Dark Ages

Dark Ages

We are living in an ever increasingly violent world. In the first quarter of 2007 there were nearly 200 homicides in the city of Philadelphia alone! The bulk of them were committed with handguns. Despite this, and despite being a student and instructor of martial arts, I do not believe that enrolling yourself and your children in a martial arts school is the complete answer. I do not believe that the solution to violence is always more violence, or that total surrender or slumping into pathetic compliance will work either. I wish I had THE answer.

What terrible cancerous malaise has fallen upon us? I am reminded of the dark times before the coming of King Arthur when it was said that the men were less and less and the beasts became more and more. Today, in this darkest of ages, our men have themselves become the beasts, transformed into predators, muggers, murderers, and rapists. Individual’s lives have become worthless, other persons’ property has become fair game, free for the taking, and the vilest and nastiest element of our race have begun to replace men of honor, integrity, and dignity.

This disease is not limited to the lower social classes, but then it never was. Privilege has often bred pestilence, abusive use of power and wealth. Violence and crime are not solely the mark of the poor or homeless, for these people are also the victims. Violence has become the sport of many of the privileged people, the rich and educated. Business executives and Sports and Movie icons are paid ludicrous salaries, which they spend on drugs and illicit sexual encounters. Accepting bribes and callously doing whatever it takes to win a game or sign a business deal has become commonplace. Corporations sack employees to please shareholders and increase profitability. Politicians take bribes, pander to special interest groups, and rapaciously sacrifice America’s soil, jobs, and sons to foreign investors in support of corrupt foreign governments. Judges operate beyond the pale of common sense and it is the victims whom too often become the accused and persecuted. In the olden days a person who suffered perpetually from bad luck or ill temperament was said to have been born under a dark star, or during the ebb tide. How can we make excuses for the tens of thousands of men without any moral accountability who are locked away in prisons or waiting trial? Were they all born under dark stars, even the privileged nouveau riche?

I had one writer post a lengthy comment contradicting my blog article, "To Rule the Night." That is his right. The writer offered a counter view to my position wherein I stated that a defense against physical assault is only possible if you are armed at least as well as the indigent criminal population. The writer said that rather than arm himself he would prefer to live in a disarmed society like Great Britain. That is his choice to make, although it is a wonderfully naïve Polly Anna approach. It has always been the hue and cry of liberals that to disarm crime you must also disarm the law-abiding citizenry. Criminals will always find a way to obtain weapons. That’s why they are criminals. Using weapons and hurting people is a part of their job description. Taking away the guns, knives, bows and arrows of the population will leave everyone resorting to baseball bats, right? No, I don’t think so. The criminal will still find a way to buy or steal a gun. He wants to have an "edge" before he risks his sorry life robbing you.
Given a choice I would rather try to defend myself with a legally owned (or otherwise if necessary) knife or gun than to allow myself to be beaten to death with a blunt object. I hope that you have not forgotten the televised attack with baseball bats on a homeless person. He was nearly beaten to death by several bored uptown youths? I suppose it was great fun until they realized they had been caught on a security camera. What if he had died? Would his have been a noble death because he did not use a weapon to defend himself? We all die. There is no escaping from this fact. As I see it we may die in one of four ways:

• Natural causes
• Wracked by disease
• An accident
• Or by murder.
  

The only one of these four that we have any control over is the last one. Dying of old age is natural, and while doctors may offer some hope for relief from disease, life remains terminal. Accidents may be avoidable, and I stand by my contention that death by murder is also avoidable. The laws of the land cannot protect you from criminals, the police cannot protect you from criminals either. All that they can do is investigate how and why you were murdered and file a detailed report with glossy 8x10 photos of the crime scene. While my outlook might seem pessimistic or morbid, I prefer to consider it simply a realistic appraisal.

Its OK if you don’t like my suggestions for defending yourself. There is nothing preventing you from turning in your guns and knives to the local constabulary. You could even place a sign in your window advertising "Easy Target." That would permit us armed citizenry to live unmolested for a bit more time. Once all of you easy targets are mugged or murdered I suppose that us barbarians will have to resort to fighting violence with violence again. With any luck, some day like in days of old when knights were bold, men will once again become more and more, and the two-legged beasts will be rendered extinct. Until then you can drink your latte’ and wine coolers and talk about non-aggression, but in the meantime, keep your stinking hands off my knives and guns.

"Never mistake an act of kindness for weakness" anonymous