This happened to me when I was 19 or 20. I think it was 4-5 dudes all in their later 20s, trying to get me to buy them booze. One tried distracting me while the others slowly circled around, trying to casually cut off escape routes. Luckily I saw it all coming pretty quickly and was out of there like an Olympic sprinter before they could close the gap. Fight or flight won for me, but the prevailing emotion I felt after the adrenaline dump was pure rage.
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Not to mention it’s just a matter of logistics. Cops can be a deterrent, but there are never enough and they can’t be everywhere. Cops show up after a crime has been committed.
I’d much rather see more headlines where victims shoot their attacker dead.
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They were playing a dangerous game.
Corner the wrong person and people start dropping and bleeding out on the funky ground.
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The terrifying reality of defending against violence is that if you cannot either escape or make the violence stop, it is up to the violent person to decide if and when they’ve done enough violence.
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Thankfully.
That is not how it went for me. One distracted me by walking towards me and after he passed, asked from behind, “Hey, can you spare a dollar?” So predictably I looked back. Then as soon as I looked forward, I nearly walked into the other two, and then all three swarmed in as close as possible, and very quickly. All were older and bigger and there was no getting away.
Yes, I gave them my money. The one who took my money, a 20-dollar bill from my wallet, said, “Don’t worry; you’ll get that back soon,” and I have strong suspicion why he said that, but we can leave that to imagination.
I assume pro-crime people have never felt that violated, especially as an unaware, naive, and untrained teenager.
As a very aware adult who can read people damn well I can see such shit coming a mile away. Hence, as I said, when I see videos in which innocent people being harmed, I can feel their pain, but after viewing some of them I’ve thought, “you really didn’t see this coming?!” or “you walked right into this?!”
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But people have hurt other people over them.
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I certainly have. Like you, the incident happened in my teenage years and involved multiple threatening adults.
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That’s how I feel about my younger self. I was pathetically unaware of my surroundings. When I look back on it, I should have seen these guys at least a minute before they zeroed in on me as a target, but I was off in my own head not paying attention.
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That the Supreme Court had to make such a decision is absurd. Who ever thought the police had a DUTY to protect individuals? There are way too many individuals for that to work.
The fact that people see the police as superheroes that can spring into action and stop everything is a big problem. The farther police get from investigators and deterrents, the worse for society.
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They had marked me pretty well. I didn’t even own at that age, let alone carry one. Their biggest mistake was underestimating how damn fast I was haha.
@BrickHead Sorry you had to experience that man, glad you made it out okay though.
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I often wonder what goes on in pro-crime people’s brains. Usually there’s an excuse for everything.
I once was told by a couple that NYC shoplifting, which has a cap of what I recall is under 1,000 bucks to not be punishable, is understandable because people are stealing for necessities.
Fast forward and these two now have a cafe. I wonder if they’d be OK with a mob storming in, wrecking the place and stealing things.
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Holy shit 2jar, if you didn’t steal that quote - you should coin it. Outstanding.
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Maybe some people feel a little bit of envy towards criminals. Shit government and rising prices on everything: gas, food, housing.
They probably think “Hmm I don’t blame you, that’s not a bad idea during these times”
I’m just throwing stuff out there, but I do believe capitalism will be the greatest downfall of the country if nothing changes.
The mostly peaceful protests, looting and burning was not exclusively poor minorities.
In fact, a fair bit of those crowds were people who were doing just fine.
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Most seem think self defence refers to ‘learning how to fight’. However, fighting encompasses only a portion of what self-defence entails. Situational awareness, de-escalation and most importantly, the ability to get out of a bad situation unhurt/alive comprises the majority of what self defence should entail.
In a 1v1 altercation being able to box, strike efficiently or grapple can be a lifesaver. You’ll frequently find aggressors tend to pick their targets carefully. Think about predator/prey. Of course, size matters in a fight… between two untrained guys, the bigger guy generally wins. Between two trained guys of equal skill, the stronger/more athletic guy generally wins. People who look to fight/mug/corner others are generally predatory individuals who are somewhat less likely to pick on big, muscly guys. Cowards, predators and criminals tend to pick easier targets. Criminality is partially mediated by the likelihood of success when committing a crime.
I can’t make a comment on America, but in Aus most assaults involve gangs of aggressive young men targeting a small group of individuals, or a single individual. It is a dynamic where one cannot defend themselves… 1-4 people (and perhaps the 1-4 are drunk) vs 12-16 young men? Weapons charges are serious business in Australia, therefore you’ll almost never find someone outside of organised crime syndicates using firearms on the street. However, knives or improvised weapons are sometimes pulled on people.
Not blaming the victims, but most of these scenarios are avoidable if you are conscious of your environment.
If you know how to box… Or you know how to grapple… Or perhaps you are well rounded in striking and grappling. That generally won’t save you from a knife that has been pulled out suddenly. There was an Aussie video (I think it was in Aus) of an argument that breaks out between a group of young men. Within a split second, one man takes out a pocket knife and stabs a soon to be deceased young man in the neck. The wound punctures the guy’s carotid artery and/or jugular and death instantaneously occurs in 5-15 seconds.
A lot of fights can be prevented, a lot of fights are caused by hotheads being unwilling to back down… a lot of fights are mediated by people letting emotional volatility get the best of them. I don’t think getting into self defence because you want to learn to “fight” is the correct attitude. Unless you have nothing to lose, fighting is a really bad idea. Many 1v1 altercations involve mutually agreed upon combat.
Even “king punches” in Aus and/or the UK (1v1)… you can entirely negate this risk by deciding “getting wasted at clubs and wandering around streets while dazed and confused at 3am isn’t for me”
You know what’s also effective without having to commit years to learning a fighting discipline? Weapons… Even in New York or California you can generally buy and carry a taser, stun gun, pepper spray, tactical batons, sap gloves (getting punched with one of these hurts considerably more than getting punched by a regular fist), a blade that is less than 10cm long etc (small pocket knife was what caused the fatality I spoke about earlier). Certain martial arts also involve knife fighting; however, pressure testing may be lacking for obvious reasons. California has similar regulations.
In Australia… all of the above will wind up with you in court. However there are ways around this. Cars generally come equipped with lug wrenches… If you partake in recreational athletics or have a physical job it is permitted for you to carry a small blade if appropriate and/or have a cricket bat on you. Pepper spray is illegal in all states aside from WA, but break cleaner isn’t etc.
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Somehow they never seem to think of the people who are terrorized in the process.
A teacher gets knocked unconscious. “Oh, kids will be kids.”
People loot a store. “Hey, times are rough.”
A weekend bloodbath in Chicago. “Aw, these ‘kids’ (actually men), don’t know better; they don’t have daddies.”
Homeless take over a street. “Vagrancy laws were mean bro.”
A woman gets thrown onto subway tracks and dies. “He was sick. We have such poor mental-health services here.”
We cannot end the lives of those who ended others’ lives. That’s mean. So is corporal punishment; that’s mean too, and “like the Middle East” (even though we had that here in good ol’ America.
No, no, to crime-sympathetic people, the onus is on normal people. Who cares it their lives are ruined, their kids terrorized, their businesses destroyed, or even if they die or wind up in a hospital?
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I guess those thieves are preparing for the communist revolution since communism is theft.
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That’s a REALLY good movie!
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Damn straight 