Thread: Essay on Conflict Avoidence and Self Defense

As you will read in my conclusion, I am not preaching a gospel of the best methods for this or that, nor am I calling myself and authority on this issue, but I figured I would get some points across. These are points I have heard or read about here and there, but have never seen them put together in logical order. I hope you pull something out of it:

I often hear people talking about how they are concerned for their safety and are looking to protect themselves. Their first reaction may be to go out and purchase a pistol or jump into the local dojo. I propose a short, simple, logical approach to avoiding self defense. This is avoidance conflict in the first place. In this short essay I will go over a series of actions someone can implement right now that is likely to prevent them from getting hurt or killed in the street much better than any martial art, then I will go over logical approaches to take to street self defense. Most humans, no matter what their training, have little hope of “duking it out” with a bunch of armed thugs and ending up safe, this is why I push conflict avoidance, which is very easy to implement.
First I will go over the most basic ways to avoid conflict. Not entering crazy drunken atmospheres and alleys at night is a pretty damn good way to avoid conflict, since these areas are by far the most common scenes of violence. Keeping away from sketchy places, especially at night and when alcohol I flowing, is very simple and most people concerned about their well being stay away from these places.
Taking a step further, lets say you like to hang out at clubs or malls sometimes, yet you still don’t want to end up in a scuffle with drunken morons. Well, your best bet is to not set yourself up for a battery or robbery. If you are in the club, hammered, and yelling at everyone and slobbering over any woman you can find, you clearly care little about your safety. Being calm and controlled in these places will prevent you from getting out of hand and gaining unnecessary attention, especially that of the guy you just yelled at or the boyfriend of the girl you are drooling on.
Alright, so let us say you’re not even going to any sketchy areas and you certainly aren’t attracting attention and making anyone angry. There may be predators lurking in the shadows, choosing prey, determining who to attack. These aren’t just people who you got angry, but people who are out deliberately to commit acts of violence for their own benefit. Acting with conviction and confidence repels predators who want to find weak prey. When you are out, keep your head up, look like you have somewhere to go and you aren’t afraid of anything. Wearing that 5 inch long jean skirt or flaunting that Rolex watch everywhere you go also attracts the attention of predators. Even though you may not be yelling and screaming or acting out of line, you should remember these other visual clues that predators use, and by knowing them you can avoiding looking like prey.
Let us say you are a smart fellow, you don’t go around insulting the biggest guy at the sleaziest club at 2:00 o’clock in the morning, and you don’t walk around with your head down, wearing that Gucci pocketbook with the matching high heel shoes, but somehow you end up being confronted by Brutus, his friends, and a knife. This is obviously plausible, attacks can happen anywhere. In such a situation, pulling out a pistol isn’t such a bad idea. However, I’m looking for the simplest solutions that require little more than reading this essay. Obviously a gun can’t be brought with you everywhere, and though a responsible gun owner concerned about defense of himself or his family means well, this solution can not always be applied, and it requires money for a gun, license for the gun, knowledge of using the gun, and it also requires you to lug around a gun everywhere. This isn’t a bad idea if one feels like his family or himself may end up in some kind of trouble (usually people who live in crime-ridden areas are concerned about this, and rightfully so), but it can not be applied generally. In such a situation, your first reaction shouldn’t be to fight, but to take yourself out of danger and trouble, and “book it”. A quick sprint is better than any martial art in this situation, and training yourself to run quickly is a much easier approach to conflict avoidance than training in the martial arts. You might train for a month in the comfort of your own yard and develop a quick explosive sprint and impressive endurance. This solution has would have a higher percentage of survival than fighting. Even a lifetime of martial arts training may not be enough to fend of two or more armed men, this kind of training requires lots of time and usually a good amount of money, and it still is likely to get you killed if you confront a bunch of big thugs head on.
Alright, so you’re a non-violent guy, you’re looking out for yourself and taking all the necessary precautions to avoiding conflict, and you are in good shape with a quick sprint. What happens if you are cornered or surrounded, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide? In such a case, you still don’t want to take a stand and fight them all off at once, it is logical to avoid fighting as much as possible, since enough knives and meaty men can end the life of even the most devout martial artist. In such a situation, you minimize fight, and get back to flight, this is when you can no longer avoid conflict, and must implement “self defense”. This is best accomplished by quick aggressive striking, with the aim of creating an escape route. Boom, bang, pop, and you are making like a tree. If you are looking to martial arts as a method of self defense, it is important to make sure you take up the right art, taught by the right person. If you end up taking Tae Quan Do, taught by the local McDojo moron, you may never acquire street-applicable skills, and if you do acquire any at all it will take you quite a long time. Someone looking to learn effective self-defense should learn in an establishment that emphasizes this purpose for martial art. Sportive kickboxing an grappling are great tools for functionalizing real martial skills, not to mention the fact that it is a fun way to get in shape. However, these skills alone may not be enough, and street application must be your emphasis if you are looking to defend yourself and not be a fighter in a ring (though fighters are likely to be formidable on the street of course).
There you have it, Dan Faggella’s opinion on conflict avoidance and self defense. I hope that you can pull something from my little essay and understand what I am thinking. I have never trained in an establishment emphasizing self defense, and my primary reason for training in the martial arts is not for the purpose of self defense. However I implement principles of conflict avoidance when I need to, and using logic I have come up with these progressing steps to not getting hurt. There are plenty of other words of advice, in both conflict avoiding strategy and martial art application. I may not be able to list all the ways you can avoid conflict (I doubt anyone can list them all, another good one is not to wear those shirts that say “Make Seven” on the front, and “Up Yours” on the back), or be able to tell you the many ways of avoiding weapon attacks and fighting for an opening in a herd of thugs. I encourage anyone seriously concerned about defending themselves to look first to avoid conflict, and if necessary, to train in a practical martial art with valid street application. Much more information on avoiding conflict and martial arts is out there, do your homework, kids.

GQchris you didnt read the whole thing did you.

Nutter I can say the same to you, though I'm not looking for your input.