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Few can imagine a tyranny worse than denying a person or people the right to defend themselves. Preventable violence plagues the world, such as theft, slavery, assault, murder, and rape. The people of society need to stop this. Society needs to put an end to the prevalence of any form of offensive harm, coercion, or violence. However, that still allows defensiveness. In fact, defensive force helps stop offensive harm, coercion, and violence. For example, society needs to put rapists in jail to protect women; so, thankfully, society uses the defensively coercive act of imprisoning rapists to defend innocent would-be victims from the offensively coercive act of rape.
Does this extend to war, though?
In the contemporary world, governments build and use huge expensive armies and weapons in the name of self-defense. Warmongers usually call war a form of self-defense. For example, the U.S. government justified starting the war in Iraq by calling it “preemptive self-defense.” Similarly, in the name of self-defense, the U.S. government stockpiles a massive arsenal of WMDs, including thousands of nuclear weapons. Although only the U.S. ever used nuclear weapons (killing 200,000 Japanese citizens), other countries possess nuclear weapons, namely Russia, India, the U.K., France, and China. Additionally, countries like Iran and North Korea claim the right to develop and possess nuclear weapons for self-defense.
Yes, the healthiest society gives people the right to defend themselves – and indeed pursue happiness in anyway they want – insofar as they do not offensively harm or coerce anyone else. Yes, the use of solely defensive measures, such as imprisoning a rapist, helps prevent offensive victimization. Nonetheless, is war really a form of defense? Can a government truly use war and nuclear weapons defensively?
How can anyone see war as a form of self-defense? War increases offensive violence and victimization. War and WMDs kill people, innocent people. For example, the war in Iraq killed over 600,000 Iraqi citizens, so far. The suicide bombers who flew planes into the twin-towers claimed that they acted in the name of defense. How can anyone see murder as a form of self-defense? A quick look in the dictionary can tell anyone the falseness of that idea. By definition, murder involves offensive homicide.
The victims of war extend beyond the attacked country or group. Domestic victims can include tax-payers, who governments force to pay for war, the often-drafted troops, who fight and often die in wars, and even the citizens of the aggressive country or group. Reactions and blowback victimize the citizens of the aggressive country. For example, when warmongering Hezbollah killed Israeli troops and kidnapped two Israeli troops, Israel unsurprisingly reacted by killing and bombing Lebanon. Thus, in tragic irony, the use of war in the name of defense by Hezbollah resulted in putting the very people Hezbollah claimed to defend in more danger. In another example, the Iraq war has left U.S. citizens in more danger and increased anti-Americanism and the threat of terrorism.
War puts the same people who the aggressors claim to defend in more danger!
And thus it becomes obvious, politicians and warmongers call war “self-defense” as an excuse and a disguise for it. Just like all motivations, the motivations for war come from selfishness, governmental corruption, and such. Politicians and the leadership couldn’t care less about the safety of the people that they claim to defend. Like most people, the politicians and leaders care about themselves. Like almost any person would, they use their power to help themselves, to further their own careers, and to make themselves & their cronies rich & safe. They don’t go to war to help the citizens or to defend the citizens. If the citizens realized this, the citizens would naturally take the politicians’ power away; the citizens wouldn’t let them declare war. Thus, like when the government does most anything, the politicians and leaders lie about their motivations. To get what they want, the politicians and leaders use lies, deception, euphemisms, manipulation, and such.
Instead of admitting that they want to go to war to make Halliburton, Big Oil, or the military-industrial companies rich, the U.S. government says they want to go to war to protect America.
The world, and especially America, needs defense and violence prevention. The world needs to put an end to offensive harm, coercion, and violence. The world needs to protect innocent people from victimization, but, at least in most cases, war and nuclear weapons only increases the amount of offensive harm, coercion, violence, and victimization.
The world needs to put rapists and murders in jail. The world needs to teach innocent people self-defense, and provide them with the tools for self-defense. The world needs to allow people the right to defend themselves, by such activities as owning a gun, pepper spray, or home security system, and stopping rapists, assailants, or thieves.
Unfortunately, the governments of the world fail to do that. The governments of the world fail to defend the people of the world. For example, the U.S. military companies and the politicians that they bribe make record profits from the over $400 billion spent yearly by the U.S. government on military “defense;” yet, the U.S. has one of the highest violent crime rates in the developed world, including nearly 100,000 rapes every year.
The people need to take the power into their own hands, and demand their money back from their governments. Kick the warmongers out of power, and actually start fighting to end victimization. Reduce the murder rate! Reduce the rape rate! Reduce the robbery rate! Reduce the assault rate! Take the money back from the government, and use it to defend innocent people rather than victimize them!
