 Situational Examples
What follows are some situations intended to follow the Suey Bing Fa 80% Rule* of being in the realm of probability. They are meant to show the various levels of response & force which can be used. Note that these examples are just that, examples. Real confrontations that look very similar to these may include circumstances that would require a different level of response or force. The situations & responses are meant to be illustrative not definitive.
Situation 1: "i've got a bad feeling about this..."
The bad feeling comes from your conscious or subconscious awareness. It's telling you something is not right or normal. It could be someone loitering near your car or outside you home. Also the feeling that someone might be following you.
You should try to recognize when the warning bells go off in your head and determine why that feeling is there. Your alertness & awareness are telling you something that you haven't identified yet. At this point you should be looking at levels one or 2 of the continuum. Identifying and either avoiding the situation or extricating yourself from it.
Situation 2: The Bully
There are some people who, at any age, have to act like the schoolyard bully. They may not want to really harm someone but it is quite likely they don't have the physical (let alone emotional) control needed to not cause injury.
You may be able to talk the bully out of taking any physical action by placating him (response level 3) but it's just as likely he will start pushing you around. If this happens you will need to respond within the physical continuum with evasion or non-injurious contact with or without pain. After such a response you should be ready to leave the area quickly. The bully will likely feel the need to do something to assuage his bruised ego. If he does try something you'll have to increase your physical response to match.
Situation 3: Horseplay
Many times a person may just want to play around. These are often friends or family who know about your involvement in martial arts and want to see what you can do. This differs from the bully who is probably not your friend. Your friend doesn't really want to hurt you or be hurt. The problem comes from your not wanting to hurt your friend either. Most martial arts training is in transmitting some pain or injury in order to communicate with your opponent.
Simply telling the person "i don't wanna play" will sometimes do it. Of course that may not work or you may want to play. In that case the physical response should barely enter into level three with slightly painful contact. Such things as poking at a nerve or simply pinning the person should do.
Situation 4: The Drunk
The drunk may or may not be belligerent. Even so he may still be a danger (as drunk drivers prove). The problems with anyone on intoxicants is the mood and attention swings. The drunk often doesn't have the motor coordination or the mental speed to be able to deal with the physical response of anyone with a decent amount of martial arts training. This actually places more responsibility on the martial artist to do only what is necessary since the drunk is impaired. Unfortunately that impairment may make a drunk do things much more dangerous and which he might not even consider when sober. Also, a drunk may not recognize pain as much as someone who is sober.
The first thing to do is to be aware of someone who is drunk in order to avoid him and any possible confrontation (response level 2). If you are unsuccessful in that the next step is to talk, bribe, or divert attention in order to keep the confrontation from becoming physical (response level 3). Which you try will depend on whether or not the drunk is belligerent. Drunks are often unpredictable but can often be diverted. Again, if it does become physical, some form of control (force levels two or 3) would be best. The level of force used should only go beyond mildly injurious in extreme situations.
Situation 5: Mugging
A mugging is done when someone wants your money or property and is using or threatening the use force to get it. There may be more than one and they may have weapons.
Muggers and other people who wish to commit a random crime against a person are, in my opinion, lazy cowards. They don't wait for Arnold Schwarzenaeger to walk down the street. They go after someone who will be easy to subdue, not someone who will be a challenge. They can afford to wait for the right victim, with the only time constraint being when they need their next hit of their preferred drug. They will go after a woman who has her head down, not looking around, walking in a preoccupied way, i.e. showing vulnerability.
Don't make yourself a good victim/target. Just showing awareness and confidence is often enough to deter a mugging. Alertness and awareness play a big role in keeping yourself from getting mugged (response level 1). If you are unable to avoid the confrontation you may want to bribe your way out (response level 3) by just giving the mugger your money. This may at least keep you from harm and from having to cause harm. Use of pepper spray (response level 4) would also be good here to disable the mugger and allow you to get away. If he already has a weapon trained on you it may not be possible to get to the spray or another weapon. If he isn't the "take the money and run" sort or you can't get to your spray, you'll probably have to respond with a greater level of physical force than the previous examples. You may have to start your physical response with a mildly injurious one (force level 3) or higher. You will have to continually analyze your assailant to determine his intent level. This will tell you if you can de-escalate and get away or have to escalate the force of your response. If you leave the area, make sure that the assailant can't put a knife or bullet in your back.
Situation 6: Assault
This situation is different from the mugging in that the assault occurs for its own sake. It is not done to gain money or goods. A person who's had a bad day and decides to physically vent it on you fits this description, as does a young 'punk' who wants to feel big.
As with the mugging you'll probably have to begin with a response level and force level that is greater than that of other situations. Almost definitely you will have to respond in a way that somehow disables you assailant's capabilities. If lucky, that will mean just knocking the wind out of him. If not, it will probably take something at least mildly injurious. Again, pepper spray may be a good choice to disable the attacker and leave. Depending on the seriousness & injuries that occur, it would be a good idea to call police when you get to a safe place. Otherwise fleeing might be seen as an admission of guilt.
Conclusions
The level of force used in protecting yourself or another innocent person must, for legal, moral and even tactical reasons, be as little as possible to keep safe. By using the continuum of response as a guide you can tailor an appropriate response to scary and very stressful situations without consuming precious time by consciously thinking about it. You can also go up or down in the level of response and level of force as warranted by a changing situation. Some situations may call for you to jump in to the middle of the continuum's. By having such a guide to go by, you will consciously or subconsciously know your options and will therefore be less likely to freeze with indecision.
