"I won't start a fight, but I won't walk away from one."

"I don't put up with any crap from anybody."

"I stand up for my rights."

"We [insert cultural group of choice] are not the kind of people who will put up with that kind of treatment."

In one form or another, it is a very human response. I've definitely seen it at work in both of the cultures I'm intimately familiar with, so I see no reason to believe it isn't common in others. Being bicultural is very useful in helping to identify those things which are truly human, and those which are merely tribal.

The phrases I've quoted above are certainly not intrinsically objectionable, nor is the behavior they describe, but the constant need to repeat them, or to use them to justify one's behavior, or the behavior of someone one wishes to emulate, is evidence of a very human rationalization. Have you ever noticed how everyone refers to the character John Wayne played in films with similar words? We seek to justify objectionable action by characterizing it as noble, courageous, or our right as human beings to maintain our dignity and defend it from injustice. A little bit of this fs a virtue, but it is often exaggerated and carried to extremes.

I see particular evidence of this phenomenon in communities who have historically suffered from oppression, so its currency in post-holocaust Jewish society is not unexpected. I'd be willing to bet it motivates much Islamic social psychology as well, judging from their political/religious rhetoric, although I don't know any of those folks personally so I can't really say for sure. I have definitely seen it in American blacks since the 60s, and in the poor rural folk of the Deep South, who have always been oppressed and abused but have never admitted it to themselves and have managed instead to sublimate it and even re-direct it into their own racism. It seems to be part of all American culture, although much worse in some areas than others ("Don't mess with Texas", and of course, Manhattan RUDENESS).

it is also a very human response to indignity, perhaps even a valid one, but one which can also be exaggerated and overdone. And yes, I've seen it in Cubans, too, who look with contempt at people who meekly stand in line and don't jostle their way to the front.

I've always known this, ever since I was a kid, and I've recognized it at work in my own soul. I have tried to utilize it to help empower me, but l also have attempted to control it so it does not overpower me. How successful I've been is not for me to judge. I've always called it the "Chip-on-the-shoulder Syndrome", and when my inner mental censor sees it taking over, it gently brings me down to earth by reminding me,

"yeah, ER, you're not the kind of guy who takes any shit from inanimate objects."