I am constantly surfing the Internet looking to improve my self-defense knowledge or for ways to network with others who have a passion for keeping people safe.

During my "travels" I see all sorts of things and hear from all kinds of people. However, some of the most absurd things I periodically see are safety-related websites covered with pictures of skulls, reapers, death, and gore.

A question that immediately comes to mind is - what does all of that death and gore have to do with self-defense and personal safety?

Personally, I see self-defense, personal safety and crime prevention as means to empowering lives. It's about making people feel safe and secure, not giving them nightmares.

Can the application of physical defensive tactics be violent? You bet! Could it lead to the death of one or more of the individuals involved in the altercation? Absolutely! This all goes without saying. However, if people tend to dwell on the negative consequences of protecting themselves, they could actually be setting themselves up for a negative outcome.

In other words, if all a person thinks about is death in regards to personal safety it could lead to a couple of possible outcomes. 1) Because of negative conditioning they automatically assume the worst...that they will die if they attempt to protect themselves. They have essentially been conditioned to give up in the face of adversity. Or 2) Because of this type of condition the polar opposite could happen. The individual could develop paranoia to the point that they overreact to situations that would be non-threatening to a reasonable person. They could actually escalate situations and even end up severely injuring or killing someone because they were conditioned to see everything as a deadly-force threat, a life or death struggle.

Owners of these websites that I speak of might say that what I am saying isn't true, but here is a little experiment to prove my point...

Right now I want you to clear your mind of all thoughts and most importantly I don't want you to think about a bright apple-red sports car. Whatever you do...DON'T think about a bright red car.

Let me ask you something...what were you just thinking about? I will venture to say that you briefly thought about some kind of red sports car. How do I know this? Simple...in order for you to NOT think about something you must first think about what it is you are NOT supposed to think about. Make sense? This is just how the mind works.

Now in regards to the pictures of skulls, reapers, and gore. If I show you these pictures on a daily basis and ask you not to think about death, what do you think is going to happen? Since you are constantly being reminded of what it is you aren't supposed to think about you will obviously have a hard time NOT thinking about it. Get the point?

The reality is that while we may sometimes be forced to use violence to protect ourselves or our families, it isn't something that should be glorified.

I suspect that instructors who paste their websites with such dark images don't truly understand the consequences of their actions.


Steve