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“Stay ‘unreasonable.’ If you
don’t like the solutions [available to you], come up with your
own.”
Dan Webre
The Martialist does not
constitute legal advice. It is for ENTERTAINMENT
PURPOSES ONLY.
Copyright © 2003-2004 Phil Elmore, all rights
reserved.
Badger Advantage
A
badger is a hunter that preys on small animals. When confronted by larger
carnivores, however, the badger avoids fighting, preferring instead to rely on
its ability to burrow in order to avoid and escape danger. When attacked from
behind or cornered and forced to fight, there are very few animals that fight
with more tenacious ferocity than the badger.
In our society, the general population does not walk around getting into fights
or stabbing and shooting each other. If it did, society’s members would be
acting contrary to the purpose of civilization — which is basically to
act as a survival cooperative. In general, throwing a relatively
arbitrary number up in the air for discussion, Id say that 80-90% of the
population of any given city in the world rarely, if ever, initiates
confrontations of any type.
Martialists train for the 10-20% that do.
I think it is admirable for a martial artist or self-defense practitioner to
show restraint and avoid confrontations. It is especially admirable for any
human being in our society to avoid unnecessary confrontations, instead
relying on their one distinct advantage as humans to survive: reason. It
is humanity’s ability to reason that allows us to survive and prosper.
Conceptually, “situational awareness” is just a name for a specific
application of reason for survival. When you see a situation developing — a
couple of apparent neer-do-wells glaring at you from across the street with
cupidity in their eyes, for example — reason says, “Avoid this
situation. Bam! Dangerous confrontation thwarted.
One night you might think, Do I really need to get a gallon
of milk at 10PM when I know that the grocery store parking lot will be dark and
rather empty? No, I can wait to get it in the morning or after work. Just
like that, another potentially dangerous situation has been avoided. So many of
the fights or confrontations we avoid are preempted simply through our diligent
application of that human survival advantage, reason.
Now, with all this talk of reason, with this discussion of avoidance as a
virtue, you must remember that some folks are not persuaded by reasoned
arguments and are not impressed by your desire to avoid confrontation. These
are, of course, people found within the guesstimated 10-20% — people who rely
on the subversive application of their reasoning abilities. That
application creates a coercive and parasitic advantage for survival through
preying on the weak and the unwary.
These social predators do not care about your civilized morals
or martial ethics because they dont have any themselves. Instead, they rely
on your stringent application of those morals in order to leach their
sustenance from you. They are opportunistic, salivating, carnivorous beasts —
some more cunning than you. In their eyes, you are like a caribou in a herd.
Unless they know theyll win, or are particularly hungry, they will not attack
the herd of strong bucks and does. They will single out and attack the
stragglers, the children, the weak, the elderly, and the unwary.
By themselves or working in packs, predators that see you walking confidently,
with strong shoulders and upheld eyes, will tend to pass you over in favor of
those whose furtive and fearful glances or distracted mobile phone conversations
mark them as tasty, easy prey. Its one thing to say, I train in martial
arts so that I dont have to fight, but dont delude yourself. These
human predators do not care if you have a black belt in System X. They will take
you from behind if they know they have an advantage.
Let’s
say a pack of predators has congregated in a parking lot near your place of
work. If you dont see them and so make the “mistake” of walking to
your car, no matter how confident and strong you may appear to be, no matter how
much presence you project after all your years of training, it wont matter.
The carnivores will know you can be taken down for that expensive watch you
wear, the car you drive, or the contents of your wallet. In such a case,
avoidance is not an option.
When it’s do or die time, you must use force to survive
and to win. You have tried your best. You have avoided conflict when you
could. You have not sought out trouble or initiated conflict. You
have, however, been attacked from behind or pushed into a corner. With terrible
ferocity and fighting spirit, you must be able to turn in the space of your
stride and face your attackers.
You must fight like a badger.