Last week the gals spent the weekend with the matriarch while I hung back to protect the castle. As I sat and read and watched a little of the Lord of the Rings, I began to think harder about something that's been swirling around my squirly brain for a while now.
I wondered, if someone entered my house would I have the proper self-defense skills to protect myself? That is disarm and wrestle him to the ground? The answer is no; half a year of kick boxing not withstanding. I mean, I have two reconstructed ACL's who am I wrestling? Now, give me a bat it's a different story.
I used to know how to handle a rifle and have been a thinking for a while I want to join a gun club.
How militia-like of me! But it's nothing of the sort. We've been taught to believe those hobbies are not necessary. I betcha a few of you are squinting and squirming as you read this.
I realized then and there, on my couch while eating an Eskimo pie, the governments of the West in all their liberal fantasies have turned us into a civilization of weenies. The thinking was, and it was drilled into us in school, violence begets violence. So if an intruder came into your house the first thing you're told to do is dial 911...and wait. Offer tea while your at it.
We've been conditioned to accept that only the police force can ensure your security. If you use excess force in your own home, be ready to be prosecuted for injuring or killing someone.
There I sat suddenly feeling weak. I was no Aragorn.
I'm not saying we should all become Bat-Man. What I'm suggesting is society should equip its citizens with basic self-defense training and survival skills that have been a part of our human heritage for thousands of years. We've all but eliminated this from our consciousness. Heck, schools have been cutting back on gym and extra-curricular activities.
Teach people, say, Judo. Teach them how to properly use a firearm. Teach them the philosophy of criminal justice. Basically ratchet up what the Boy Scouts do and then some.
Why emasculate citizens; empower them. Watch how fast the cue is sent to criminals. Home invasions would be a thing of the past.
Right now, criminals know the social and legal cues are in their favor. Tip it back a little in our favor.
Before I say this, I'm not discouraging anyone from doing getting self-defense training.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't make much sense to try to crowd source security. Again, in my view, people are welcome to arm themselves or get any sort of training they want to turn their body into a deadly weapon. That's not really what I mean.
By this view, it would make sense to also give everyone medical training (which to some extent maybe we should), or to train everyone in wiring, plumbing, painting... just in case. Society operates at a higher level of output through the division of labor, and it's hard to have specialists if everyone has to be a jack-of-all-trades.
But ignoring that perspective, it's also not something you can learn without some degree of dedication. If it were taught in school, for instance in a gym class type of setting, it's not going to provide any benefit to most of the people who need it most (just traumatizing memories).
This could be solved if it was some sort of elective. My college, for instance, had a rifle section in one of the gym classes. I earned my marksmanship certification that way. But I'll tell you... I'm not any more prepared for an emergency situation. That's not something you can train for, it's something you can only learn from experience.
Excellent comment, Bret.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I'm alluding to us rediscovering our ambition to be "Renaissance Men." But that takes time and effort and not for everyone.
Absolutely we should know a little of everything (CPR for example) and a lot of it can be "self-taught." It's a fine line. Either way, we should encourage it more.
I am thinking that the animals we were, and really still are, do not consider self defense to be a "specialty" any more than cooking is a "specialty." You can learn advanced or specialized forms of cooking but someone who can't prepare his own meals, however basic, is something of a cripple.
ReplyDeleteI rehearse ways to disable attackers (I used to practice with an old boy friend who had been a cop; he could never stop me from breaking his grip). They may not serve me in every situation but I have some hope of handling the scrambled eggs and toast level of persona endangerment, I think. People ought to at least be offered that, maybe in high school gym.
We ought to integrate it indeed in a gym somewhere in school. Same with basic finance as Bret and I discussed. These are the things people will be able to use.
ReplyDeleteHeck, while we're at it, to teach people to detect bull shit.
Personally, I think I'm pretty good at detecting BS.