One bit of advice I always disliked when hearing from self-defense instructors is to run away at the first sign of trouble.

[drop bear]

We're falling back into macho again, which is not self-defense. It's defense of honor, or face, or ego, but it isn't self-defense.

Self-defense is defense of the physical self. It concerns itself with remaining alive above all other considerations. Everything else is secondary. Extend that to family/innocent others if you wish, but it's still not about face-saving or keeping up a tough appearance.

In true self-defense, one does what one must to preserve one's life. Run, fight, beg, use dirty tricks, etc. One engages one's brain and decides the best possible choice of action and applies it. As conditions change, one may have to modify their response.

I am glad most of you have never been in a fight for your life and most likely won't ever be. You'd get dead with a quickness.

I've heard the various protests from those who'd rather die on their feet than live on their knees, and it's boring and stupid. As they posture and pose for the sake of some Hollywood ideal of manliness, the bad guy shoots them dead and does what he wants to their loved ones mister macho can no longer protect. But hey, at least he was manly as he died, right?

I can no longer run, which means that option doesn't exist for me. That's part of the reason I still train.

It depends on your environment. We can say that because we can escape the situation.

A bullied kid in school for example is locked in with his predators every day. And may need a bit of mucho face saving to survive that.

 

[drop bear]

Anyway they did a series called the street. And it was little English dramas.

This one is about a pub owner who gets locked in a conflict with the towns hard man. And it looks in to these small communities that you may not be able to escape violence.

It has Bob Hosking's in it. And is really good.

 

[Gyakuto]

You gotta know when to hold em
Know when to fold em
Know when to walk away.
Know when to run.,

That got me through most of my bouncing career.

Oh, I love Black Sabbath.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

1. You're basically encouraging them to do it again cause you know the police ain't gonna do **** and

That's got nothing to do with self-defense. It's a larger question about society. I'm not saying it's not important, but it has zero to do with preserving MY life at THAT moment. That's an imperative for the concept of self-defense.

2. What's stopping them from just offing me anyway once they get what they want?

That's the call you have to make when evaluating risk. If you think that's what's going to happen, then it's on like Donkey Kong, right? And there's no way to know ahead of time if you're reading the situation correctly. You have to decide what you think is most likely to happen and act based on that.

 

[Mallic]

That's got nothing to do with self-defense. It's a larger question about society. I'm not saying it's not important, but it has zero to do with preserving MY life at THAT moment. That's an imperative for the concept of self-defense.



That's the call you have to make when evaluating risk. If you think that's what's going to happen, then it's on like Donkey Kong, right? And there's no way to know ahead of time if you're reading the situation correctly. You have to decide what you think is most likely to happen and act based on that.

Fair enough