“I hope this isn’t another westernized hippie forum.”
I don’t know what you mean by a “hippie forum”. This is a forum on Buddha Dhamma.
“Lord Buddha never said violence must ALWAYS be rejected by lay people.”
I am not sure what you mean by that. If someone is being beaten, he/she should not give-in to that beating willingly.
– There are ways to avoid beating in the first place (by not doing harm to others.
– Getting beaten up could be unavoidable kamma vipaka (having beaten someone previously in a vicious way) or by making conditions suitable for a kamma vipaka to come to fruition.
You may want to read the post: “What is Kamma? – Is Everything Determined by Kamma?“.