Caveat: This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding. Oh, and just because I wrote it and just because it sounds reasonable and just because it makes sense, does not mean it is true.)
Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented.
The next quote is taken out of its context for a distinct and separate voicing of what it means when contemplated in meditative mind wandering fashion. When I read it I immediately began thinking of the current status of martial practices, especially when it comes to self-defense.
The author speaks with great authority simply because he has lived, breathed and fought in a life filled with conflict, violence and violent conflict. He has worked in fields and professions, even today, that are all about conflict, violence and violent conflicts with emphasis on self-defense, emphasis at least in one publication, “In the Name of Self-Defense.”
Note I: This post/article is not about him, his teachings, his experiences or his quote below as to his meaning when he wrote it. Yet, I think I get it when I read it. This post is my attempt to study and understand what it means to my experiences, beliefs and martial arts practices.
“We are not teaching people how to cope with conflict, protect themselves or even stand up for themselves. As a result they are traumatized by violence. Then this trauma is pointed to as proof as how horrible and bad violence is.” - Marc MacYoung paraphrasing a quote from George Silver.
First, if I were to have any regrets in my martial arts life it would be that I didn’t find out or fully understand what it is that was necessary for my teachings, at the time, to truly and completely convey self-defense martial arts training, practice and most of all applications. I am working to make that change and to get the word out from my position so that others will have the opportunity to see, feel and change, at least in self-defense communities within the martial arts communities.
I happen to agree with his assessment that our modern society is working toward the wrong goal when it comes to conflict, violence and violent conflict. I firmly believe our ignorance and tendency to ignore the subject is just plain bad. I also feel that because we are trying very hard to “Hide” this subject from our children ans our parents tried so hard to hide it from us that we are now, as stated, in a place that makes the subject as “Bad” and as a subject that must be obliterated from society yet I also believe that we are only addressing one small part of conflict and violence as it is related to things we emotionally don’t understand, that threatens our comfort zones and that makes us feel uncomfortable. Our entire existence is derived from conflict and violence most of which is not about violent conflicts.
I was a Marine so I was exposed to violence. Not combat per se yet I was exposed indirectly since I served at the end of one military police action, i.e., a war really but not. I was exposed to violence growing up as well. Mostly socially oriented but some asocial types as well. Actually they kind of bled over into each others realm, i.e., social/asocial violence. Granted, no where near what the author of the quote experienced in likely one or two days of violence and probably not even close to the levels but violence all the same.
My generation came from the WWII and Korean war era and just after probably experienced the end of our societies more violent span yet in reality it may have been covered up and ignored. If it ain’t happening to me syndrome then it can’t happen to me syndrome. Those seem to me as the lead in and lead up to today’s ignorance and perception of the current inappropriate levels of horrible and bad and trauma drama oriented view of conflict, violence and violent conflict.
I feel that the author of the quote has a real, “Reality Oriented,” understanding of our world and I have even theorized benefits from having courses presented to the younger school ages students on the subject of conflict, violence, violent conflict, conflict communications, verbal self-defenses, etc. I believe if we want to remove more violence from human-kind that we can do that only when we know it, understand it, and appreciate its role in human existence. Only through knowledge, especially our historical experienced knowledge (learning from our past type thing) can we then create appropriate measures, attitudes and methods of change.
Here is an example, we often get into arguments with other humans that are verbal. If we understood that verbal communications can and is a form of violence as well as confrontational then if we learned what that was and how it is applied then and only then can we create counter-verbal-communications that will combat it with a result of both win-win communications and to condition a person using verbal conflict and violence to use other means to get what they want, need and can have/achieve.
We are all taught in school how to make a sentence and what that sentence is made up from such as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, etc. but are we taught how to form them to combat verbal assaults through something like conflict communications? Not hardly, I never even realizes how verbal destructive I was until I read some of the materials I use now as references to write such posts/articles as this one.
Until I was introduced to the knowledge of social and asocial violence along with force and force levels did I realize and understand that I was using inappropriate force levels through verbal and body language violence just short of actual violent physical conflict/fights, etc. i.e., social violence.
In that light, how can we truly teach our students to avoid and deescalate if they don’t know what it is that they are facing. How can we expect students to act appropriately in self-defense be it verbal or physical if they don’t know about interviews and the types of violence humans can, will and do use against us. How can we expect students or human young adults to learn how to handle frustrations, fears and angers if they don’t know that they are all a part of a whole that is “Human Conflict and Violence.” How can we expect folks to know, understand and avoid/deescalate, etc., if they don’t recognize it when it appears? How can they know the risks and dangers when they walk out the front door and past the gate into their yards walking the streets and moving through them, the communities, the cultures and the beliefs systems of other races, creeds and cultures if they are not educated in those disciplines especially regarding the use of conflict, violence and violent conflict used to manage, control and command for social cohesive existence and survival?
I am and will be an advocate to learning, exposure and gaining experience or training or practice in conflict, violence and violent conflict for the sole purpose of providing everyone, everywhere, those tools necessary to combat conflict, violence and violent conflict in “All Its Forms.” You can’t do that if you don’t know what it is and you can’t do that if the answers are based on emotionally reactions over actual factual knowledge, logic over emotions are important in learning, understanding and gaining knowledge. You cannot add and subtract until you learn the appropriate knowledge to add and subtract. You cannot get a drivers license anywhere without first learning about he laws and rules of driving and so on. You cannot prevent pregnancies without first learning about the birds and the bees as well as all the forms of contraception including abstinence. If you want to drive and avoid accidents you have to learn about accidents, what causes them, and how to avoid them if you wish to drive safely (a lot more violent accidents cause a lot more deaths than you might think and possibly at levels that meet or exceed those from violent conflicts, etc.). Right?
What I would like to see is a concerted effort to actually teach our society about conflict, violence and violent conflicts, etc. so that we have the tools to handle conflict, confrontations and violence in all forms be they small angry verbal assaults or the predatory process attack that damages and kills. If handles properly with out filters from emotional knee-reactions would be really beneficial but ….
Thanks you Marc MacYoung for pointing out such a glaring hole in the logic applied toward violent conflict, etc., in today’s society, much appreciated!
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