Choose to Be Safe Everywhere or Nowhere

Life is a binary state, not a statistical proportion.  There is no such thing as being 83% alive or 66.67% dead, despite what Miracle Max may say.  As Americans, we are programmed to trust statistics from our childhoods in math classes through adulthood in our voting behavior.  Public policy is based on numbers in a democracy.  The majority wins.  The policy that does the most good for the most people is generally preferred.  But, that is not an accurate interpretation of the binary state of life and death, and our preference for “data-driven” evidence in our society causes disastrous miscalculations when confronted with violence.  Violence is the binary switch that goes from light to dark: life to death.

The miscalculation lies in the belief that you are safe, just because you are in a statistically “safe” area.  A statistically “safe” area is one that has a lower violent crime rate than a statistically “dangerous” area that has a higher violent crime rate.  We consume that statistical data, and then make the inference that as a result of being in an area with less violent crime, we are personally safer.  But this is the wrong inference to draw from these statistics, because those crime statistics are not saying how likely you are to survive a violent encounter, just how likely you are to be in one.  But our safety is not based on the likelihood of the encounter, it’s based on the outcome of the encounter.  Put another way, humans are just as vulnerable biologically in Beverly Hills as they are in Compton.  A knife blade in the side of the neck works just as well in either location.  The correct inference to make from being in a low violent crime area is that a violent encounter is less likely to occur.  This is a fair assessment, though paradoxically feeling secure—reducing our posture of situational awareness—may mean we are actually more prone to victimhood in so-called “safer” areas.  But, whether we are more or less likely to have a violent encounter in a “safe” neighborhood does not determined what the outcome will be of any particular violent encounter.  Simply stated, violent crime statistics confuse the likelihood of violence with the consequences of violence; such confirmation bias in low-likelihood of an event then programs—especially affluent—people to believe in the insignificance of the consequence.  Put another way: regardless of how statistically improbably violence may be in any given location, when it does happen, the crime rate is 100% to the victim.

So, since life is a binary—not proportional—state of being, and since our perception of safety is an inherently flawed conflation of geography and the probability of an event occurring, rather than the consequences of that event occurring, where are we ever really safe?  “Nowhere,” is the sadder of the two answers to this question.  Geography cannot make the human body more impervious to damage.  Letting your guard down in “safer” places can actually make you more vulnerable to violence due to diminished situational awareness.  But, the other answer to the question is this: “Everywhere.”  Because geography is not what makes us safe, we can actually be just as safe in Baghdad as we are in Beverly Hills.  But first, we have to understand what “safety” actually is, rather than what we’ve been programmed to believe it is by geographic crime statistics.  Real safety is the ability to affect the outcome of a violent situation, regardless of its probability.  The first step in this is being aware that violence can find us in any country, in any city and in any neighborhood on earth.  To be safe Everywhere instead of Nowhere, we can’t allow ourselves to be lulled into a reduced readiness posture; we have to be vigilant.  We have to be prudent; we have to learn to trust our sixth sense when it is trying to warn us of danger.  We have to be prepared with the right tools to handle a violent situation if it pops up; this means never being unarmed.  Do not ever let yourself be described in the paper the day after your death as an “unarmed victim.”  Lastly, we have to be skilled.  We have to get trained in how to protect ourselves.  At a minimum, you should be able to use a rifle, a pistol, a knife, an impact weapon and your bare hands effectively to survive a violent situation and escape.  That means you should get training in each of those disciplines.  To be safe Everywhere instead of Nowhere, all you have to be is the most dangerous person there. 

Predators, whether quadrupeds or of the criminal bipedal variety, understand this natural law.  Lions don’t hunt tigers, they hunt the weak.  I am not talking about appearing to be the most dangerous person on the block, to be clear; intimidation is a foolish strategy.  Being capable of defending yourself in any situation is not the same thing as being intimidating.  This capability comes from training, but the first step in the training is to debunk these false beliefs about safety, geography and statistics.  Recognize that you are vulnerable to violence, no matter where you live, how much money you have or how secure you think you are.  Also, recognize that statistical data about violence is totally irrelevant when it comes to an individual act of violence; remember, the crime rate for a victim of a violent crime is 100%.  Then, accepting the vulnerability, you can take the steps necessary to overcome the vulnerability through training, equipping and preparing for violence if it finds you.  If it does find you, remember WIDTH6:

Find a WEAPON: almost anything.
Seize INITIATIVE: attack, don’t defend.
Cause DAMAGE: not pain.
Use TORQUE: body weight plus circular motion.
Attack the HEAD: shut down the computer.
And watch your 6!

Soule
www.Easy6Training.com