In bushfire season in Australia, there's a warning system where they stick a sign by roads, which carries a kind of gauge or bushfire "speedometer". Fire danger ranges from green, which is low, to red, which is high. Yellow and orange are in the middle. An arrow points to the colour of the warning for the day.
I'm suggesting we use a similar, or "traffic light" system, in our minds to grade the levels of violence and avoid training bad habits and inappropriate responses.
There's a continuum of violence, ranging from, say, a Satpam putting a restraining hand on your shoulder, to a Hell's Angels Biker or Ambonese Preman wanting to fuck you up with a knife.
Our responses should also come in grades. If some Warung guy ogles your girl, it's better to just keep walking. Giving him a Shuto to the side of the kneck followed by Thai-knee strikes to the solar plexus is a bit much. We should defend our bodies, not our egos.
We shouldn't flinch from nasty moves when we have to. Society conditions us not to be violent and not to hit people. That's the reason for the "pre-fight ritual," so many bouncers talk about. It's a way for people to psych themselves into fighting mode. Criminals, however, those most likely to fuck us up, can do it in fairly cold blood.
I recommend we use a four stage traffic light system, with green, yellow, orange and red lights. (I could only find pictures of three light units).
Here's why:
You tend to fight the way you train.
Numero Uno tells a story of a BJJ guy, attacked on the street in LA. BJJ man downs one with a takedown, puts the other into an arm bar, but lets go when the man taps. BJJ man's performance was superb and a compliment to the style, except for one thing. His ring and Dojo training build bad combat habits.
Former FBI agents tell stories of colleagues killed in shootouts, who'd piled ammunition neatly, just as they did in training. Little stacks of empty cartridges sat by their corpses when they found them. Training programs certain habits into you.
1.Green Light: Normal state, no danger. Normal activties. Regular Rolling in BJJ, or Randori in Judo is green stage.
2.Yellow Light: Bad vibe, pre-violent phase. Heated arguments, posturing, swearing, the equivalent of dogs or apes bearing their teeth. (Yes, people human beings are animals as well and have animal responses hard-wired into us).
You might have to use your skills at yellow stage. I did recently when a drunken Englishman put me in a friendly headlock in a lift. He didn't mean any harm, but was volatile and started getting a bit aggressive. A quick lift to a gentle arm bar did the trick.
No immediate danger, maintain space, but get ready, it can escalate to orange in a flash.
3. Orange Light: Non-lethal violence. I'd say this goes from someone very aggressively invading your personal space, positioning themselves for a strike, or even initial pushing and punching. A brawl at an ice hockey match, or on the soccer field is orange.
At orange you use your skills. It might be a restraint, taking his back and sending him to the ground. You might simply intercept a strike and move away. Depends on the situation.
4. Red Light: Life or death or imminent extreme violence. Rape, murder, multiple attackers, armed attackers, and even people much bigger than you are all red.
I think we need to mentally flash a light on in our minds for each situation.
Different arts tend to be better at different stages. 99 percent of my dangerous encounters have been in yellow stage. Ironically, the art I criticize the most, Aikido, has served me the best. Aikido's unaggressive wristlock releases and conflict-avoiding attitude has been very effective in the yellow stage.
Traditional stand-up Jujitsu's also good for a transition from yellow to orange. In orange, Judo tends to come into its own, as does BJJ. Krav Maga tends to focus exclusively on red phase. They've got their reasons for doing so.
Train safe. Sumo Semar is keen to hear your thoughts.
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