The Little Black Book of Violence
The authors–two experienced martial artists–point out that there is almost always a build-up to violence, one that many people are not aware of. They teach you to have situational awareness without being paranoid or mentally exhausting yourself.
One of the things I’ve realized is that people who are afraid to make eye contact or look at someone else are the ones that are caught off guard by violence. Seems folks are too bashful to assess a situation. I guess they don’t want to appear socially awkward or something. Don’t be afraid to look. It’d be silly to die because you didn’t want to be embarrassed checking out the pan-handler in the Target parking lot.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
When I read that summary I thought “that sounds like Marc MacYoung”, checked on Amazon, it Has a forward by him, must be friends of his.
January 5th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Being a long time martial artist of several arts (as well as KM), I can say most of the time people are jumped on the street they simply either do not look around or they become so frightened they freeze due to no knowledge of how to defend themselves.
People take these three hour self defense courses I see in the cities and they are bull. Three hrs just gives you the idea, but does not ingrain anything. And thus they freeze when they sense trouble.
And yes, I’ve read several of Marc’s books. Good books but you still have to go train for some time before you can handle yourself on the street, mentally or physically.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
One of the things I’ve realized is that people who are afraid to make eye contact or look at someone else are the ones that are caught off guard by violence
Do you think, maybe, that the hyper-aggressive Thuggish “Wotyoulookinat?” stems in part from the realisation that the looker is a less than ideal target?
I’ve lost count of the number of times I have had that sentence hurled at me. I still don’t know the appropriate response – looking away would seem to be dangerous as it puts a potential threat out of view, but continuing to look has often incited further aggression.
January 6th, 2010 at 1:37 am
Do what cops do and remember “It is their hands and what’s in them that can only hurt you.”
Hint: Check out everyone’s hands.