The Best Defense

Mr. Miyagi said it very well, “Best defense: no be there.”  But if you aren’t aware that there’s a danger, you can’t bring that defense into play.  One of the things that I stress about self defense is recognizing a dangerous situation before it becomes a fight.  You could be the fastest, strongest most technically proficient fighter in the world and if you get into enough fights, you’re eventually going to lose.  This is especially true of street fights where people often have friends and/or weapons and fight dirty.

But even if you have no training in fighting, you can still win by simply knowing what to do when danger presents itself.  Half of this strategy is simply being able to recognize danger in the first place.  Many of us are so comfortable going about our lives knowing that we are safe that when we’re confronted with violence we don’t recognize it until it’s too late.

This video is a sobering reminder of that fact.  The man on the cell phone made a comment about the woman cutting in line.  She became irate and began taunting him.  He tries to ignore her, but when her boyfriend comes in, things get very ugly.  Warning: this video contains graphic violence.  If such things disturb you, don’t watch it.  I put it up here because it’s very realistic and typical of what to expect in a real-world situation.

 

A couple of things to note.

1) The victim isn’t paying any attention to the danger that is right in front of him.  He’s talking on the phone, and is actually distracted by it when he first gets hit.

2) Watch victim’s hands, they never leave his side, except when he’s looking at his phone.

3) Look at where the victim is standing.  He’s basically cornered, with no room to move, keep his balance or escape.

4) Notice the four other men that are just standing around, watching.

5) The angry woman actually steps outside and yells to her boyfriend before he comes in.  Pretty major warning sign right there.

If this poor guy had any street sense, he could have used any of those five things to his advantage and probably avoided, delayed or minimized the violence.

I’m glad that the police caught both the suspects, but that doesn’t change the fact that the poor victim was severely beaten over something so minor.  Nobody wants to be on the receiving end of an attack like that.