justification, you cannot initiate a violent action against me, and not expect some form of retaliation, whether societal, verbial, or physical. This in itself, says there the metaphysical "ideal action" "violent action against another" with an attribute "wrong". This ideal of course is modified by circumstances as we muddling humans attmept to get by in everyday life. One of the circumstances of course is "Am I provoking or inciting this violence".
Of course, YMMV.
