About "Street Fighting"

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

Let me start by directing you to an article by Iain Abernethy Sensei titled, "The Problems with Street Fighting," that can be read by clicking the title. What follows is something that I tend to do, hyper-analyze the term street fighting. Note: In the article I want to emphasize the following quote, “In recent years I’ve (Iain Abernethy Sensei) been making a concerted effort to get stricter and stricter with my terminology when teaching. I feel this is important because loose terminology can lead to confusion and errors in training.”

Break it down into its individual parts, first define “Street,” and second, define, “Fighting.” Then combine them and define the two words in a generic way before dealing with how it is used in certain conceptual situations like self-protection.

Street: 

• performing or being performed on the street;
• the roads or public areas of a city or town;
• a public road in a city or town, typically with houses and buildings on one or both sides; 
• and others far and away from how it is used with martial arts, etc.

Fighting: 

• the action of fighting; violence or conflict;
• displaying or engaging in violence, combat, or aggression;
• take part in a violent struggle involving the exchange of physical blows or the use of weapons;
• engage in (a war or battle);
• quarrel or argue;
• endeavor vigorously to win (an election or other contest);
• attempt to repress (a feeling or an expression of a feeling);
• take part in a boxing match against (an opponent);
• command, manage, or maneuver (troops, a ship, or military equipment) in battle;
• and others far and away from how it is used with martial arts, etc.

Street Fighting: 

• Street fighting is hand-to-hand combat in public places, between individuals or groups of people. Unlike sport fighting, a street fight might involve weapons, multiple opponents, and no rules.

Now, it is apparent to all, you probably already know that its use depends on the situation and environment along with overall intent and in the martial disciplines that is exclusively about use in self-protection and defense against aggression and violence. 

It is suggested that the term or phrase is inappropriate in use for a martial term. The following are extracts that I felt, personally, were important to understand going in especially in regard to “WORDS.” I advocate going in that terms, terminology and the resulting phrases, quotes, meme’s and especially the verbiage used in teaching become critical. I quote, “Unclear terminology can be a symptom of unclear thinking. And unclear thinking can lead to unfocused training; which, in turn, can lead to inappropriate actions in very dangerous situations.”

This one quote should be pretty clear because it is concise and to the point, intent or intention matters and that is why his second quote speaks volumes, i.e., “Whether you wish to use the term ‘street fighting’ or not is obviously a personal matter, AND I would suggest that all the terminology we use needs to be carefully considered.”

So, you can imagine that finding a term appropriate to the intent of one’s training and practice matter a great deal BECAUSE inappropriate and misunderstood terminology leads to inappropriate and misunderstand applications both mental and physical, emphasis on physical. You already know THAT avoidance, escape-n-evasion, deescalation are all far better actions to learn and take then resorting to the physical of self-protection AND you can know this as true, can you not? 

I am coming to like the term currently, as to the article itself, is set as a more generic and appropriate one, the term is “enemy.” I once again take the liberty to quote Abernethy Sensei from his article, “The best term to use is ‘ENEMY’ because it does not have connotations of being defensive – in action or in mindset – nor does it suggest the consent we would normally afford to an opponent.”

I agree, and you already probably knew at the onset of this particular article ;-) 

Defining Enemy: a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something; a thing that harms or weakens something else; a hostile nation or its armed forces or citizens, especially in time of war; synonyms: opponent, adversary, foe, archenemy, rival, antagonist, combatant, challenger, competitor, opposer; the opposition, the competition, the other side, the opposing side. 

Bibliography (Click the link)