Light Over Heat #13: When Violence IS and IS NOT the Answer

In Light Over Heat Ep 12, I talked about how violence can be virtuous and my life-altering realization that I might need to use it to protect my children or myself.

A commentator on that video distinguished between violence being virtuous and violence being desirable. I don’t see violence as desirable, i.e., being subjectively pleasing or worth seeking in and of itself. It is a means to the end of protecting life, family, or friends. That is what makes it virtuous.

This reminded me of Tim Larkin’s book When Violence is the Answer, about which I have written previously. Larkin argues BOTH that when violence is the answer, it’s the only answer, AND that violence is rarely the answer.

In this video, I connect these ideas to a training course I took at The Complete Combatant in Georgia called “Force Readiness” (see my review) in which I learned that skillset = choice, and that in the end, I am the weapon.

Further supporting documentation for this video includes Tamara Keel on “can’t lose a fight you’re not in,” the idea of Pascal’s Wager applied to self-defense, and John Steinbeck’s saying that the brain is the final weapon.

In addition to The Complete Combatant, other training courses I have attended that emphasize when violence is and is not the answer include: Extreme Close Quarters Combat with Craig Douglas of Shivworks (read my review) and Concealed Carry: Advanced Skills and Tactics with John Murphy of FPF Training (read my review).

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