Defensive mindset

In almost all martial arts and self-defence training, there is an Attacker and a Defender. The defender is the ‘good person’ trying to defend themself against the ‘bad guy’ attacker.

When confronted with a choice, normal, sane people will choose to be the victim because we lie to ourselves to feel good about hurting someone.

‘Defender‘ is the socially acceptable term for a person in the realm of violence. You expect to be attacked and forced to defend yourself, then battle your way out.

‘Attacker‘ is what we mean when we label a ‘bad guy’. It has a distinctly negative connotation, so everyone can agree that self-defence training is a good thing.

You Are Not Allowed an Attacker Mind Set!!

Some claim that having an attacker attitude lowers you to the level of the low-life who are out to get you. However, if you don’t have this attitude, you will end up the victim of your attacker.

Being versed in the tools of violence does not turn you into a violent person any more than learning to swim turns you into an Olympic swimming champion. You learn to swim so that if you fall into deep water, you do not panic and drown. Likewise, if you are thrown into a violent encounter, you need to have the basic attacker skills so you can survive and not panic. Hopefully, you will never have to use these attack skills, but they are there for you to utilise in case of need.

Violence is also a means by which the criminal achieves his goals. Why does the criminal use violence to get what he wants? – Because it works. The tool of violence is useful to both the good and the bad; it’s the same tool, regardless of who is using it.

When you look at real violence on news footage or sites like YouTube, there’s no back and forth, no squaring off. It’s one person inflicting violence on another, and the person doing it usually survives. Violence is one-sided.

“Violence never solved anything” is a perfectly valid moral stance and is all very admirable until you run into a potentially deadly situation and someone tries to murder you. Without the tools of violence, you are unlikely to survive it.

If they are focused solely on killing you, then you have a violence problem.

Unfortunately, this requires a violent solution.