You are perfectly right, good for you for standing up to those Hate Breeders! It is much better to teach your child NOT to fight but give him skills in handling a situation in other ways. It always scares me, as a person who works with children, and a lot of "at risk" kids, when parents tell children that. Why? I've never come across one parent that has EVER explained situationality to their child. Often I hear bully's say "my Dad told me I had to stand up for myself."
Should you child know that if someone is about to hospitalize him or her and there is no other way out to defend themselves, sure.
How far do these ignorant and irresponsible parents go? Should their child fight back for other people? Over name calling? A misunderstood joke? Because someone is better than them in Phys Ed class and they now feel humiliated? Because someone said they liked someone else and now the child is mad?
Good for you for standing up to these people!
What happens if the child doesn't learn different when he/she grows up? Aggravated assault is a still a criminal charge as is man-slaughter and self-defense is difficult to prove when it comes to murder.
I've also seen children initial the fight verbally or through non-verbal cues, and provoke the "bully" into hitting. Few children grasp what starting a fight is.
I work with teens who have been or are in gangs (along with other kids as well) one of the first things they'll tell me is that the lowest rung members will target those who fight back. Why? To build up their status of being a good fighter and getting practice. Most bullies will not back away from those who fight back, many feel they need to try harder to control that child. Teaching your child does not give sure fire protection from the same thing in the future. If there is more than one person fighting them, fighting back can endanger their lives as it pumps up the aggressors.
There is no easy way to handle the topic, but those who think that the child fighting back solves it, are naive.