Self Defense/Fighting Defined

What is self-defense? The easy answer is that "self defense is the act of defending yourself." Self-defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself or the well-being of another from physical harm.

So, if this is true then why is it so difficult to define it compared to fighting? The difficulty begins when you enter into the realm of legalities. Self-defense law along with force law make things a bit - difficult. The difficulty is when does self-defense move into what it determined illegal and that is the question each individual must research and then decide if it is worth the danger to use force in defense.

When you are trying to protect yourself from an "unprovoked" attack, which cannot be "avoided," then you enter into the convoluted world of defense and the line between acceptable defense and illegal fighting is moving and very, very small. You can cross that line and not even know it or you can cross it with the absolute certainty your defending when in reality your in the illegal zone.

Fighting: an action of fighting; violence or conflict; displaying or engaging in violence, combat, or aggression. A violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the victim, opponent or opposition.

It seems clear when you see this definition that defense and fighting are a matter of using only those countermeasures necessary to avoid, deflect, evade or block a violent aggressive attack against your person or the person of someone else whose life is in danger. Yet, many get caught up in the debate, sometimes faming debate, between fighting and defending.

It is not all that hare really until your in the situation where the monkey dance is involved, emotions and the resulting chemical dumps and the way in which you trained for self defense are present then it gets really, really difficult.

To read what I am meaning here go to "no nonsense self defense" and see the huge amount of data Marc MacYoung presents and try to find a line you can draw to say your either defending or fighting - your legal or not legal. It is something I have tried to get down to a simple answer and like Marc, who has tons more experience, knowledge and ability than I, who presents it all well but in a chaotic form that should speak to you saying - it ain't easy, it ain't simple.