Why are so many people stupid when it come to self defense?

I notice most people here perfer to preach about how you should have self control and try to do minimum damage when it come to real fight. That%26#039;s so stupid! What%26#039;s the point in having self control and do minimum damage? Don%26#039;t people realize that today if someone is getting beaten by you, they will pull out a knife or have friends gang up on them? This isn%26#039;t like a old day where you get in fight then shake hand and go home and forget about everything.





To actually survive the real situtation, you would need to try to stay out of the situtation as much as possible. If it come to worse, it%26#039;s better to go for maximum damages so you can leave with less risk of getting hurt or killed. Yes I know many will say %26quot;but you will get sued%26quot; Well think about this which would you perfer, dealing with court room or having your family deal with your furneal?





So my question is why do people think they need to focus so much on do minimum damage and self control?|||Self defense is much more than fighting to defend your self.





I have read more great answers on this question than any other single question on yahoo. This is also a great question.





The bottom line - self defense is a mind set. %26quot;black belt factories%26quot; teach self defense as a marketing tool to people who need a reason to be confident. When in reality most people already have the skills to fight and survive they just need the mind set.





I will tell you from a fair amount of experience as both a cop and human male - fighting is for people who can%26#039;t talk and talking is for people who can%26#039;t fight. ????





Mastering the middle is where the great tactical professionals find thier place. Knowing when to get the guy to have another drink vs. when to drag him out side. So - if a person really wants to be good at this - the have to know how to contol a person three ways. By talking, by grabbing and by striking.





So to answer your question - most people aren%26#039;t mentally and emotionally prepared to fight like you are suggesting and once they become that good it%26#039;s to late to teach them the rest.|||You should always have self control, it takes very little to weaken an opponent and keep them uncomfortable if it%26#039;s one on one, more than one then the rules change, and it%26#039;s fair game for injuries, sosome guy%26#039;s buudies won%26#039;t come at you if you%26#039;ve got control over him, if they do, they%26#039;re risking his life as well, and you have every right to do what you need to to stay alive.





the idea is to end the fight as quickly as possible, if something has to happen where you must finish with violence, then so be it, I%26#039;ve been able to get out of a few situations without using maximum force against anyone, the key is to fight smarter, not harder.





talking your way out of it is the best way, but people that keep pushing the issue will only respond to violence in kind.





getting sued is often a frivolus act, because they don%26#039;t tell the whole story, who swung first, what the cause was for the conflict, and what factors were involved alcohol, pride, stupidity, a mix of all three?





I let the opponent make the first move, what I do from there to subdue them with or without my full potential is up to me as it%26#039;s any Martial Artist%26#039;s duty, if you don%26#039;t have some self control, then you%26#039;ve learned nothing but the physical side. the founders of these disciplines had these theories for the preservation of life, not the destruction.





I%26#039;ve always warned the opponent that what I do to defend myself is my choice; and that there will be consequences for them if they want to continue, whether I finish with violence or not, but I have never seen the need to (and hope I never will) do so.|||The first basic is fight or flight. If you don%26#039;t feel as though you can deal with a situation you run like hell, probably not a bad option if someone is threatening you with a knife. No matter how much martial arts experience you have if you make a small mistake or misread in the ER or worse.





If you fight, then there is more discretion on control. In martial arts you need to control when sparing otherwise there will be no work tomorrow with fractures all over the place from training. But in the real life situation you do whatever you can to get out of the situation using force, but be aware if you are too violent and kill someone or keep attacking with them on the floor you are liable for prosecution. Not good.





So in the first instance it is to avoid the conflict, then if you don%26#039;t feel able run, then the last option is to stand and fight, but not to go too crazy. Remember it is self defense only not to see how much damage you can do.|||GO ALL THE WAY OR STAY HOME!!!!|||When I first read your question I thought you were going somewhere else. To answer just the question, there is a lot of bad information. To answer the rest, I present a situation. I can%26#039;t get out of a physical confrontation at a bar with my friends and his friends around. I do not use lethal or total force with this guy b/c 1) I%26#039;m better than him... 2) I can wow him and the crowd 3) Then I can smile, joke and we can drink together. 4) This way I won%26#039;t get any part of the crowd involved. I do not hurt him, I control him.


Situation 2. A person breaks into my home at night with my family home. I use as much force as necessary which is to say, if I%26#039;m lucky and happen to be up and notice it I try to put the person down and keep them down. I do this because they are in my home, my family is home, and I have no one to really back me up. I will have dialed 911 and moved on.


There is a huge difference between a simple High School or Frat guy fight and a mugging on the street. Do not misunderstand here. A fight in the middle of a sporting event is no reason to try to kill someone. Equal force is the key or the person with better control can mitigate the situation. Of course the key is don%26#039;t be there for the situation...


Best of luck.|||Because the majority of people don%26#039;t know how to protect themselves so they puss out.|||this is the same mentality with which they want us or anyone else to fight our enemies in any circumstance.|||Better to be judged by 12 than to be carried by 6.|||From what I%26#039;ve seen, people say to use self control to avoid the fight if possible. If left with no option, and I get attacked, I%26#039;m gonna flatten the jerk. Not excessive, but there will be no doubt in his mind that he made a mistake that he is not going to repeat.|||My first choice is always to avoid a situation. If this is not an option given to me then I will defend myself.


At the point I choose to defend myself there are %26quot;no holds barred%26quot;.


I would rather be in a courtroom than in a hospital.





The word %26quot;sue%26quot; strikes fear into many Americans. We are a lawsuit happy society. Because there are too many lazy Americans that feel they deserve everything for doing nothing. I blame it on Hollywood. Everyone wants to be a movie star.


Anyway, once a person makes a choice they should aggressively pursue that choice. This is very true with self-defense. Once you choose to defend yourself, do not have any other thoughts in your head.


A distraction can be fatal.





Go to Muchosucko.com and view some street fights. See how they go down. These people are animals that fight in the street and I will treat them as if they are animals should they ever attack me.|||Because there is always consequences for any action. If you over-react and cause someone serious injury even in self defence you will find yourself in serious trouble with the law.





You are only allowed to use reasonable force, which means only enough force to prevent them from causing you harm. If you do damage to them then you become the criminal. If you are known to be a practitioner of martial arts then things could be even worse for you in the eyes of the law. You need to act responsibly and show that you did minimum amount of damage to protect yourself.





If someone attacks you with a knife and you take it off them and stab them to death with it, you will be charged with manslaughter. If you take the knife of them and break their nose in the process, that could be deemed as reasonable force to prevent them from stabbing you.|||you don%26#039;t schools tell you to do this as liability so their students preach it. North american schools, the black belt factories we so often hear of, are scared because if their students use one of these moves not only are the students liable for action the students can than fall back on the school and press charges for slander. So they have to tell there students to practice discretion and since people are so pig headed they figured well if we just tell them tehy are better tahn every one else they will win. It%26#039;s incorrect in saying this as you can have a real black belt that deserves his degree get matched by some one thats been training for 5 years in kick boxing.





So what i was poking at up there is people think that this %26quot;self control%26quot; in teh ende will help them walk away. Sadly when your walking away you you get a knife in your shoulder now aday. So its best to deal with the problem at hand and your right use enough force to stop the person that walk away. Because ide rather spend a year or two in jail than the rest of my years rotting and decaying in a wooden box 12 feet deep.|||Maybe they don%26#039;t have much faith in their own abilities, so they aren%26#039;t sure what they will really do in that situation.|||Ummm okay.