SOCIAL OR ASOCIAL VIOLENCE – WHY BOTHER?

The question between social and asocial violence is a great conundrum, and one that I get asked frequently. We spend a good chunk of our non-mat time trying to educate people in how to tell the difference between appropriate and inappropriate uses of the tool of violence.

After more than 20 years of doing this work I figured it was as obvious to everyone else as it was to me — but we all know what happens when you make assumptions…

Instead, I found an interesting dichotomy: Everyone walked in the door ready to “kick ass”, but then suddenly balked when I showed them how to crush a throat or kick a downed man in the head as hard as humanely possible.

Suddenly, there was a disconnect between the tool they wanted and the tool I was teaching.

And that difference is the (anti)social or asocial violence divide.

Everyone wants to kick ass and essentially get their “man card” punched, but they realize that maiming, crippling and killing are hideously inappropriate to the bar fight or dust-up between inebriated compatriots. And it is.

I would rather not have to explain the difference. It takes away from time we could be working on the mechanics of injury.

In the end, it’s an important take-away for our clients because it simultaneously focuses them on the reality and seriousness of the situations we’re training for — life-or-death — and hopefully saves them the wear and tear, emotional trauma, and life-changing legal troubles surrounding social or asocial violence used stupidly and inappropriately.