Do you remember February 1993 when a young 3 yr old was taken from Liverpool, United Kingdom, by two 10-year-old boys.
Jamie Bulger walked away from his mother for only a second and Jon Venables took his hand and led him out of the mall with his friend Robert Thompson.
They took Jamie on a walk for over 2 and a half miles,
Along the way stopping every now and again to torture the poor little boy who was crying constantly for his mummy.
Finally they stopped at a railway track where they brutally kicked him,threw stones at him, rubbed paint in his eyes and pushed batteries up his anus. It was actually worse than this.
What these two boys did was so horrendous that Jamie’s mother was forbidden to identify his body.
They then left his beaten small body on the tracks so a train could run him over to hide the mess they had created. These two boys, even being boys, understood what they did was wrong, hence trying to make it look like an accident.
This week Lady Justice Butler-Sloss has awarded the two boys anonymity for the rest of their lives when they leave custody with new identities.
They will also leave early this year only serving just over half of their sentence. They are being relocated to Australia to live out the rest of their lives.
They disgustingly and violently took Jamie’s life away – in return they each get a new life.
If you feel strongly that this is a grave miscarriage of justice, copy entire message with your comments, petition your friends and family to sign, and foward to cust.ser.cs@gtnet.gov.uk and attention it to Lady Justice Butler-Sloss.
A cop goes to a fast-food drive-through and mistakenly thinks the female teenage cashier short-changes him. After the manager checks the drawer and finds that the cop’s 20 is non-existent, the cop hollers at the girl and arrests her. When the girl hollers back and asks to wait for her mama, the cop gets mad and sprays the teenage girl with Mace, sending her to the hospital. Isn’t this bully cop the kind of person we want to protect girls from?
Granted, the girl hollers back and doesn’t sound like the smartest in the world. However, she’s just a teenage girl working for minimum wage at a fast-food restaurant. The stupid & violent cop is a full grown man armed with a gun and Mace, who is paid much higher, with tax-dollars! Nonetheless, the girl could have dealt with this cop-bully in a wiser way, as to avoid problems. (In the same way, someone who taunts a rabid dog could deal with the dog better.)
While the girl was sent to the hospital, the violent cop got “cleared of all wrong-doing.”
Luckily, the girl was awarded $60,000 for damages in a lawsuit. Unfortunately, it’s the taxpayers who have to pay for the damages that the violent cop caused during his mistaken rage. The cop got off scot-free.
So, in total, the victims in this situation are the taxpayers and the teenage girl. The victimizer, which is the angry cop, got off scot-free. As far as I know, he didn’t even have to go to anger-management or anything. So I ask again, isn’t this bully cop the kind of person we want to protect girls (and everyone, including taxpayers) from?
“Drop everything. I always say, you can always get more stuff later,” Austin Martial Arts Academy instructor Tristan Truscott said.
That’s an important lesson this time of year, Gribi said.
“Here it is Christmas time, none of your packages, your car, none of that’s worth your life,” Gribi said.
After letting your stuff go, the next steps encourage you to get scrappy.
“We always say … you have to fight, yell, scream, make a lot of noise, get a lot of attention,” Truscott said. “It’s all about surviving and escaping. If you escaped a situation, whether it was physical, or not, you won.”
You learn cool moves in class, but it’s not about learning how to fight.
“Can I defend myself from a huge guy that really wants to hurt me? No, I can’t get in a knock down, drag out with him. But I’ve learned some moves that I can take him down or get him away from me, where I can escape,” Gribi said.
During shopping season stores and malls are crowded full of people. That leaves shoppers as easy victims for ciminals. The advice in the above article is right: drop your stuff and give up your money to retain your safety.
Posted by Scott on November 20th, 2006 — Posted in School Safety
Bob Renzi believes that teachers represent the first and best line of defense against school violence.
While several school shootings, including the murders of several Amish school children in the central part of the state recently, make the news, Renzi believes teachers can learn to prevent some tragedies. He said reports of school violence have made people more aware of the potential for danger and more interested in preventing it.
“I really don’t think schools know what to do to prevent potentially fatal violent acts,” he said. “I always believed your teachers are your first line of protection in the schools. They are the majority of the employees in all schools, and training them is essential in life-threatening situations
“A combat course is also more fun and can also be helpful to protect one against everyday street attacks that occur,” Renzi said. “Don’t water it down by calling it self-defense. To protect yourself against life-threatening attacks and threats, you need military-style combatives. They are easy to learn, simple to execute, quickly retained and very effective.”
He would like to see hands-on defensive classes become part of in-service days. Such skills could protect large numbers of students.
“If you have a lot of teachers trained, in a terroristic attack, you have a better chance than with one or two security guards that may be in another part of the building,” Renzi said.
