I have, over the past couple weeks had conversations with experienced violent actors from three different states of The Disunion, of two genders and of metaphysic stances ranging from atheist, to deist to Christian evangelist. I’m talking about two criminals and two patriots, people who know how to handle themselves in a scrap, but are much younger than I am in three of four cases and much larger or stronger than I in three of four cases.

What, as their coach and advisor, do I find that these men and one babe—you knuckleheads, and you, you wolfish vixen, know who you are—have in common as a core principle of combat operations?

They stridently disagree with my oft-made recommendations to avoid violence outside of training and competition and my warnings against using lethal force in self-defense situations.

The criminals point out that jail is almost fun and prison rare for violent offenses, especially for those slick enough to work The System.

The Christian Patriots say, “I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.”

Part of this disparity, I think, comes from the fact that all of these folks are more physically able than me [except the babe, but she is extremely cunning in legal matters where I am not] and that confidence that I lack and they have leads them to justify more aggressive survival options.

To you four friends, who I care about a lot, I would like to ask you:

Why don’t you carry a sword for self-defense?

Why not a bowie knife or machete?

Why not nunchukas or sais?

Why not walk with multiple sheath knives in various draw positions?

Why not carry a pump shot gun?

Why not two six shooters on your hips?

Why not an assault rifle on a tactical strap?

We all know why not, for the same reason you don’t drive without a license, why you pay your income taxes, why you take your car to get tested for omissions, why you don’t smack the shit out of your boss on the job and why you do a dozen other thing, like strap on a seatbelt, so that you don’t become the focus of The LAW Enforcement aspect of THE SYSTEM.

Yes, I am more fearful than most people of Law enforcement and would actually, and have actually, faced hordes of often armed Bantu warriors with such defensive tools as pens, pocket knives, canes and umbrellas, because I am more afraid of being judged by twelves than carried by six and that is the truth, perhaps a shining facet of my deep, social dysfunction.

I is, what I is and have walked away from some good women, women whom I loved, rather than try and change who I am.

My overriding operational principle is that society is organized in the way that it is in order to maximize our vulnerability to The System. No, THE SYSTEM will not always, or even usually try to get you. However, it does have a ravenous myopia and in those cases when more than one of the generally shitty people who work as SYSTEM functionaries set their sights on ruining a certain person, that person is ruined. DNA evidence has proven that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men have been wrongly convicted of capital crimes and spent years and even decades in prison. I will never trust such a social apparatus.

I once sweated an attempted murder charge and assault with a deadly weapon charge for three months awaiting the hearing. The charges each carried 5-15 years. I won’t sweat charges like that again. I’d rather get shot trying to defend myself with a flashlight.

Back to the premise of the article however.

You Christian Patriots might want to consider that your faith in THE SYSTEM results in the same decision as a criminal’s confidence in manipulating that SYSTEM. Since all four of you are very smart, smarter than I, I think, this suggests to me that THE SYSTEM might be designed to crush the roughly 90% of folks who are not Christian Patriots or Cunning Criminals, and that you might all be right in your estimate of your chances with THE SYSTEM. However, me not being cunning enough to succeed as a criminal, nor trusting enough to be a faithful Christian Patriot, I think that my best course is minimum, not maximum, force.

I the end, our individual survival doctrine must be customized to our abilities, social status and sensibilities to be of maximum utility.

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