Being prepared without being paranoid

Seems this is a hot topic at present.
Yet again I take the liberty in posting a comment by Rory Miler aka Chiron, regarding his post I quoted before:

"
Rory said...Strawman, Steve. Yet you argue best when you argue my point.
Let's put it yet another way. Divide acts of violence into some arbitrary categories:

Emotional bullying- very common, only has the power the victim gives it, physical/martial arts response not justified.

Physical harassment- grade school teasing done by adults. Not legally justified to get physical. Walk away.

Monkey dancing- young people get caught up in it, but should be taught how to walk away. Most martial arts work just fine here.

The
duel- Most MA are specifically taught for this scenario. Does it
happen? Only with two ego driven idiots. Completely preventable.

The
dream scenario- an attack where you have enough warning to be ready,
the threat is dangerous enough to justify your coolest techniques and
there is no possibility of preclusion so the legal leash is off. This
is a martial artists wet dream, and about as likely as a supermodel
showing up at your motel room with a bottle of Ardbeg and a note from
your wife saying, "Go for it, honey."

Pretty bad stuff- the way
just a garden variety criminal attacks- from super close range with a
concealed weapon while trying to control part of your body. It's just a
little tweak on the dream scenario- all the same stuff with the little
caveat that it's not specifically designed to be easy. Suddenly, most
MA don't work so well. That's fine... until it becomes an excuse not to
train at this level. Look at it. Everything lower than this is either
avoidable or imaginary. This is the first level of real threat and it
is well past anything most martial artists have ever even considered.
Or they hide their heads in the sand, pretend there is nothing they can
do and try to tear down anyone who tries. And they really get their
panties in a twist with anyone who has done it successfully multiple
times and trained others to do so.

Really bad stuff- like your
home invasion scenario. Numbers, weapons and surprise on the bad guys
side and you have to fight not only the threat but your own freeze.
This has been survived, multiple times... but the key was almost always
a very specific mindset. Training helps here, but the most important
training is accessing that mindset. This one is rare, but not as rare
as the martial wet dream scenario.

Then the strawman, your
sniper scenario. Or nuke 'em from orbit. Or meteors falling out of the
sky. Violence is bigger than any of us and no matter who we are or what
we have done, there are levels that will crush us like bugs. Sometimes
I think that 90% of the students are training to subconsciously deny
that fact. When you can keep your eyes open to it and still train for
the other levels, then martial arts is more of a tool than an amulet.

And
even at this level some people survive, just on pure luck. If you find
yourself breathing by luck it's kind of nice to have an idea what to do
next.

coolest quotes///from your rory theme

"Violence is bigger than any of us and no matter who we are or what
we have done, there are levels that will crush us like bugs. Sometimes
I think that 90% of the students are training to subconsciously deny
that fact. When you can keep your eyes open to it and still train for
the other levels, then martial arts is more of a tool than an amulet."


and


"the threat is dangerous enough to justify your coolest techniques and
there is no possibility of preclusion so the legal leash is off. This
is a martial artists wet dream, and about as likely as a supermodel
showing up at your motel room with a bottle of Ardbeg and a note from
your wife saying, "Go for it, honey."


perhaps the British in me, but the cheekier the person...the more wise, i
imagine

After chewing on this for a while. I must say I'm much in favor of the psychologist mindset over the combatives one. I've been mining truth out of the steaming bullshit pile that is the martial arts for quite a while. And the bedrock appears to consist of... what thugs do. Sneaky balance and OODA stuff aside, it's stupid-simple stuff. But psychology is that thing which has been prodding me more and more lately. first a little "hey" "excuse me" now it's prodding me like a fucking jackhammer. It is THE THING. A missing piece of my puzzle. I think it's high time to really stick my head into that stuff, and begin obsessing about it as much as with violence. I've devoted far too much time to violence alone. Or maybe just enough, and now it is enough, for now. That cup is fairly full, relative to the current size of the cup, and the psychology cup only has a little puddle in it. Yes... enter the psychologist.

Quote :

Pretty bad stuff- the way
just a garden variety criminal attacks- from super close range with a
concealed weapon while trying to control part of your body. It's just a
little tweak on the dream scenario- all the same stuff with the little
caveat that it's not specifically designed to be easy. Suddenly, most
MA don't work so well. That's fine... until it becomes an excuse not to
train at this level. Look at it. Everything lower than this is either
avoidable or imaginary. This is the first level of real threat and it
is well past anything most martial artists have ever even considered.
Or they hide their heads in the sand, pretend there is nothing they can
do and try to tear down anyone who tries. And they really get their
panties in a twist with anyone who has done it successfully multiple
times and trained others to do so.

the Chiron stuff is awesome Maija, keep posting it

"everything lower than the seriously shitty scenario is avoidable" is on the money and within the realm, as RB said, of the "psychologist mindset"-

Quote :

"It is THE THING. A missing piece of my puzzle.

probably because wheras the "throat chop, chin jab" Combatives persona will be absolutely necessary very, VERY infrequently (the martial artists rare "wet dream"as Chiron says) the psychologist will be used to some degree every day

so in terms of relevance to daily reality and actual usefulness Psychology wins... who really needs to use the full force "throat chop, chin jab" training regulalry?

