a guy in my kung fu class got jumped

[Ray Pina]

Sorry to hear about your training brother.

Kind of off topic. Many times I view being a martial artists as knowing where to walk and how. Not heading into unlit, unpopulated areas that you are unfamiliar with, or if so, be in the street, open, away from ambush, notice parked cars that could be used to block off attack for a chance to run, but, most of all, carry oneself not like a victim.

3 on 1 sounds unfair a measure to judge this man. 3 on 1 with a gun, impossible. Bad break. Lucky to be alive.

[respectmankind]

Well, in all reality, the most common guns used on the street, WILL leave less damage than a knife. It IS a fact. Not saying that a **** gun that can take your arm off, example: .50, will leave less damage. We were talking about a certain situation, and I may not have made it clear, but my post was in reference of the topic and a reply. And, if you listened, I said damage, not effectivness, or effecient.

[anton]

Originally posted by Braden
Rant editted for the subtext impaired.

- Saying you'll attack someone before they show aggression is a little silly, since you're surrounded by people all the time, and you just can't go around beating them all up.

If you're referring to my comment, I never said that I think you should attack before the opponent shows aggression. I said the attack (IMHO) should ideally be made before the opponent makes his attack. You can usually tell that someone wants to fight before they attack you.

- Saying you'll attack someone as soon as they show aggression is a little silly. The escalation of violence in these encounters isn't how it is in the ring, kwoon, or movies. You'll have someone asking for directions one second, and a knife in your kidney the next second. There's no in between state.

This hasn't been my experience in most situations. When I and people I know have been mugged someone usually comes up, sometimes they pull out a weapon, then they say something along the line of, "give me your wallet/phone/shoes". Here in Aus its usually either a tough guy (like a big ass maori or some hard bloke covered in tattoos) - in which case i would probably comply, or (as is usually the case) its some desperate junkie.

- Saying you'll attack someone only if they don't have a knife, gun, or syringe is silly because people don't advertise what weapons they carry. As seen in this example, they will wait until you've played your hand before pulling out the weapon. They will wait for you to clinch before pulling the knife and sticking it in you. His buddy will wait for you to swing before pulling a gun and putting it to your head.

Once again this has not been my experience. Usually (in mugging situations) people do advertise their weapons in the hope that they can rob me without having a physical altercation. Maybe they think they can get away with this because I look like a ***** who won't retaliate (which I wont if they have a weapon) - i dunno.

- Saying you'll die to protect your pride is just plain silly.

- Saying knife wounds cause more damage than bullet wounds is just plain silly.

I totally agree with ou on both points - especially the first.

- Implying that someone is a *****, badass, or hero is silly. These words have no meaning in real confrontations. They get thrown out the window and replaced simply with 'survive' - on both sides of the encounter. There's no such thing as a real badass, the way they're percieved. A real badass lives a miserable, paranoid life, and becomes a badass by doing things which would make you call him a *****. At risk of sounding judgemental - the people going on about what they would or wouldn't have done, and calling people these names haven't the foggiest clue what they're talking about.

To me a hero is someone with way too much gel in his hair who walks around in tight T-shirts flexing his pecs.
I agree that noone can say what they would or would not have done as we don't even know the circumstances of the situation.
As for "badasses" and "tough-guys" - they do exist. Both sides are trying to survive, but people that are tough will survive more often than others. As an example: I know a guy who got out of a confrontation with 10 guys just by looking them in the eye and giving the impression that he meant it. This guy's been in fights against weapons, superior numbers, sometimes even while at various levels of intoxication. When you spar against someone like this they can make you **** your pants just by staring at you. You feel sort of like a rabbit mesmerised by the tiger's gaze, suddenly you can hardly move, forget about throwing punches.
I know its a cliche but some people have "the eye of the tiger". Look at any Bruce Lee movie, and you can tell the guy's been in plenty of real fights - he always looks like he means it.

Brucelee2 - Take any chance you can to help your bud relax over the next two months. He'll have a tough time with all the head games these things play with you. But when he's through it, he'll have learnt more about self defense than you can from a thousand martial arts classes. My condolences. No one should have to deal with these terrible things happening to them.

True, true. Very good advice.