Great list! I fully agree with everything on it. Here are a few other ideas: 1. Avoidance: Although violence can happen anywhere, certain places have a higher probability of it happening. Avoid places, people, and activities that increase the chance of having a violent encounter. 2. Awareness: I know that situational awareness has prevented me from being attacked at least a few times. If you are aware of the space and people in the space, you can notice what looks off and remove yourself from the situation before it develops. 3. Intuition: Almost everyone that is attacked will say afterward that they had a “bad feeling” before the attack. Listen to your intuition. It’s a survival mechanism. Again, I believe my intuition has helped me avoid a few violent situations. 4. Parkour: With running, the ability to do some simple moves to put an obstacle between you and the attacker can be a game changer. 5. Hiding: It could be completely hiding from an aggressor or simply obscuring what you are doing. For example, not being flashy with your money, keeping your phone out of sight, avoiding wearing expensive watches and jewelry, and generally being a gray man is a way to hide in the public to not standout and become a target.
Most important, in my opinion, is to keep your head. Fear is good, up to a point. It gets your endorphins flowing, so your muscles are ready for "fight or flight", pain is suppressed, your reactions are quicker, your thinking is clearer, and your vision is sharper. Panic, however, is uncontrolled, and makes it almost impossible to do anything effectively. As far as I know, most random attacks are robberies, so, the easiest way to avoid an attack, in the first place, is to look like there is no reason to attack you. Look poor. No flashy clothes, no bling, no fat-wallet bulge (I carry a front pocket wallet. It's harder to see, and it's harder to pick a front pocket), and don't flash cash or credit cards. Awareness of your surroundings is key. If you see the threat, before the threat is upon you, you can, hopefully, avoid it. Talking is good. It humanizes you. Many attackers dehumanize people in their minds, so they won't feel guilt. If you remind them that you are a fellow human being, it makes it harder to cause you harm. This does not work on sociopaths, or many psychopaths, though. Showing a weapon can signal to an attacker that you are not easy prey, and are willing to fight. But, be aware, this is seen as "brandishing" in most states, so you could be in legal trouble, even though you did not actually use the weapon. On the other hand, spending a couple of days in jail, and paying a fine, is better than being hospitalized or buried, so... Develop your "street face". It sounds silly, but, if you look vaguely pissed off, and a little insane, a lot of guys won't even bother trying you. The caveat, of course, is that many of the people who would attack a stranger are, themselves, pissed off, and insane.
These are all doable. I believe that we can also practice being more vigilant of our surroundings and cautious/careful in our decision-making. Sometimes we need to listen to that inner voice that says, "Nah, stay put."
Being mentally prepared to use a non-violent response AND knowing which violent response you're willing to immediately employ should it become necessary is a good idea. Don't convince yourself that your non-violent response is going to work. Also, don't believe that utilizing as many non-violent options will eventually work or that it's just a matter of time before the "bad guy" backs down. I say, give one non-violent response a try then resort to (if absolutely necessary) your violent response. This way, in a court of law (hopefully) your defense will be able show you attempted to deescalate the situation in a non-violent manner before resorting to more drastic measures. Good video.
Zachparade2791 listed a lot of them. I will add to it with the following and examples: 1. Avoidance - martial art of San Soo. The basic movements that are taught over and over again is the following - shooting right or left. A bad guy is going hit you, run straight over you, shoot you and is pointing a gun at you. "Shooting right" means to step to your right and near the attacker with your left hand protecting your face/head/neck. A person who is set on attacking you can not adjust fast enough. A fifth degree black belt demonstrated. A person is pointing a gun directly at you. You shoot right, with your left hand/arm protecting your face/head/neck and as you move, you draw and fire into the assailant. 2. Learn OODALOOP. Developed for jet pilots in the Korean War. You can be a civilian. A classmate studied the concept with me. A civilian. He went to a gas station. Bad guy had a gun and the drop on him. Classmate drew from concealed, shot and killed the assailant on the spot. The concept works for simply escaping from a threat. 3. Situational awareness. You go on a trip and there is a rest stop. You chill for a few minutes. I go the same rest stop. I read the shoe prints/weather/know when it last rained/cigarette butts. I had a class. Elevation 10,000 feet. 7:30 a.m. I am shown a track. It is a coyote track. I tell when it came through, where it looked. Then I commented to the instructor if I were allowed three yards of tracks, I would tell the sex because the hips vary between male and female. Background - not violence. Trained in animal tracking, individual man tracking, group man tracking, tracking by sound at night and blindfolded. Not violent skills. Saturday morning walk at the beach. I sense that the two young men are going to attempt to rob me. I change into a confident mode and walk right through them. The next day, an older guy came up to me on the beach. He said he had been walking some distance behind me, saw me walk right through the two. He was robbed by them. 4. Distractions. Knife fighting class. I stand with a knife pointed at an expert. Time after time, he takes the knife away from me without my seeing him do it! He has me talk. You cannot talk and pay attention at the same time. On another occasion, I am doing knife fighting with an instructor of knife fighting and another student. Two on one. I put the student between me and the instructor. I throw my dummy knife on the ground, everyone's eyes follow it. I take a second knife from my back pocket. The student screams "unfair". As the instructor tells the kid that everything is fair, I pick up and palm a spent 12 ga case from the ground. Now the instructor is going to go after me. I throw the shotgun shell in the air and his eyes follow it. I am on the ground laughing. I distracted him. 5. Get the opponent exhausted. Don't grapple. Get that enormous tub of lard opponent to keep trying to get to you and fail. If that former high school football guard throws punches at you that do not land, he exhausts himself. The most exhausting form of fighting is knife fighting. It doesn't go on and on like in the movies. The fights are over in seconds. Few people have any measure of stamina.
