{"id":3651,"date":"2016-06-28T22:27:28","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T22:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fightfast.com\/blog\/?p=3651"},"modified":"2021-03-31T14:22:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T14:22:44","slug":"cascading-effect-vulnerability-self-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/28\/cascading-effect-vulnerability-self-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cascading Effect of Vulnerability In Self Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Murphy's Law<\/h4>\nI'm sure most of you have heard of this before, but for those of you who haven't, Murphy's Law states that anything that can<\/em> go wrong will<\/em> go wrong. This is especially true when it comes to self-defense and survival. In this article I want to explore what I am calling the \"cascading effect of vulnerability\"<\/em>, why it should matter to you, and what Murphy's Law has to do with it. But to do that we must first discuss how<\/em> the typical self-defense situation unfolds on the street and why<\/em> it occurs in the first place.\n\n[dfads params='groups=292&limit=1&orderby=random']\n

It All Starts With A Criminal<\/h4>\n
\n <\/div>\nThe criminal by definition initiates the self-defense situation. In order for an attack to happen you need at least two people, an attacker and a target. The target is chosen based on a number of factors.\n\nHere are the typical reasons for \"random\" criminal attacks (this is different from a predator\/stalker situation or a home invasion):\n
    \n \t
  1. Gain:<\/strong> The criminal is looking for something. It's usually a financial gain. They want something of yours that they can take and pawn for cash so they can get high. It could also be to get respect from their peers by proving they are tough. Then there's sexual assault.\tIn all cases, the criminal wants something and to get it the victim needs to be overpowered<\/a>. For the typical financial gain attack there is little we can do. Nearly all \"average\" Americans are going to have something valuable on their person at all times. Flaunting expensive purses or a Rolex watch only sweetens the pot. It would be prudent to leave those items at home in certain instances.<\/li>\n \t
  2. Ease of Acquisition<\/strong>: Criminals pick easy targets. Of all the people who've walked down the street that day, why is one person chosen over the others? Of course there is some amount randomness involved, but at the end of the day the person who gets attacked looked like an easier target than the previous potential targets.<\/li>\n \t
  3. Opportunity:<\/strong> You could simply say that sometimes you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Isolation is key here. If you are in an empty area, with nobody else at your side, the criminal only has to overtake you, clean and simple. There are no bystanders to intervene on your behalf and you're probably on his home turf. He knows this secluded location better than you. It could also be a really densely populated area where the criminal knows the chaos and confusion will make his get-away possible.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThose 3 pretty much sum it up. If you have something the criminal wants (hard to avoid), look like an easy target (partially in our control), and happened to wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time (also partially in our control), you are really in for it like a fresh piece of meat dangling over the shark tank.\n
    \n\t[dfads params='groups=290&limit=1&orderby=random']<\/div>\n

    The Harsh Truth<\/h4>\nYou're probably thinking, \"No person in their right mind would put themselves in that kind of danger on purpose,\" and you're right, but people find themselves in these kinds of situations every day. Some people are robbed and walk home with injured pride and anxiety they will deal with for a long time. Some are murdered in cold blood for 50 bucks or a nice looking watch. Others are sexually assaulted and carry physical and emotional scars for the rest of their lives.\n\nThe truth is, many of these situations can be prevented. There is usually a small mistake in judgement made or an accidental situation that spirals out of control.\n

    The Cascade of Vulnerability<\/h4>\nThat's where the cascade comes in. One small error leads to another. One problem turns into two. The simplest example of this would be running out of gas in a very bad area of town. Most people would never make this mistake, but it does a great job of illustrating the point.\n\nSo there you are, engine sputtering, looking for a place to pull off and park. It's night time, you are out of town, and maybe you didn't even know this was a bad area until you arrived. Any potential criminal watching you silently coast into a parking lot is already frothing at the mouth. An easy mark. You are vulnerable and he knows it. He is eyeing your vehicle and your clothing, already counting his winnings.\n\n[dfads params='groups=292&limit=1&orderby=random']\n