Im not saying it shouldnt be trained, I cant see what harm it does and personally I love it for its own sake, but to pretend its all absolutely necessary is walter mitty-esque

maija wrote:

There are a couple of discussions on the SP forum at present regarding this topic - one to do with carrying weapons, and the other regarding some of the tactics of SP.
The title is taken from a similar thread on The Dog Brothers forum a while back which turned out to be quite interesting also.
I thought it would good to see what people here think - expecting that there will be a variety of different answers.

I grew up in the UK, in a very weapon free environment, and subsequently moved to The States where I hear gunshots on a regular basis.
I don't personally feel particularly threatened due to my lifestyle choices, however a work mate was car jacked at gun point a few months back - he drove off, knocking the guy over with his car door and ended up with a shattered drivers side window and another bullet in the door itself - but he got away without injury.
Another workmate was at her mothers house only last week and someone tried to do a home invasion at gun point. They were both about to walk out onto the front porch for a smoke and I guess the guy saw the door open and took advantage of the opportunity. Luckily both my friend and her mum slammed the door in the guys face and started yelling their guts out, and the guy ran away.
One of the cops that came to the house after, unofficially, recommended they go to the local sporting goods store and buy a shotgun.
Friends from here, specially if they are black or latino, take it as a given not to go to the ATM, the petrol station or the late night taco trucks if they can avoid it.

Now, this is the US, not the UK, so I know it's different here. But that said, even though I have traveled the world quite a bit, and can say that I live in probably the most dangerous place I've ever visited. STILL I believe the chances of something happening to me, personally are quite slight - not impossible, but still unlikely.

OTOH denying possibility and reality to me is not smart either. I know from training that I can recognize threat better now, and the fact that I can recognize it, and perhaps understand it can only be beneficial to my survival, if anything ever did happen. It seems I would have more time and options, or at least (hopefully! ) a good GCR, to use Richie's acronym.

I train because I like the idea of being competent, and as only I am responsible for myself - seems like a positive all around.

Now, I haven't gone into the paranoia side of things, because of course I am perfectly balanced and rational! . But I do see how one could walk around expecting the unexpected at any moment, and how that is not necessarily healthy at all. But paranoia can be there with NO training or with training. Does training make it better ...or worse?
Should one carry weapons because the perps have them already? Does that just create more chaos, or even the playing field?
Any thoughts gents?

It's a bit like an arms race isn't it?

The thugs start carrying knives, and we start learning knife defense techniques

..women, instead, just carry mace the ladies are always more practical no?

The thugs start packing guns, and we start wondering if we should learn to shoot or wear bullet proof vests

I guess I feel that as long as I keep my eyes open and don't go to the obvious areas where gang violence and muggings occur that I'll be alright and won't run into any trouble. However, the random attack is possible and can happen in broad daylight. If it were to happen I really don't think that I'd feel any better off having a weapon since using it could land me in trouble with the law. I'd rather take Richie's advise and pre-empt & diffuse. If that didn't work and someone was very intent on violence then if I got in close there is much more I'd rather do from in close than sink a blade into someone... where's the fun in that?

I guess my personal opinion is that walking around heavily armed doesn't sound like the way I'd want to go through life.

maija wrote:

Now, I haven't gone into the paranoia side of things, because of course I am perfectly balanced and rational! . But I do see how one could walk around expecting the unexpected at any moment, and how that is not necessarily healthy at all. But paranoia can be there with NO training or with training. Does training make it better ...or worse?
Should one carry weapons because the perps have them already? Does that just create more chaos, or even the playing field?
Any thoughts gents?

I haven't checked the whole thread on this subject, so if I am double answering, sorry for that.

Generally your best defense is what I call radar, others call it: awareness. looking and checking what's around you is a two second investment in your general safety.

Carrying weapons, I would only do so if I would be willing and ready to use these and face and accept the legal consequences. For killing someone else from nearby with a weapon or bare hands is not easy, it is -in fact- very difficult.

A criminal selects the victim, for him it is important to be able to get away with what he planned, and he will only attack when he is very sure that he stacked the deck in his favor.

I live in a neighbourhood where you can sometimes pick little plastic bags or paper envelopes with cocaine-residue from the pavement.
Being alert on what's around you prevents many ugly things to happen.

If you carry a weapon and the perp knows he will shoot you first and then rob you. If you carry a weapon and you are too slow or too late drawing it, you will get shot or stabbed 9 to 20 times in the abdomen.
If you draw the weapon first, he might decide to run.

I would generally not carry a weapon. I would simply put some money in my front pocket of my pants and my wallet in an inside pocket of my jacket.
If the perp says:..."gimme your money!".. I'll give the money in my trouser pocket and I will still have my wallet.
If he says:..."gimme your wallet"..., I'll give him the wallet and still have my money.

There are many ways to be safe.

Bert Bruijnen

i posted on one the other threads about this little inccident the other week with this guy turning up at my house and havin a good at the mrs. WELL the other night there was a dude in my street on my block looking for a house. looked shifty as sin. so i got the fighting trainers on and was ready. it maybe paranoid be i was certainly ready!!!!