Fyi, giraffes are wild animals, and can be very violent and territorial.

I'm very literal minded and many metaphors irk me because they require a unspoken shared agreement of only considering the positive aspects that match and ignore the inconvenient ones. Like all sports metaphors used in work related activities. But still, don't skip nvc just because you can't accept a violent animal as a symbol for non violent communication. It has to much value for us literal minded people.

I'm all for minimizing violence and harm, but violence is a necessary part of life.

I just watched a surgeon slice open a woman and save her life and the baby. Blood was everywhere, it was pretty violent. Nothing wrong with it.

Violence != Malice

Mergiraf looks pretty awesome though.

I agree. Violence is everywhere and specifically in the animal kingdom it is weird to apply a moral judgement on violent animals. Eg. the wolf that in nvc symbolizes violent language does nothing wrong when it gathers the food it needs to live. There is no malice however "ruthless" it looks from the outside. And the giraffe also does nothing wrong when it protects it's grounds by kicking a hyena's head in.

But we humans that use these animals as metaphors when trying to improve our communication skills can apply a moral judgement and say that this way of communicating is better than that way. But we literal minded often get derailed when the metaphors are not 100% solid so I often think that metaphors are bad, or at least risky. (but I like these specific metaphors in nvc somehow)

I agree with your first and last point, but surgery != violence.

I disagree, but we are quickly getting deep into semantics.

Surgery is not a harmless procedure. But the surgeon must decide that the patient is more likely to benefit overall from it.

Boa constrictor could be a less friendly mascot.

There was such a project long time ago.

https://boa-constructor.sourceforge.net/