The following is a field guide to avoiding aggression of the social and predatory type intended to highlight the fact that most human-on-human aggression is based upon group behavior, with the simple pair occupying a high risk niche in the human ecosystem. Common urban aggressors are of three types: police, thrill-seeking youth and criminals. All three classes of predators also engage in confrontation, either as a predatory tactic or as an alternative behavior. After 33 years as a pedestrian working the night shift and living in Baltimore, I have observed that the vast majority of potential aggressors are stymied by vigilant behavior and also home in like sorrow-seeking missiles on those people whose body language and behavior marks them as easily overcome. Likewise police, the most prolific of urban predators, become keyed in on body language far beyond the level of everyday people.
Keep in mind, please, that Richard Francis Burton coined the term safari from the Arabic, when he was writing in his journal during one of the earliest of such ventures. Now, with our capitalist lords and masters having graciously transplanted the “utter savagery of Africa,” as Tommy Sotomayor has described it, to these unholy shores, one no longer need sail the Atlantic in a pitching and rolling screw propeller steamer…
Before going out for our venture Mescaline Franklin said, “So, I know you do alright around here, like I do alright in my normal haunts. But we’re both loners, normally by ourselves. How should we go about walking through this—or any place—without bringing trouble on ourselves?”
Okay, Bro, the first thing to realize is that pairs of people are attacked by groups at twice the rate individuals are attacked by groups, so this is heightened risk.
The risk triples—at least—to six to ten times [1] normal loner risk, when you are with a woman. Walking with a woman is its own subject that shall be addressed elsewhere.
Also, keep in mind that attacks by pairs of men on larger groups have always—always, yes, always—been successful. This has to do with cohesion. Hence our discussion will briefly address cohesion. The object of this brief is to avoid confrontations and deter predation, taking social and predatory aggression off the table with the same behavior.
11 Tips for Pairing Up in Urban Settings
The rules of pairs of men walking in urban settings are
1. Do not pose in a tough manner, which simply reduces predation and increases the chances of confrontation.
2. Do not hold hands.
3. Do not walk side-by-side, ever. This increases your chances of being draw into a confrontation with other groups of males, and is the reason why packs looking for trouble, walk side-by-side, in a ‘screen.’ A close screen is easy to split from front and back by aggressive attackers, and is easy to attack in detail from either side.
4. Do not chat while walking. If you must, if there is something to discuss that cannot wait for your arrival at the destination, than do not look at each other and avoid the natural tendency to walk side-by-side.
5. Whichever walker is naturally inclined to lead off should, ideally, be the navigator. In this case, the local guy. The second man is more important in terms of response to aggression than the lead—who is the most vulnerable and has the least perspective.
6. The second man should walk behind and off one shoulder, whichever one fits the space you are navigating and fits your and his physical abilities.
7. Walk like you have a destination, but are not in a hurry. Do not stroll. If cops mess with you or shadow you, then you are putting off the right vibes. Hoodrats call it skulking, deliberate, observant, primate locomotion. Cops usually have better instincts for body language than the rest of us. If you make them suspicious than you will also make criminals wary of you.
8. When the lead man looks left the other should look right, and in other ways compliment each other’s vigilance.
9. Whichever man sights trouble should either say ‘heads up left,’ ‘heads up ahead,’ ‘heads up right,’ or ‘heads up behind,’ or use the clock reference.
10. If it is trouble that needs addressed the comment should be, instead of heads up, “on me.”
11. Most of the people you walk with would bristle at the suggestion of any such behavior and trust to the FBI’s random violence template. In this case, work around them. If he is an alpha male let him take the lead and you be vigilant. If he is a beta than tell him that you aren’t comfortable walking side-by-side like two faɡɡots and take the lead. Let him think you are weird.
Example
One of the fighters I train bristles at my habit of standing by the car and waiting for him to get it started before getting in. He will often say that there is no danger, he has scanned the area, so there is no reason for vigilance. What he is trying to talk me into is losing my edge for convenience. The point is, if I am ever selected for attack again it will most likely be when I have let my guard down, when I am tired, sick, hurt, and in a place where there is clearly no danger. That is how predation works. It is not random. You are selected. Get de-selected through being a vigilant, oddball, crackpot, goober who walks through life like the KGB is after him.
As in fighting, habits save your ass, not decisions. When the hate hits Hell’s gate the right habit beats the right decision.
Decisions are for thinkers.
Habits are for fighters.
The ironic thing is, once you have developed survivable habits—as with fighting—you now have the option to make timely decisions on the fly. Such clutch, actionable decisions are denied the man who does not cultivate survivable habits and thinks that he will just think himself out of whatever shit situation he might find himself in.
Note
1. This depends on various factors and can get ridiculously risky in ways that may seem wrong-headed of counterintuitive.
James, thank you, this is very helpful. Would you please write a follow up on possible ways to dissuade predators _after_ they've identified you as a potential victim but before they commit to action?
Take for a reference the victim in your recent "Routine Activity Theory" post video. It seems he was qualified before he entered the store. His would-be attacker - who steals his wallet shortly after - actually exits the store right behind him, so the victim must have been under continuing evaluation while he was ordering/paying for his sub.
You can watch him confirming his prey qualification as he exits the store politely holding up the door for his predator to-be, confirming that he is a) oblivious and b) soft.
Also, it seems the narrator's take is somewhat off. After his wallet getting snatched away the dude didn't just decide to walk away, instead he timidly followed the wallet thief. This resulted in the rest of the gang trying to first redirect his attention (see the subway-snatcher faking a charge), and when that didn't work following the action to discourage the wallet owner from continuing his pursuit.
So, to me this looks like pre-planned team work more than a random act of violence (see also one of the attackers blocking the street view as the wallet is being extracted from the owner's pocket).
What could have the subway-buying dude done differently if he became aware he was slotted for robbery while still in the store?
Okay, the subway-buying dude was doomed because he was who he was.
I suggest you follow my survival guide series on the SingleDudeTravel site.
The main thing to keep in mind is that the habit of readers like you and I to place our hope in making the right decision, is false.
Take an Army War College graduate, and give him a squad of girl scouts, and have him go up against a squad of Navy SEALS who have lost their officer.
Becoming the target that is not selected is a multifaceted process which includes mental conditioning to be ever vigilant—you would not belie how bad it pisses Dom, mescaline, Charles, and my family members off that I insist on standing by the passenger side door until they have the keys in the ignition, and do not strap in until the thing is rolling.
The only alternative to being prey is to be a predator. Unless you prowl through the world you will be selected if the Cheese steak crew bumps into you.
As far as the tactics of the muggers, yes, they planed this, but not in advance. this was habit for them. I bet there was minimal verbal communication required to get this white ball rolling.
Good observations, Goose.