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Self-Defense Zone: Crime Prevention & Self-Defense Forums
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Blowjob Lessons
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Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 224
Location: Coquitlam
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 Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 9:19 pm Post subject: Why Self-Defence? |
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Why do people practice self-defence? What fundamental human need does it satisfy? The deceptively facile response is, "survival and safety", but I do not think that this is true. The amount of time and money that a self-defenser puts into training and preparation is grossly disproportionate to the risks that violence pose to the average person. Most of you reading this are one day going to die from cardiac arrest, cancer, or if you're unlucky, a motor vehicle accident (most likely a drunk driver). If we follow common sense, only a small percentage of us will ever face a serious, violent attack.
Yet I know some of you smoke--a stupid habit that you know is probably going to kill you. You probably don't eat right all the time, either. So, so much for that "survival" theory.
I contend that the motivations for self-defence are not primarily survival, but probably a mixture of the following:
- freedom: from fear and coercion
- status, social power and influence: wanting to be the alpha male. The ability to prevail in combat confers status
- fun and camaraderie: people enjoy the training, and they keep doing it because their friends keep doing it
There is a nice saying, "Train as though your survival depends on it--because it does." It's cute, it's witty, and it simply isn't true. If our survival depended on our training, everyone would be doing it. Instead, most of the people in the world raise children and gardens, make music and love, and bike and boat and hunt and volunteer. Guess what? Most of them don't die in streetfights. And neither will you.
If we are to choose to invest a part of our lives in this odd pastime we have, figuring out how to disable another person as quickly as we can, then it is probably wise for us to contemplate, with real honesty and self-reflection, why this is. If we tell ourselves it is for survival, then to justify it in our minds we amplify the risks and dangers of violence to a ridiculous degree. We end up living in fear and paranoia.
That'll probably give you heart disease.
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The One
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| Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 2:30 pm Post subject: Self Defence |
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Interesting read..  , lets hope that you never experience an attack. |
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The One
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| Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 2:30 pm Post subject: hmm.. |
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Especially living in an area like Edmonton..  |
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Blowjob Lessons
Registered User
Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 224
Location: Coquitlam
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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The One,
Agreed! Now don't get me wrong, I have trained long and hard and "alive" in every range, as well as force-on-force scenarios. After my board exam, I'll be going right back into training. But I'm under no illusions that I have to do this stuff in order to live safely in the world. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be training solely in submission grappling, not street stuff.
BTW, I've relocated to Greater Vancouver. Less violent crime, a lot more property crime. Not that Edmonton's all that bad. The places we call "dangerous", like 95-97 downtown, or 118 Ave, are basically safe to walk around in at night, compared to downtown Saddle Lake, or any large US city, or, oh, Fallujah.
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kikr
Registered User
Joined: 23 Jun 2006
Posts: 5
Location: Jacksonville, Fl
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| Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 12:58 am Post subject: Re: Why Self-Defence? |
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| Blowjob Lessons wrote: |
If we are to choose to invest a part of our lives in this odd pastime we have, figuring out how to disable another person as quickly as we can, then it is probably wise for us to contemplate, with real honesty and self-reflection, why this is. If we tell ourselves it is for survival, then to justify it in our minds we amplify the risks and dangers of violence to a ridiculous degree. We end up living in fear and paranoia. |
Something about that made me think of this:
ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS
By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER, Ph.D., author of “On Killing.”
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains:
What is worth defending?
What is worth dying for?
What is worth living for?
William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy
November 24, 1997 One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: “Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.”
This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation:
We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep. I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep.
To me, it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.
“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.” If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then?
A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.” Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into “warriorhood”, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language:
Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself. Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs.
But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, “Let’s roll,” which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents.—from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke- Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn’t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many police officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying a weapon. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, “I will never be caught without my gun in church.” I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy’s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for “heads to roll” if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids’ school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?”
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up. Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn’t bring your gun, you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and horror at your moment of truth. |
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scholar warrior
Newbie
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 3
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:30 am Post subject: Grossman |
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| Great stuff by Col. Grossman. He is a very good man and a great speaker! I have had the pleasure of attending 2 of his seminars and have met and talked with him about the world today. I would recommend any of his books and if you ever get to hear him speak, it will make you very proud to be a sheep dog.... |
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crackhead
Registered User
Joined: 28 Jun 2006
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:00 am Post subject: |
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I am a jujitsu/judo practicing sheepdog!!!!  |
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arath
Registered User
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Posts: 34
Location: Asia
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| Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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fascinating stuff, really facinating. I lived in a neighbourhood where guys would attack you because you liked to read or something llike that, hehe, no kidding - that's the main reason I learned self defence. Also, I was nearly killed by some lunatic when I was a kid, and my mother was very angry, so she got me the best martial arts teachers she could so it would never happen again. I practice self defence every day, I carry weapons, because the east is extremely violent in places, and being a warrior keeps me alive.
My aunt was attacked by nine men who tried to rape her. She coldly, calmly killed seven of them with a kalashnikov ak-47 rifle. Now no man bothers her, they know she's death walking. I learn self defence to live.
I also learn self defence because it makes me feel good. The training is so intense that I come out of it with a mind that's clear and a body that's as young as when I was sixteen, and it feels good. I walk the street and know that no ordinary crime can take place in a radius around me. I protect myself and others, even the stranger on the street. And it feels good.
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Humans possess a mind as sharp as steel and as dangerous as death itself.
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dakid
Registered User
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:24 am Post subject: |
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I've known this in my head and was difficult to accept at first.
Freedom from physical discrimination, and I am also considering jobs which training in Jiu Jitsu would benefit me. |
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avdrummerboy
Registered User
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 43
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:41 am Post subject: |
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Amen to this, I have always thought this but never had any way to say it.
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