I wonder how well I would make out with a negative encounter. At 71 I have never had to fight or "put up my fists" I never used a fist. My taser scared me😆 and I think I'd have only one chance to zap the attacker before it was taken from me. I can't run any distance so that doesn't work and I don't know any "moves" of self defence. I automatically shrink back cause it all seems so scary but there is no way to get used to violence especially when I lived until now without it in my life. I wonder how I will fare in coming dangerous times?🤔 Not so good I think😐
A LONG time ago when I was a kid, I used to carry a mouthpiece in my pocket because I boxed and played football... I gotta say a couple times people wanted to fight me, I would tell them to hold on and put the mouthpiece in... they backed off... i dunno... I guess because i was ready it made them think twice! LOL
Great video. So many people don't have these things planned ahead of time. Distraction to avoid getting physical puts you ahead if you have no choice but to defend yourself with violence. And here in NJ we have no self defense laws. So if you do need to defend yourself your gonna need a good story in that courtroom when the time comes.
Greatvideo. Everyone needs to understand the force continuum. I also encourage everyone to learn some empty hands training using joint locking/immobilization.
Good list and good topic. I have seen several instances in crime documentaries where an abduction was abandoned because the victim yelled and screamed. Granted this was in a populated area.
Thanks for sharing these non violent actions at least they will do something to keep you from being thrown in the slammer for defending your family or self.
Thanks for the video. I have a few thoughts. First, I haven't been able to run for over a decade. Unless I can break my attacker's legs first, I can't run away from anything. I couldn't even run away from a good wheelchair athlete. I agree that running away is a good strategy when it's available. If I could take a few steps and disappear somehow, I would take that choice. However, a foot race is never going to be a winning strategy for me at this point in my life. In terms of a distraction, I wouldn't throw pebbles or coffee in someone's face unless I were willing to follow up with more direct violence. If someone intentionally threw sand, pebbles, or even coffee in someone's face for no reason, that could be prosecuted as assault. Throwing sand in someone's face could cause damage to the eyes. Hot coffee might even cause at least temporary damage to the eyes. I'd categorize those moves as more than just a distraction. I'd put them on the same level as using pepper spray. There's a time to use those tactics, but I wouldn't call them completely "non-violent." I also see the use of light in an attacker's eyes as a kind of force. I agree with the tactic completely, but I don't see it as completely non-violent. There's a certain aggressiveness in shining a light in someone's eyes. That aggressiveness is the right thing to do when it prevents an attack by making the attacker understand that someone will resist. If it blinds the attacker long enough for someone to escape without further use of force, that's even better. I like the screamer alarms in some scenarios. I particularly like them as motion alarms. Another form of noise defense would be an air horn. They make some air horns that are very small. These would be effective against some four-footed attackers as well as some two-footed attackers. Talking is good for people who are good talkers. I'm a good writer. I'm a terrible talker. If I had to survive based on my ability to talk my way out of a situation, I might as well cut my own throat.
Really appreciate these kind of videos thankyou. People need to think more about non-violent ways of getting out of a bad situation, than just going straight to the weapon to solve the problem. Because that opens you up for more problems with the law.
First step is trying to avoid it in the first place. Sometimes, the threat of violence is more effective than actual violence. Other times, the only thing that stops violence is greater violence. I carry a small Coast flashlight, it's light and compact and very bright. They can't attack or hurt what they can't see. Stun guns are good, but you have to get very close to the threat and stun guns are illegal in some places. You should try to verbally warn them first.
Yep. Police use a light to blind so they can not see them as well. I have a personal high pitched alarm. I used it to scare a bear away. Never thought of using it as a tripwire alarm. My state I'm not allowed stun guns. Running away is great. With martial arts I think basic parkour is great. Lastly I've broken up potential fights by diesculating them. Police use tone of voice to intimidate.
Sure avoidance is the best way, but you have set a red line and when it is crossed you have to inflict pain. A hat pin or a key to the right spot can shake up the attacker to think twice if you can't get away.
Great points brother and pretty neat devices. Sad truth of today if you had to exterminate some one for self defense you would be broke and jobless the time these clowns were finished with you so yes get away if possible
As the old saying goes "Rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6"... Is it not true that nowadays you get jury trials? And doesn't this mean that the old saying has no standing in jury trials as the judge judges you and not the 12? If you are going to court, what if you that you tell them you REQUIRE A TRIAL BY JURY? As then are you not actually being jugdged by the 12 good men and women of the jury and not the judge? This is not legal advice and you will need to look into it. Also, have you acknowledged JURY NULLIFICATION? There are some very informative videos on this platform that could be worth acknowledging?
Prayer to Yeshua is the only way! Forget this life. This world is dying. The plane has crashed into the mountain. We are just waiting for the ax to fall. Joh 3 : 16 17 18 Amen
Most people who have huge weapons collections in their house will probably hide in the walk in wardrobe in times of trouble anyways. Smart move probably. Because most people may have 150 knives at home but they don't know how to use them. Same with firearms. Dial 911 and hide as long as you can. Let the professionals handel it. Save yourself a whole bunch of aggravation and you don't end up in jail.
