Intervention

[RenDaHai]

@Hammer, Hehe, he just p*ssed on a statue of Zhangsanfeng!

@Wenshu, Be that as it may, lets assume you have intervened.... What is the strategy?

[Lucas]

Actually, yes, I would say there was plenty of ego at play in that scenario you gave.

1. Revenge was the motivator
2. Seeking to overpower another without knowing the context except that a friend is telling you.
3. If anything, any man should throw himself more into the service of others as he ages.

to be fair, revenge was his friends motivator. His motivation was the request for help by a good friend. I have been there. You dont necessarily want to help, but you feel obligation to help a friend in need, so you do.


You might see a situation you can help in, but if you turn around and walk away, that may haunt your conscience afterward.

[rett]

Lets change the example situation to a man beating a clearly weaker opponent (child, woman or pensioner)

One approach might be to just engage the attacker's attention to allow the person being attacked to get away if she wants. Get his attention and try to get him to turn from the victim towards you and maybe approach you. Just give the victim some time.

I've been in situations like that twice where women were being physically assaulted by men in public places and both times I talked to the attacker long enough for the women to disappear from the scene, then I left.

One time I was on a balcony which is pretty safe. I used a firm voice and commanded the attacker to take his hands off her. He started arguing with me instead and she got out of where he had cornered her.

The other time a guy was blocking two women into a little alcove with a bicycle. I got the attacker to notice me behind him and he challenged me "what the feck are you looking at" (in Swedish) I kept agreeing with everything the attacker said. He was telling me to get the feck out of there and threatening me. I said okay, okay, I'm just passing by, but I didn't move away, or only just slow enough to keep him from charging me. (he was really agitated). No guarantees of safety but I had a sense for when he was right at the tipping point and every time he was about to rush me and throw the bicycle at me I just said okay okay and backed off a little more and he followed me a little more.

But that point if he had attacked I could have just run because the two women were gone.

[Jimbo]

In America that is a good way to get shot, end up in jail, or both.

Especially with a domestic situation playing out in the street. While all concerned with how dashing you look, you fail to take the into account that the woman you think you're saving is going to stay loyal to the guy beating her with closed fists in public.

Cops show up and she says that you assaulted them.

+1.

I've seen situations where a woman being beaten up turned on her rescuer. When I was young, a friend of mine saw a guy slapping his wife(?)/girlfriend(?) around in a park with lots of people standing there doing nothing. He told the guy to stop, and when the guy came at him, he dropped the guy. When he turned around to see if the girl was alright, she punched him...hard...and said to mind his own f'n business, plus a lot of other expletives. He had a black eye for some time after that.

Not saying that nothing should be done, but that things are not always as black and white as they might appear.

[wenshu]

+1.

I've seen situations where a woman being beaten up turned on her rescuer. When I was young, a friend of mine saw a guy slapping his wife(?)/girlfriend(?) around in a park with lots of people standing there doing nothing. He told the guy to stop, and when the guy came at him, he dropped the guy. When he turned around to see if the girl was alright, she punched him...hard...and said to mind his own f'n business, plus a lot of other expletives. He had a black eye for some time after that.

Not saying that nothing should be done, but that things are not always as black and white as they might appear.

Long time ago my girlfriend at the time called the cops on some neighbors who were involved in a violent domestic dispute. We actually had seen the guy inflict violence on his wife/girlfriend before.

The cops showed up at our apartment demanding to be let in looking for signs of violence. Luckily I wasn't home at the time; took a while for her to convince them that there was nobody else there and that she was calling about people in the next building over. In all likely hood I would have spent the night in lockup with a fresh domestic charge on my record had I been home at the time.

To answer RDH's question, what I am trying to say is that my strategy is "don't".

For the sake of hypotheticals, the diversion tactics people have been offering are best. Try and call attention to the ruckus. Maybe shout dramatically in an attempt to startle the attacker and take their attention away from the victim.

[Yao Sing]

My personal preference, in the case of weaker beat up by stronger, is to ask if they need help. There's your distraction, you're covered if they say no, you didn't threaten or assualt anyone. If they say no and you still think they need help then keep an eye on the situation.

If I saw a possibly fatal attack, unarmed against a knife or a verbal threat to kill along with the physical attack, then I would intervene regardless of legal repercussion or physical harm.

Basically stay out of it unless absolutely neccessary. Then anything goes and you SHOULD be justified.

And yes I've taken beatings for othes before, and gone down dark roads alone in response to a scream, etc.

[SPJ]

In America that is a good way to get shot, end up in jail, or both.

Especially with a domestic situation playing out in the street. While all concerned with how dashing you look, you fail to take the into account that the woman you think you're saving is going to stay loyal to the guy beating her with closed fists in public.

Cops show up and she says that you assaulted them.

ouch.

[AJM]

You either have the courage, ways, and means of stopping the violence, or you don't.

It really is that simple.

There is no way to determine the variables and what outcome it will lead to.

Absolutely. The outcome of any fight is predetermined by you. You choose to win or not before you fight.