I agree that teachers have the most influence on and dangerous situation. Luckily, schools can use more than one method of defense. For example, a school can educate its teachers and hire security guards.
Posted by Scott on November 18th, 2006 — Posted in Bullies
Willmar [Minnesota] Police Officer Marilee Dorn talked to about 50 parents about the characteristics of bullies and their targets and about what parents and others can try to do about them.
“Generally, bullying involves an imbalance of power,” Dorn said. “It involves one person being happy and another being miserable.”
Not every incident of “rough and tumble” play is bullying, she said. It depends on whether everybody wants to play that way.
“The issue goes well beyond schools,” she said. “It ties in with all other types of crime.” That includes school shootings, gang behaviors, domestic violence and road rage.
Bullies tend to be dominant, aggressive, below average academically and may have low social skills. They may be seen as uncooperative with adults and as having little tolerance of people different from them. Bullying tends to run in families, too, and bullying children may have witnessed bullying or violence at home.
“By the age of 36, most bullies have bullies for children,” she said.
Boys tend to bully others physically; girls tend to do it through exclusion and gossip.
I’m happy that these parents are learning about bullying. I personally think that one of the best way to protect kids from bullying is by entering them in sports and more specifically martial arts (for kids). Martial art instructors teach students how to diffuse situations without fighting. Also, Martial arts give the kids the confidence and assertiveness to avoid bullying.
Additionally, parents and schools need to take steps on the other end as well. They need to take steps to ensure their kids and students don’t bully, by observing them and by giving them the social skills and tolerance to interact well with other children.
“Most of the [real-life self-defense] incidents are resolved by situational awareness, seeing a potential problem and avoiding it. Next is aggressive posturing combined with strong, unmistakable verbal commands. Fewer still are resolved with OC spray, a few by the display of the handgun, and very rarely, shots are fired.” -Ed Lovette
The above quote by Ed Lovette rings very true. Understanding it leads us to a very important point: We cannot just give someone a gun, some pepper spray, or martial arts training and expect them to successfully ward off danger and victimization. We must realize that a successful defense strategy must involve avoiding dangerous situations in the first place. Simple awareness and avoidance can keep potential victims out of dangerous situations in the first place. Additionally, confidence and even verbal self-defense can scare off most potential attackers before they attack, because attackers look for easy prey. Generally speaking, if potential victims need to pull out a weapon or fight, then the problem already occurred. In fact, sometimes violent defense just escalates the situation and makes the problem worse.
Most self-defense classes teach students to see physical combat as a last resort. These classes give the students the knowledge and training to avoid the need for physical combat in the first place.
B.C. Crime Prevention Association and BC Hydro reminded seniors and persons with disabilities across B.C. of various steps they can take to increase their sense of personal safety:
Motion Sensors: In residential areas, outdoor security lights can account for a large portion of overall lighting costs.Motion sensors are a good choice for controlling outdoor security lighting.
Photocells are especially good for outdoor or security lighting control. They sense existing light and turn electric lights on when natural levels are low, off when light levels are higher.
According to Valerie MacLean, BCCPA executive director, “One of the many ways community members can create a safer community is by getting to know those who live within their own neighbourhoods.”
MacLean adds, “Being aware of those around you allows one to know who belongs and who does not belong within our neighbourhoods.”
The following awareness tips can assist you in helping yourself and your community
Introduce Yourself – Get to know your neighbours, including their names and phone numbers.
Participate – Join a ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ or ‘Block Watch’ Program.
Be Aware – Read the paper, listen to the radio and watch the news on television to learn about activities which may be of significance to your neighbourhood.
Avoid Being a Target – Criminals look for the easy targets. They want to enter a home quickly and efficiently.
Be suspicious – Make note of and report to local police suspicious activity which may be taking place within your neighbourhood.
Posted by Scott on November 15th, 2006 — Posted in Guns
Guns can be extremely dangerous but so can an automobile, a butcher knife, or any number of items that could potentially be used as a weapon. You may also keep in mind that a responsible person concealing a weapon may well someday save your life from one of the hundreds of thousands out there who don’t give a shit about laws, permits, or proper gun safety. A person who concienciously carries a gun and has gone through proper handling and safety classes may be a real asset in a dangerous moment.
There you have it, perspective from a properly trained, experienced gun owner and carrier. Not out looking for someone too shoot, not drawing the weapon and showing off, following all rules of safety and handling and understanding the feelings of people who are anti-gun. I don’t want anyone to disregard other formats of self defense. There are many formidable methods of self protection which don’t involve firearms, and I would suggest that these be investigated along with weapons use. Until recently I had the capabilities to defend myself with street fighting methods but a worsening pulmonary condition pretty much prevents me from physical combat any more.
