The tae kwon do instructor where my kids studied (a few years back) wouldn't give out a black belt unless the student could run fast and far ... I don't recall exactly the time/distance, but it was about a mile in under 8 minutes, something like that. Obviously there were a few common sense exceptions.

The point here is that the most important part of a complete self defense regimen is to be able to distance yourself from a serious threat before it strikes.

I've been in one (out in the street), and barricaded inside my house for 3 days from another one.

In the first one I was a young adult and I ran - it's always good to have an escape route planned ahead. At least one. I did, because I knew a mom might form, so I had already planned my route back to safety by thinking about where the least people would be, and it worked.

The barricades held too, with no shots fired thankfully.

Before I knew how to defend myself better, when people would mess with me I would act crazy and scare them. I would turn around and walk toward them and say things that implied if they didn't back off I was going to go nuts attacking them, and didn't care if I lived or died. I was angry enough, and big enough, to pull off this bluff quite a few times back then (I really *didn't* care a lot of the time). Possibly sometimes it was because males had qualms about hitting females, but not in most of these confrontations. That tactic would not work with a mob, though....

[ Continued ]

You are correct, we mostly agree. In fact I went back to edit my post after rereading you and couldn't find an edit button. I realilized that in my actions where the girl was being beaten I did just that; make myself appear big and fearless (and stupid!)

You are correct, we mostly agree. In fact I went back to edit my post after rereading you and couldn't find an edit button. I realilized that in my actions where the girl was being beaten I did just that; make myself appear big and fearless (and stupid!)

If I may quibble but on a distinction that I think is important?

Quote: "a mob occurs when the collective instinct over rides the individual rational thought process."... "Fighting is ineffectual because they know they have the collective power behind them."

Fighting is ineffectual but my point is that the mob does not, indeed cannot, think. Because it acts on instinct, like a school of fish or a flock of birds it is the consequence of the combined instincts of the whole.

By "turning to fight" I mean merely to instill fear in the constituents of the whole, hoping to sway them away from you. As with certain predators if met in the wild, the human traveler is not to run but to make themselves look as big as possible. The human traveler could not win a fight, still hopes to avoid a fight but by keying in on certain triggers in the bear or mountain lion, convince it you are not worth its trouble. The very point of "turning to fight" is to, in...

[ Continued ]