Giving thought to what level of response and force we should use should be as important as the physical action. When practicing our techniques, responses, or one steps we should be asking ourselves not only is what we are doing effective, but is it appropriate? Do we really need to break an arm and a leg on a drunk who can barely stand? Will a punch to the diaphragm really stop a mugger on crack? How will adrenaline affect both attacker & defender? By asking such questions we increase the depth and therefore the effectiveness of our art.
Terminology:
"80% rule"-Suey Bing Fa concept of spending 80% of training time practicing responses that are at least 80% likely to be effective against a 80% likely or common attack. The other 20% is spent on kata, sparring, philosophy, history, concepts, etc.
Beneficial Dimensions-Under Suey Bing Fa there are 8 beneficial dimensions to movement in the resolution of a conflict and/or the study of the martial arts. These assist in getting the most out of you training & actions. They are:
1.Situational Analysis-Correctly perceiving a situation.
2.Stress Tolerance/Management-Being able to operate effectively in a stressful situation, i.e. not 'freezing up'. Also, being able to effectively operate after receiving pain.
3.Sensitivity-Having compassion towards your opponent in order to only do what is necessary to keep yourself safe. Also being able to sense your opponent's physical intentions & state of mind.
4.Judgement-Making a reasonable decision for a situation.
5.Decisiveness-Being able to act on your judgment. Able to choose a course of action.
6.Use of Energies-Enhancing the effect of movement with gravity, collision, complementary, and/or muscular energies.
7.Attention Diversion-Keeping an opponent off guard either by an outward distraction such as a feint or an inward distraction such as watering and closing the eyes by a punch to the nose.
8.Visualization/Theatrical Response-Used in training or a confrontation to assist in seeing what is likely to happen.
Communication-Occurs between defender & attacker. The attacker communicates intentions, the effectiveness of the defenders actions, and when he finished or has "heard" the defender. The defender communicates that the attackers trespass against him won't be tolerated.
"conceal your treasure"-Suey Bing Fa concept of not revealing your training in martial arts. This retains for you the element of surprise while keeping an assailant from taking precautions against your abilities. It also keeps people from challenging you to 'see what you can do'.
Dangerous Weapon-Any object that when used as a weapon can cause serious injury or death.
Deadly Weapon-An object specifically designed to cause to cause death or grave bodily harm.
Defensive Categories-Suey Bing Fa defines 6 defensive responses to an assault. These may sometimes be combined such as an evasion-block.:
1. Evade-Moving out of the way of a strike, push, or attempted capture.
2. Parry-Guiding or deflecting without injury or significant pain a strike away from its intended target.
3.Escape/Capture-Two sides of the same coin. Escaping a grab or capturing a (natural or man made) weapon.
4. Block-Forcefully striking an incoming weapon to stop or deflect.
5. Strike First-Landing an attack before an attack can land on you.
6.Cover/Shield-Covering the weapon or shielding the target to keep the weapon from being able to strike the target.
Essentials of Movement-Suey Bing Fa defines 8 essentials that are required for a movement (whether martial or otherwise) to be functional. These essentials are:
1. Knowledge-Experience and training on how and when to move.
2. Intent-The mental desire or need to do the movement. Force of will. Righteous indignation.
3. Balance-1: Physical equilibrium 2: The right mixture of all the ingredients.
4. Timing-When to move.
5. Speed-Broken down into two aspects. 1: Point-to-point speed such as how fast a punch is thrown or lock is pushed. 2: Sequential speed such as how fast a punch is followed by a kick.
6. Strength-Having the physically strength to be able to do a chosen movement. Doesn't mean being a bodybuilder, just having adequate strength for the task.
7.Awareness-Seeing the probabilities of movement and knowing your surroundings.
8. Alertness-Looking for the possibilities of movement.
Grave Bodily Harm-Simplistically, a crippling injury.
Lethal Force-Force which a reasonable person would conclude would likely cause death or grave bodily harm.
Man Made/Hand-Held Weapon-A weapon that is not part of the body. Examples are: a rock, wrench, gun, knife, stick, car. Note that it doesn't have to be designed as a weapon, just used as one.
Maximum Force Potential-Correctly combining all the Essential Ingredients, Beneficial Dimensions and other components to bring about movement that is the most efficient, effective, and powerful.
Natural Weapon-Using a part of the body, such as a fist or heel, as a weapon.
Prime Directive-Safety First.
Projectile weapon-A weapon that launches projectiles such as a gun or a weapon that is itself launched like a throwing knife.
"self-ish"-Making the attacker turn his attention from what he wants to do to you to what is happening to him. Gives the initiative to the defender.
Strike-A hit that is designed to cause pain, injure, or otherwise disable.
Suey Bing Fa-Chinese for "water & ice method". A style of Kenpo. It refers generally to being relaxed and flowing in movement like water until just before the penetration of a strike where one turns to hard ice. After the force of the blow has been transmitted to the target one turns back to water to flow & save energy.
System & Style & Art-Kenpo is an art. A particular set of moves such as strikes, controls, stances, etc.
American Kenpo is a system, complete with such things as self-defense techniques, kata, sparring, and methods for teaching those things.
Suey Bing Fa is a style. A style is a perspective for looking at martial arts. Not something that has a specific set of movements but has a particular set of theories & concepts. In this sense Jeet Kune Do would also be a style.
Some of the sources used for this paper:
Oregon Revised Statutes (Criminal Code)
"in the gravest extreme" by Massad Ayoob
Lethal Force Institute videos by Massad Ayoob
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