    Why Are You Vulnerable?<\/h4>\nYou have lost your transportation. He's going to watch very closely to see what you do next. Cars are great protection. Lock the doors and roll up the windows and a criminal really has to make a scene to hurt you, which makes you the opposite of the quick and easy target he's looking for.\n\nWhile sitting in your car, you start to call Auto Club for roadside assistance. One ring and then silence. Sh*t your phone just died. Better plug it into the charger. You dig around the console, but it's not there. Your teenager must have snagged it. Now you've lost your transportation and your only method of communication. This is where things really start to snowball.\n

    Pause For A Moment<\/h4>\nThree small, completely unrelated mistakes were made.\n
      \n \t
    1. You let your car run out of gas (lack of planning).<\/li>\n \t
    2. Your phone died (lack of planning).<\/li>\n \t
    3. You don't have your charger (lack of planning).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nSeeing a pattern? Now your only choice is to leave your car and walk somewhere to ask for help. The criminal who has been watching this whole scene unfold is now ready for action. You've just opened your door, and he's going to play the part of the savior.\n\nHe starts walking over, \"Hey man, you need some help?\"\n\nYou are a little bit wary as he approaches, but you don't ask him to keep his distance. You're hoping he's going to help you out and let you use his phone. The look on your face is relief.\n
      \n\t[dfads params='groups=290&limit=1&orderby=random']<\/div>\n

      Pause Again<\/h4>\nIf you had confidently ordered the approaching man to stay back and maintained control of your personal space, you would have planted the seed in the attacker's mind that you weren't going to go down without a fight and he would've started thinking twice.\n\nBut you didn't stop him and both your posture and facial expressions are exuding vulnerability. Pretty soon he's standing right in front of you and you are in serious danger...\n\nOkay, okay... Enough of the overly dramatic story. You know all the very bad possibilities from that point on.\n

      The Take Away<\/h4>\nHere's the take away- There were numerous mistakes made by the victim in this scenario. None of them are that big of a deal on their own, but when compounded they could become deadly. With each mistake the victim became more and more vulnerable, and once the bad situation occurred, the victim was more concerned with ending the predicament than worrying about their security.\n\nThey were overly hopeful that a kind stranger would help, and 9 times out of 10 they'd probably be right. It's the easy thing to do. Wouldn't it be great if we could rely on the kindness of strangers? You can if you have to, but do so cautiously and strategically, and avoid it whenever possible.\n\n[dfads params='groups=292&limit=1&orderby=random']\n

      So how do your prevent the cascade of vulnerability?<\/em><\/h4>\n
      \n\t<\/div>\nFirst off, be prepared, especially when you are outside your daily routine or not on your home turf. If your car broke down on your way to work you'd know exactly where the next reputable business was because you've driven that route hundreds of times.\n\nTake extra care to make sure you are prepared when you go to new places. Get a lay of the land. Ask about the bad areas of town. Charge your phone at every available opportunity. Never let your gas tank get down below \u00bc tank. Always control your personal space, it's your last line of defense.\n\nThe list goes on. We all know what we should do, and we're all guilty of not doing it all the time. It's laziness, running late, or lack of discipline that leads to these small mistakes. Most are avoidable and ultimately paying attention to all the details will probably save you time and effort in the long run. Not to mention it could save your life.\n\nHindsight may be 20\/20, but foresight is priceless. It's a habit anyone can develop. Quickly think of all the things that could go wrong and take the steps needed to avoid them when possible. Not all bad situations are avoidable, but most are.\n\nYou can still go to new places and do adventurous, out-of-the-ordinary things, just be prepared. Don't be the sucker who gets targeted.\n\nA lot of the signals that make someone a target are given off inadvertently and unknowingly by the victim. Victims never<\/strong> deserve to be attacked. Victim blaming is wrong and counterproductive, so don't mistake this post as being in favor of it. But at the end of the day we are all responsible for our own security<\/a>. There are bad people in every society and learning to think like a criminal allows us to avoid falling prey to their nefarious ways.\n\nLet me know if you've ever experienced a \"cascade of vulnerability.\" How did it turn out for you? What steps did you take to make it out successfully? If it ended badly, what could you have done differently?\n

      \n Click here to learn how to disarm any attacker!<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Murphy’s Law I’m sure most of you have heard of this before, but for those of you who haven’t, Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. This is especially true when it comes to self-defense and survival. In this article I want to explore what I am calling the “cascading Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3651"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12753,"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions\/12753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}