The Fallacy of Self Defense

by Johnny Pain

The term Self Defense is something that has bothered me for a long time. In a literal sense, the term is
fundamentally flawed. You see when people discuss self defense scenarios, they are not talking about
sporting events like mixed martial arts or boxing, nor are they referring to a shoving match at the local
pub. When people think self defense they think of dealing with situations where their life, or the lives of
others, are in danger, in the face of an asocial criminal.
Before I go any further, Id like to address the difference between a social conflict, and an asocially
violent assault. A social conflict is the type of thing that happens when two people argue over something,
and it escalates to violence. These are the situations that we all gathered to watch in the school yard,
yelling Fight! and encouraging the participant that we liked.
An asocially violent spin on the school yard scenario might involve one of the parties returning to school
with his fathers handgun, and opening fire into a crowd, something that weve seen in the news far too
often in the past decade. In those situations, no one wants to watch, no one is excited, or otherwise
interested in hanging around. Asocial violence, violence that happens outside of any agreed upon code or
law, is something that is repulsive to us as human beings.
Aggravated robberies turned homicides, rape, murder as part of gang initiation, home invasions, and the
like are all examples of asocial violence. You are dealing with a person or a group of people, who have
already decided to operate outside of what makes sense socially. The rape victim that is brutally stabbed
to death after heeding the advice from the media and her college rape awareness class by complying with
her attacker has made the fatal mistake of projecting her own morality, or that of someone else who has
advised her but does not recognize the psyche of the sociopath, onto her attacker. If I comply, he wont
hurt me.

In her case, the mistake cost her her life.

The home owner who wakes to find himself in the presence of two large, drugged out gang bangers in his
bedroom, who attempts to reason with them, offer them money, or otherwise give full compliance, even
after they begin beating him and making preparations to rape his wife lying next to him, has also made
the same fatal mistake.
In either of these situations, defending ones self is a fantasy. Its something that sounds nice to us as
morally sound, socially adjusted human beings. The problem here is that we are up against opposition
who is not of the same cloth. They are wildly different in what is normal to them, and what they are
willing to do in order to fulfill whatever needs that they may have, and which motivated their crime.
Simply put, there is no talking your way out of a situation like this. Additionally, any attempt to truly
defend yourself in the traditional manner is not going to fare well.

The only thing that will ensure your survival in an

asocially violent situation is to incapacitate your
attacker(s).
A solid, working knowledge of how to truly incapacitate (read: render
unconscious, cripple, or kill if necessary) another human being with
your hands is, in my opinion, the most valuable human skill that you
need to learn. If and when the time comes where you need that skill,
there will be no other solution.
We all keep smoke detectors in our homes, yet how many of us have actually had house fires? If you
have, and have lived to tell about it, Im sure that you would not scoff at anyone who wanted smoke
detectors or extinguishers in their home. Likewise we have fire escapes, TOT Finder stickers to put on
our kids windows, and all other sorts of contingency preparations for something that we hope never
happens to us.
So we are ok with letting firemen on the ground know where our children sleep in the event of a fire, but
we are not ok with learning how to rupture a mans eye, and fracture his skull at the lambdoid and saggital
sutures, causing him to expire due to cerebral contusion, if he is attempting to stab our child.
We want shotguns in the house for home defense. We accept that a mechanism which requires another
human to operate, and can and will render us unable to see well (due to muzzle flash) or hear (muzzle
blast) when fired under low light conditions while under duress in a home invasion context, is a valid
investment in our personal protection. We accept that the wound that the shotgun would inflict on a violent
intruder would certainly kill him in his tracks, but then turn our noses up when someone like myself
discusses how a man who has had his thyroid cartilage crushed, and is asphyxiating as a result, needs to
be knocked unconscious so as to die in his sleep so that he cant cause any damage in the one to five
minute window during which he will be shutting down from his injury but still can pull a trigger or stab out
with a knife.

Asocial violence warrants a violent response. Im not talking about sports here; Im not talking about dick
measuring over a girl or other sleight at a bar. Im talking about life or death. Im referring to a situation
where inaction results in certain death.

These are the situations that people want to learn to defend

themselves in, and these are the very situations in which selfdefense has no place.
In order to survive an asocially violent situation, you need to be able to put the brakes on another human
being. You need to be able to shut him or them off, and destroy their ability to use the only weapon that
they have, their brain. Regardless of what tool may be in their hand, be it a gun, knife, blunt instrument,
you name it, they are incapable of causing you, our anyone else harm without the murderous intent in
their brain necessary to wield it.
Think about it like this. Has a knife ever jumped up and stabbed anyone? No.

Without a brain to allow the attacker to use the knife, the knife is not
dangerous at all. This goes for all weapons. The only true weapon on
the face of the earth is the human brain.
Learn to use your brain to incapacitate anyone that possesses an intent to do you harm. Stop worrying
about what hes doing to you, or what you dont want him to do to you, or how to block or otherwise
defend against whatever hes doing to you (that type of thinking leads to morgue photos that look like the
one at the top of this article), and put the focus on what youre doing to him. What are you doing, with
intent, to destroy his ability to harm you or a third party? Thats where the focus needs to be.
This is the first in a continuing series of posts which I will be addressing this topic. As many of you know, I
have been an instructor in these matters for well over a decade now, and have continued teaching on a
private scale. Ive made the decision to release my information to the public for the first time via my
website, and upcoming products including the first ever seminar to be held this September at my new
facility.
Look forward to lots of updates and new information to be presented. Message me or comment to ask
questions or give feedback on what youd like to hear from me.

