Violence in the Antisocial Realm

The use of violence can have unintended consequences.  Tearing into someone physically can end up killing them, even when you didn’t mean to.  And if the after-the-fact circumstances don’t allow for killing, you can be subject to serious legal (and life-changing) consequences down the road.  These consequences are the reason we do not recommend using violence in antisocial situations—wrong tool for the job and all that.  It’s far better, in the short- and long-term, to disengage and get the hell out of there.

That’s all well and good, and in a perfect world things should be so clear-cut and easy.  But we don’t live in that world, and they’re not.  Those “unintended consequences” cut both ways—say the other person just want to “kick your ass” and you end up brained on the sidewalk as a result.  Everyone ends up sad, and they’ll cry in court about how they didn’t mean it, it was all a terrible mistake, their life is ruined, etc.  Fat lot of good that does you.

And that’s why I’ll never tell you to hold back and take a beating.

So the question is, how do you use violence in the antisocial arena?

The sad answer is, pretty much the same way you do in the asocial arena.  You need to break things inside of them so they don’t work anymore.

There are a couple of important ideas you need to understand, and keep in mind, if you’re going to use that stick of dynamite to open your car door, after all:

Don’t pull any punches

You cannot “go easy” on them just because this started out as an antisocial situation.  You have to strike them as hard as you can, every time, in a target, to smash it beyond functionality.

Go in 100% dedicated to tearing their head off

If your intent is anything less than full-bore, you will get less than effective results.  If you don’t want to hurt them, don’t worry, you won’t.  They may not be so kind to return the favor if given half the chance.  You can’t afford to screw around—the only way their ribs are going to break is if you make every effort to do so.

This all-or-nothing approach will save your ass—it gets them to nonfunctional so rapidly and efficiently it’s over before you know it.  This is where you have to take it, as soon as you decide it’s on; you have to finish it on your terms, immediately.  You cannot afford to get drawn into any back and forth—you need to injure them, take control of the situation, and end it on your terms now.

Take one of my brother’s stories for example:  the man was inviting him to participate in an antisocial interaction.  Tony knew that that’s nothing to screw around with, and he was only willing to take it very seriously, by dishing out man-stopping injury.  That’s where his reluctance stemmed from.  But when push literally came to shove, my brother was unwilling to simply take a beating and risk injury for himself—and so he ended the situation with a single strike.

Non-lethal target selection (or tool switch-up)

You probably don’t want to start things off with a fist to the throat.  Or a baton to the head.  Or a knife through the solar plexus.  In general, you’re going to want to stay away from targets and striking profiles you know to be lethal.  Absent that, be sure to use tool configurations that change the nature of the injury (an open hand to the throat (choke punch) instead of a forearm; a forearm to the side of the neck instead of a knee drop).

But let’s be brutally honest here—don’t be fooled into thinking this changes anything, really—they could still die as a result (reference every “man killed with single punch” news story).  What I’m saying is don’t do anything you know for a fact will kill them.

Understand that once you go physical, their conception of the encounter may change dramatically

Perhaps they were only thinking of “teaching you a lesson” but now they’re afraid for their life and willing to defend it with lethal force (pulling a tool or otherwise “getting serious”).  If you’re going in with less than everything you’ve got, chances are you’ll screw up, lose control of them and give them an opportunity to, for argument’s sake, shoot you dead.  Also, be aware that they may have allies who may come to their aid—be fully prepared to have to injure pretty much everyone in the vicinity.

Those last two issues, the fact that they could die regardless of how “careful” you are and the fact that your crossing into the physical plane can get you killed, are the chief reasons we don’t recommend using violence as a tool in antisocial interaction.  More often than not, your life (losing it or changing it forever) just isn’t worth whatever it is you’re “fighting” for.  Betting your life in order to win it back will always make sense—that is, in essence, what the asocial is all about.

The above issues are what you need to be aware of, in advance, should you decide to use the tool of violence in an antisocial situation.  Whether because the situation has turned or spiraled out of “social tool” control or other factors lead you to act, you need to know what you’re getting yourself into and enter into that decision with full knowledge of the pitfalls and possible outcomes.

While I will never expressly recommend it, sometimes you are forced into a position where it’s either that or take a beating (or worse) that risks your own well-being.

What I will recommend is being smart about such things and hewing always to the idea of exhausting all options when given the luxury of a choice, and carving a path of destruction through the other person when you’re not.

— Chris Ranck-Buhr (from 2007)