Please take a look at Articles on self-defense/conflict/violence for introductions to the references found in the bibliography page.

Please take a look at my bibliography if you do not see a proper reference to a post.

Please take a look at my Notable Quotes

Hey, Attention on Deck!

Hey, NOTHING here is PERSONAL, get over it - Teach Me and I will Learn!


When you begin to feel like you are a tough guy, a warrior, a master of the martial arts or that you have lived a tough life, just take a moment and get some perspective with the following:


I've stopped knives that were coming to disembowel me

I've clawed for my gun while bullets ripped past me

I've dodged as someone tried to put an ax in my skull

I've fought screaming steel and left rubber on the road to avoid death

I've clawed broken glass out of my body after their opening attack failed

I've spit blood and body parts and broke strangle holds before gouging eyes

I've charged into fires, fought through blizzards and run from tornados

I've survived being hunted by gangs, killers and contract killers

The streets were my home, I hunted in the night and was hunted in turn


Please don't brag to me that you're a survivor because someone hit you. And don't tell me how 'tough' you are because of your training. As much as I've been through I know people who have survived much, much worse. - Marc MacYoung

WARNING, CAVEAT AND NOTE

The postings on this blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography on this blog site, are also mine and mine alone therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity. My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books. 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.


Note: I will endevor to provide a bibliography and italicize any direct quotes from the materials I use for this blog. If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.



“What you are reading right now is a blog. It’s written and posted by me, because I want to. I get no financial remuneration for writing it. I don’t have to meet anyone’s criteria in order to post it. Not only I don’t have an employer or publisher, but I’m not even constrained by having to please an audience. If people won’t like it, they won’t read it, but I won’t lose anything by it. Provided I don’t break any laws (libel, incitement to violence, etc.), I can post whatever I want. This means that I can write openly and honestly, however controversial my opinions may be. It also means that I could write total bullshit; there is no quality control. I could be biased. I could be insane. I could be trolling. … not all sources are equivalent, and all sources have their pros and cons. These needs to be taken into account when evaluating information, and all information should be evaluated.” - God’s Bastard, Sourcing Sources (this applies to this and other blogs by me as well; if you follow the idea's, advice or information you are on your own, don't come crying to me, it is all on you do do the work to make sure it works for you!)



“You should prepare yourself to dedicate at least five or six years to your training and practice to understand the philosophy and physiokinetics of martial arts and karate so that you can understand the true spirit of everything and dedicate your mind, body and spirit to the discipline of the art.” - cejames (note: you are on your own, make sure you get expert hands-on guidance in all things martial and self-defense)



“All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.” - Montaigne


I am not a leading authority on any one discipline that I write about and teach, it is my hope and wish that with all the subjects I have studied it provides me an advantage point that I offer in as clear and cohesive writings as possible in introducing the matters in my materials. I hope to serve as one who inspires direction in the practitioner so they can go on to discover greater teachers and professionals that will build on this fundamental foundation. Find the authorities and synthesize a wholehearted and holistic concept, perception and belief that will not drive your practices but rather inspire them to evolve, grow and prosper. My efforts are born of those who are more experienced and knowledgable than I. I hope you find that path! See the bibliography I provide for an initial list of experts, professionals and masters of the subjects.

...

Cognizant Dissonance, Confirmation Bias and Self-Justification in Self-Defense

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

The following is derived in part from the written materials of Caroll Tavris and Elliot Aronson titled, "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)", available from Amazon. I have studied a lot from author’s and professionals like Marc MacYoung and Rory Miller, the two main guys and there are others named in the Bibliography, about self-defense that includes the before, during and after where this article speaks to the after part. 

After meaning, “repercussions of self-defense defense.” There is a ton of stuff in the publication, see link above, with one chapter of significance to the person who practices a martial discipline with the intent to defend and protect oneself and possibly others. Chapter Five on “Law and Disorder.” This chapter not only wrote about many of the issues you deal with in the legal system that Mr. MacYoung and others write about and teach, they discuss aspects that really seem to direct a high-intensity spot light on the uphill battle you may have to endure in your self-defense defense. 

The triad of humans titled above don’t necessarily work alone, they tend to work for and against each other to create this dissonant infested system, my personal opinion, that you will have to protect and defend yourself against, ON TOP OF, the legal defense necessary to prove you have the legal justification to self-defend. 

My focus herein is “self-justification” that comes from dissonance and is supplemented by our innate need to find support through a process of confirmation bias all in the effort to reduce and explain or dissonance. The real danger here is that all of us, I mean all of us are blind to our dissonance, biases and as such drive our emotional need to self-justify…it is a part of our human survival drives and when it works in a beneficial way, it works well while when it works in a bad way, we just can’t see it.  

All of this is complicated leading to complex issues that as martial professionals who teach self-protection MUST address and not in just a quicky way to satisfy our dissonance on the subject(s). If you gloss over this like so many self-defense experts such as what you need to know before, how to avoid and escape and evade and deescalate, along with what we do when the physical happens and finally and even more importantly the legal system and its issues we do disservice to ourselves and to our students. 

Can you imagine the shock and damage you can suffer long after the attack ended and you successfully and legally defended yourself when the legal system pigeon-holes you into the guilty category triggering dissonance and confirmation biases that drive how they will justify what they do and just how that permeates not just the first responders but also investigators, prosecutors, attorneys, jurors and even YOU! 

Click the link above and read this for yourself and be prepared to fight your own dissonance because as you probably already know a lot of what is in this publication will cause dissonance as to what you are being taught and you will have to fight your urges to self-justify to sate the dissonance that will happen. You have to imagine that this is so, be prepared to resist that dissonance and self-justifications so you can see the facts, fact check them and then, the hardest part is here, “ADMIT and CHANGE” what you do, how you do it, how you teach it and how you practice and train-if what you do is including self-defense. 

WARNING: What you are being asked to consider and accept is a major issue with changes in our legal system that those not caught in the dissonance loop as the book provides in research and fact with a lot of examples that are fact you will feel the very problem in change, a HARD_RESISTANCE with SELF-JUSTIFICATIONS that CONFIRM your DISSONANCE and BIAS as it kicks in, BEWARE AND BE VIGILANT FOR THE EFFECTS. As you will see in the book, the recommended efforts to combat this is about understanding and accepting that we all can be WRONG and that accepting that is how we EVOLVE ourselves and the systems we depend on for protection, security and our safety. 


 Bibliography (Click the link)
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