I personally tend to prefer to promote alternative self-defense measures such as pepper spray and tasers, rather than guns. Nonetheless, I absolutely respect the right of an innocent person to own a gun. (In fact, I respect the right of an innocent person to do whatever they wish insofar as they do not harm anyone else.) Additionally, Peter J makes great points in the above article.
I think we can all agree that education and prevention are the best methods of self-defense, and that in a best case scenario we would avoid or diffuse dangerous situations before the need for violent self-defense became necessary.
A Wisconsin instructor said the most important aspect of self-defense isn’t physical at all; it’s emotional, especially in children.
“The most important part is the confidence and assertiveness training,” said Greg Schaalma, chief instructor at Martial Arts America. “We teach how to use strong eye contact, strong body language and how to use their voices in a strong way.”
Strangers look for easy targets, Schaalma says. If kids learn to be assertive and confident, they may just not get chosen.
“The child needs to be aware, confident, assertive and make a lot of noise,” Schaalma said. “Those are some of the things you can do before you get grabbed. Otherwise you’re setting yourself up to start from a losing position.”
I agree about the importance of confidence and assertiveness. Not only can these emotional skills protect children from abductions or such, but also from bullying. Like almost all victimizers, bullies prey on insecure victims who appear weak or unassertive.
In addition to the self-defense benefits, the strength of confidence and assertiveness help one achieve success in many aspects of life. In other words, success comes to confident and assertive people.
Posted by Scott on November 10th, 2006 — Posted in News
Four teens were arrested in a situation police say was “out of control” last week when employees of a Marathon gas station were attacked with knives and an American flag pole. Violence broke out amid a group of people gathered at a bus stop in front of the gas station on Gratiot south of Metro Parkway Oct. 23, leaving two victims injured.
The arrested parties are all students at Clintondale Continuing Education Center, a vocational training school for residents in the tri-county area who have not received a high school diploma. The suspects live in Detroit and come to the school via the SMART bus system. While police said incidents involving students of the school have never reached the magnitude they did last week, safety has become a concern of both the school’s administration and the Police Department.
“Overall, the program is a huge success,” said Superintendent George Sassin of the education center, “but, unfortunately, you get a few students who chose not to follow the rules and guidelines of our school district.”
The four Detroit teens arrested are 17 and 19 years old, three of whom are being charged with ethnic intimidation. All of them are facing some form of assault charge.
It’s a shame that these few kids are ruining the reputation of the school and creating a fearful atmosphere both in the school and the community.
The victim suffered a 2-inch gash on his lip as a result. Another employee was punched and had a cut on his cheek. Also, it seems, the arrested girls were threatening to cut the throat of some of the employees. Luckily, nobody was killed, and witnesses confirmed the incidence so that the offenders have been arrested.
I think it would have been wiser for the employees to stay in the store and cal either the owner of the shop or law enforcement.
I hope the citizens in the tri-county area don’t hold this against the school. I hope the increased security at the school keeps the other students safe.
Am I happy that Democrats took control of congress? Hell no. Democrat politicians are just as bad as Republican politicians. They’re both owned by special interests. They both support bigger government. Just like the Republicans, the Democrats aren’t going to solve any of our problems; They’ll just make them worse. The Democrats do such things as increase our taxes, increase the enforcement of victimless crimes (e.g. gun ownership), and increase government spending.
Republican or Democrat, I like most people I meet as individuals. In contrast, politicians are all a bunch of multi-faced crooks, and the government is nothing but a mafia.
I want to solve these problems facing, such as victimization, but we need to do it ourselves. We need to utilize non-governmental solutions and voluntary cooperation. Playing into divisive partisan politics just furthers the corruption of the status quo. Instead of that, we need to use non-governmental organization, such as creating and promoting private clubs, private charities, and grassroots movements based on voluntaryism.
Here’s some quotes:
Malcom X:
“The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is the Republicans will stick a 12 inch knife in your back then the democrats will come along and pull it out 3 inches – I don’t call pulling a 12 inch knife out of my back 3 inches making progress.”
Malcolm X had no illusions in the so-called differences between the Democrats and Republicans. “One is the wolf, the other is a fox. No matter what, they’ll both eat you.” In the 1964 presidential elections, when the candidates were Johnson (the “peace” candidate) vs. Goldwater (the “war” candidate), Malcolm X exposed the deciet of this phony distinction.
“The shrewd capitalists, the shrewd imperialists,” he said, “knew that the only way people would run towards the fox (Johnson) would be if you showed them the wolf (Goldwater). So they created a ghastly alternative… And at the moment he (Johnson) had troops invading the Congo and South Vietnam.”