Johnny Pain is the man behind StrengthVillain.com as well as the East Coasts
notorious Greyskull Barbell Club and several other ventures. He is the author of several books on
subjects pertaining to strength and conditioning. He can be found comically entertaining questions on his

Self Defense and the Pooper Scooper

by Johnny Pain

Throughout history, man has invented and used tools to accomplish a variety of actions. A tool is simply
anything that provides a more efficient means of completing a task. Modern weapons such as firearms,
knives, and clubs, are nothing more than tools that allow violence to be performed on another human
being in a more efficient manner than the average person is capable of doing with their empty hands. This
is important to understand in the context of combat science (I am deliberately avoiding the term self
defense here, go back and read The Fallacy of Self Defense for a better understanding of my
reasoning). This article will provide some insight on the advantages and limitations of ancillary tools of
violence such as the weapons listed above.
I titled this article Self Defense and the Pooper Scooper because we are talking about tools here. A
pooper scooper is simply a tool that some use to perform a task that most would rather not perform with
their hands. Its not that one cant collect their dogs waste with a bag turned inside out over the hand, its
simply that the scooper makes things easier, saves the dog owner from bending down, and places a
distance barrier between the persons hand, and the dog shit.

If you think about it, theres not much difference between a pooper
scooper and a firearm in terms of how they add value to the owner. A
firearm allows one to injure, incapacitate, or even kill another person
from a distance. A simple stroke or strokes of the trigger, and another
human being can potentially be taken out of the picture.
Powerful, huh?

Absolutely. This is why firearms are such an effective and sought after tool of violence. Looking back at
what I said in my last article, you can see how a firearm purchased or carried for self defense is
erroneously described. The weapon will not do anything to defend you or your loved ones. It will not call
the police, it will not spring into action from your bedside in the event of a home invasion, and it will not
keep someone from raping you. Without your brains intent to fire the weapon into the vitals of another
human being, the firearm amounts to nothing more than a very expensive paperweight.
Should you choose to kill another human being, a firearm is an excellent tool. The single biggest problem
with that statement is that in order for it to be effective at that purpose, it needs to be in your hand when
you need it.
Many people purchase firearms for in their homes, or even acquire licenses to carry firearms where they
are legally obtained. Their logic is that the weapon is their self-defense tool. It makes them feel warm at
night by its sheer presence.

Nothing can hurt me or my family, I keep a gun in the nightstand.

I feel safe walking the streets because Im packing a .45.
Again, the problem here is that the weapon had better be in your hand or drawn when you need it.
We see this same idea with knives as well as other tools like pepper sprays and stun guns. All of these
tools can be applied effectively in certain situations and under the right conditions, but it is a grave
mistake to base your own personal survival preparedness or that of your loved ones on any object that
you can put in your hand.
As Ive said before, the only true weapon is the human brain. Once your brain is aware of the critical shift
necessary from self preservation to the destruction of another human or humans as outlined in my
previous article, it is then necessary to learn to use the other weapon that you have available with you all
day, everyday, wherever you go, your body.
Throughout the years, many have come to me to teach them how to use firearms, or to a lesser degree,
knives for the purpose of self-defense. After I explained to them that neither tool could be used to protect
anyone, that they were instead tools for injuring others, I followed by refusing to teach them how to use
any ancillary tools until they were capable of incapacitating, or killing another human under any
circumstances with only the weapons of their body.
I dont want to hear a story about a woman being raped and murdered while digging for her pepper spray
in her purse, or after the attacker(s) laugh at her when she sprays them (save the comments about how
that wouldnt happen with X or Y brand of sprays, Im very familiar with whats on the market).
I hate hearing about the homeowner who is beaten to death in his home that was unable to get to (or
load) his firearm in time to bring it into action.

Simply put, gambling with your life is not something that you should
do. Betting it all on black, in this case the weapon of choice, is nothing
short of asinine.

Nothing about a weapon makes you less susceptible to violence.

Nothing about a weapon makes you better at doing violence to another human (an attribute that I promise
you the asocial, amoral attacker you will face will possess to a much greater degree than you).
Nothing about a weapon increases your intent to do harm to another human. As a matter of fact, those
who purchase firearms for the deterrent effect that they possess, as in I pull my gun and he capitulates
and the situation ends are already thinking in a manner that will get them killed.

I dont train people to be knife-fighters, though we do spend a lot of time teaching you to
use the knife.

I dont train stick-fighters, though the last thing an asocial attacker would ever want to
encounter is one of our people armed with a club of some sort.

I dont train people to be gun-fighters, though they are fully capable of manipulating and
effectively using a variety of modern firearms.

I train people in principles that apply regardless of whatever tool is their hand, AND regardless of
whatever tool may be in the other guys hand.
Violence is violence, it doesnt matter if you are armed or unarmed, whether he has a gun, whether there
is more than one of him, whether you are standing, seated, or on the ground. The same principles apply.
In my next article I will provide an overview of the training process that I use with clients. This will be the
format of my upcoming September Seminar at the new facility.

It is absolutely important that one become fluent in the language of

violence in order to come out on top when all bets are off and it is truly
time to fight for your life.
If you disagree with that simple statement, then sleep safely knowing that your knife, gun, club, taser,
pepper spray, or pooper scooper has first watch and will see you and your loved ones through the storm.

Johnny Pain is the man behind StrengthVillain.com as well as the East Coasts
notorious Greyskull Barbell Club, the newly launched Greyskull Academy of Combat Sciences, and
several other ventures. He is the author of several books on subjects pertaining to strength and
conditioning. He can be found comically entertaining questions on his Q and A forum at

StrengthVillain.com or can be reached for consultations, training seminars, or speaking engagements at

john@villainintl.com.