Let’s say you’re walking through the park, minding your own business, not bothering anybody, when a unhinged stranger begins to vocally and loudly object to your very existence. You try to withdraw peaceably, but that proves impossible; declaring his attention to fuck you up, the stranger leaps on you, knocks you to the ground, and begins pummelling you. You are not armed, and the Crazy Man’s initial blows knocks your cell phone out of your hand *No one leaps to your defense or aid. *
How dirty are you willing to fight? Will you gouge his eyes if necessary? Knee him in the balls? Bite anywhere? Bite a throat? Grab a convenient stick and hit him in the head? If there’s a line you won’t cross, what is it, and why?
I’m being facetious, but to make a point: our notions of fair play and fighting fair are bound up in the spirit of fair competition. There’s no competition here, and not even really a “fight” - you’re just straight up getting assaulted for no logical reason. You’re justified in using whatever force is reasonably necessary to escape injury. I’m not saying you should immediately stab him in the carotid, but you’re perfectly justified in straying from Marquess of Queensberry rules.
As dirty as proves necessary. I would assume, under the circumstances, that I was fighting for my life. If I’m prepared to use lethal force, why would I balk at lesser measures, just because they’re “dirty”? I’d try to avoid biting, though–not out of any sense of of “fair play”, but because trying it is a good way to get yourself hurt (not to mention the risk of catching anything bloodborne he might be carrying).
I will do whatever is necessary to win the fight. I would gouge his eyes out, knee him in the balls, bite off his nose, cave his skull in, etc. There is no line I wouldn’t cross.
Have a black belt in TKD and a couple of other belts, but have only taken two swings in my entire 33 years of adult life, both in self-defense. (And the second one, nearly 20 years ago, didn’t even connect - but ended the fight merely by showing that I WOULD fight back.)
That being said, you try to take me down hard and I’m going to do everything possible to fuck you up.
Of course. Why wouldn’t I? Fair fighting is for the ring, the purpose is to not end the fight too quickly or too dangerously. In this situation you want the fight ended ASAFP before you’re killed, so forget the Marquess of Queensberry rules and go for the eyes (gouge with the thumb into the corner of the eye socket, rake with fingers) and use neck cranks/chokes - pressure on the carotid artery at the side of the throat. Doubt I’d bite due to the increased risk of blood-borne pathogens, but if it was my only weapon left then I would.
He’s chosen the time and place and I’m already on the ground and taking damage so I’m at a disadvantage, no point handing the attacker any more advantages by holding back.
I protest the suggestion that I used the nonsensical phrase “fair fight.”
But of COURSE there’s a fight here, unless you are unwilling or unable to strike back at all. Crazy Man assaults me; I punch, kick, knee, bite, or otherwise assault him to force him to desist. How is that not a fight?
I don’t know what I personally would do, but I wouldn’t fault someone else for deliberately employing lethal force early on in the struggle. If Crazy Aggressor has verbalized his objection to my existence and begun assaulting me without provocation, I would say I am within reason to fear for my life and therefore I’m justified in repelling the attack with deadly or permanently-damaging force. Eyeballs, major arteries, testicles, sleeper holds, whatever I have to do to quickly end the threat to my safety before he has a chance to injure or kill me.
Once he’s no longer capable of asault, then my defense can end and I can move to a safe location and call 911.
When challenged, walk away. When unable to walk away, reduce your opponent to dog meat as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Rules are for sissies. Gouge, bite, kick, break, rend and mutilate.
To the guy who assaults you for no reason the phrase is nonsense. He isn’t interested in scoring points, he wants to hurt or kill - it’s not a competition, it’s a struggle for survival;
Read a few of the author’s books and he knows his stuff. See also; the combat pragmatist trope.
Will Turner: You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I’d kill you.
Jack Sparrow: Then that’s not much incentive for me to fight fair, now is it?
We’re getting far into semantics territory here, and if you want to say that you’re fighting to defend yourself in that circumstance I can’t grade you down for improper word usage. I’m just saying that it’s best not to think of it as a “fight.” If the police show up and separate you and ask what you were fighting about, your best answer is that you weren’t “fighting” at all - he assaulted you and you defended yourself from his assault. A fight implies mutual combat, with the goal of defeating your opponent. Boxers have fights in the ring, loudmouth drunks have ego fights in parking lots. You don’t have to defeat your opponent to defend yourself, you have to escape injury and get to a place of safety. If you have to punch your assailant in the throat or break his clavicle to defend yourself so be it, if you slap him in the ear or stick you fingers in his eyes and then run like hell while he’s staggering and disoriented, so be that.
I’m much smaller than most adults so I have zero compunction about fighting ‘dirty’ especially in a self-defense situation. Eyeballs, neck, genitals, kicking the stomach, and stabbing (if I have an implement) are not off-limits.
Of course I would never engage in a physical fight unless assaulted by a crazy person; the odds are so far against me winning that I will try to resolve a conflict in every other way first.
If I ever have the misfortune to find myself in that situation I hope to have you on my grand jury. I agree that deadly force may be necessary to defend yourself, but we’re dealing with a pretty broad hypothetical and I wouldn’t want to give the impression that deadly force is always justified to defend oneself from assault.
I’m being facetious, but to make a point: our notions of fair play and fighting fair are bound up in the spirit of fair competition. There’s no competition here, and not even really a “fight” - you’re just straight up getting assaulted for no logical reason. You’re justified in using whatever force is reasonably necessary to escape injury. I’m not saying you should immediately stab him in the carotid, but you’re perfectly justified in straying from Marquess of Queensberry rules.