Self-defense, Martial Arts, and other dangerous words
by Eric Taimanglo
Best block, no be there. - Mr. Miyagi
What is self-defense?
According to the Random House Dictionary, the definition of self-defense is:
- The act of defending one's person when physically attacked, as by countering blows or overcoming an assailant: the art of self-defense.
- A claim or plea that the use of force or injuring or killing another was necessary in defending one's own person from physical attack: He shot the man who was trying to stab him and pleaded self-defense at the murder trial.
- An act or instance of defending or protecting one's own interests, property, ideas, etc., as by argument or strategy.
The first definition might be the most popular one that comes to mind. The second might be brought up during a discussion of legal issues. The third is an interesting one, which I suspect is one that does not enter into most people's minds. While all three are correct and have their place and time, what concerns us right now is the question of how we protect ourselves against negative elements bent on our depletion of life, health, or resources. In other words, what is our goal concerning self-defense?
It is taking responsibility to ensure that we continue to live happy, healthy lives.
But, wait, I thought we were going to learn some kick butt -- take-no-prisoners moves that I could perform on the local alcoholic strongman! Sorry to disappoint, but “kicking butt” is merely a small part of a total self-defense strategy. Think about it. In the grand scheme of things, looking at the big picture, isn't the end goal of truly successful self-defense the simple act of going about our daily lives in walking through the door and coming home to our family and friends, smiling and retaining all our bodily functions?
Now that we have a goal in mind, if we take a look at these three definitions of self-defense, and rearrange and prioritize them like so:
- An act or instance of defending or protecting one's own interests, property, ideas, etc., as by argument or strategy.
- The act of defending one's person when physically attacked, as by countering blows or overcoming an assailant: the art of self-defense.
- A claim or plea that the use of force or injuring or killing another was necessary in defending one's own person from physical attack.
We now have a pretty good threefold plan for protecting ourselves from elements that could make our day sour.
Let's examine these individually.
1. An act or instance of defending or protecting one's own interests, property, ideas, etc., as by argument or strategy.
This means developing good safe habits and skills such as maintaining situational awareness, boundary setting, verbal de-escalation, or not letting yourself become intoxicated or high at rowdy social events (or avoiding rowdy social events altogether), and being careful about the company you keep. It is unfortunate that these issues rarely come to light in most martial arts or self-defense courses.
2.The act of defending one's person when physically attacked, as by countering blows or overcoming an assailant: the art of self-defense.
Ah, yes, the "good stuff". Hai-yah festival, here we come. I can almost see the imagery in your heads; you're walking down the street, girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband on your arm, when all of a sudden, ten (or twenty, or whatever number catches your fancy, it's your daydream after all) thugs that look like West Side Story casting rejects surround you, waving chains, knives, and baseball bats, and ask for your wallet or purse. You smile arrogantly, assume your fighting stance, and in a flurry of martial prowess and derring-do, you unleash deadly moves in all directions, leaving one alive to tell the tale. Passersby surround you, applauding, the cops show up and rave in admiration about how "you showed them", and you and your loved one go home where he/she ravishes, I mean lavishes... attention on you in gratitude. Man, Chuck Norris never had it so good.
Pop!
If you didn't know, that's the sound of your bubble bursting.
Let’s examine your fantasy.
If your wallet or purse is all that is required for you to go on living, then by all means, let the perp (or perps) have it. If you find yourself fighting for your life, then something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.
If weapons are involved (and unfortunately, they often are), they will not be waving around in the air for you and everyone else to see. More than likely, you will feel an unwanted arm suddenly grab and hold you close, you will feel the weapon introduce itself by a painful shove into your ribs, and the bad, BAD breath of the perp will enter your nostrils. You will have no time to assume a fighting stance, not at this distance.
Multiple opponents. Ay-yay-yay. If this wasn't a bad proposition to begin with, the fact is that standard operating procedure for most thugs is to keep their confederates concealed. What (or who) you don't see can kill you. As for managing multiple contacts, look at how much energy mixed martial arts athletes expend during a match. They are in a controlled environment; they have the safety of rules and referees, and only have prestige or money to lose. How well would you fare in an uncontrolled environment, with no rules, no referees, and with your life or the life of your loved ones at stake, against more than one adversary?
Now that you have an idea of what typically occurs during criminal assault, by what criteria should you judge physical management skills?
In my estimation, your physical skill set should:
- Take into account the use of weapons at close range.
- Take into account the possibility of multiple assailants, seen and unseen.
- Take into account your lack of initiative and how to regain initiative.
- Be the very last skill set brought into play.
- Be legally and morally sound; which, incidentally, brings us to our next definition of self-defense…
3.A claim or plea that the use of force or injuring or killing another was necessary in defending one's own person from physical attack.
In the aforementioned scenario, you lethally dispatched your opponents. When the cops show up, they aren't going to ask you for autographs. They aren't going to ask you to please, please join the police force so the city will be safe from crime. Can you guess what they are going to do? Most jurisdictions state that a citizen may use only the necessary amount of force to stop an assault from occurring or continuing. In all likelihood, you will be sweating as the prosecutor asks you why you didn't make your escape to safety and why it was necessary for you to stay in place and kill all of your assailants. In all likelihood, the families and friends of the thugs you killed will tearfully state to the jury how they were “nice boys” and didn’t deserve to be murdered.
Did I mention that going to court costs money?
And don’t even get me started on the effects that killing someone can have on you and those around you, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Does this sound like a party you’d want to attend?
Unfortunately, this is also an area not too many martial arts or self-defense courses address, along with the previously mentioned skills of verbalization, boundary setting, and so on.
As you can see, there’s more to self-defense than a well-placed punch or gunshot.
The best advice out there is really very simple when it comes to self-defense:
Think about it.
AUTHORS NOTE: It is not the intent of the author to provide legal advice. Questions involving self-defense and related inquiries should be directed to an attorney. It is the sole responsibility of the reader to research the local, state, and federal laws regarding self-defense. Any and all information in this article is purely for informational purposes only.
Here is Eric Taimanglo's contact info:
Location Monument
Valley Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903
Hours Sun: 7:00 am -
10:00 am
Phone (719) 304-6764
Email rmkg@consultant.com
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