A C&P of a post I made in the Kansas forum some time back.
Any thoughts on this?There are a lot of posts and threads on this forum that tell what to do if a situation gets out of control. These are well and good. But something that I think needs to be explored is this: preventing it in the first place.
Consider this example from a long-ago post by yours truly:
I don't see this type of nonsense here very often anymore since a certain poster is no longer here, but this gentleman (and I use the term very loosely in his case) was always proclaiming that he would lay a beating on someone for playing their boom-box too loud or how he had (or was it would?) destroy someone's radio if it was playing too loud. he was as full of it as a Christmas goose, always saying how his sheriff (in another state) would give him his CCW license without (presumably) bothering to do the background check. This was because "he was 'so-and-so's boy".
If it were just his ranting and raving I could have tolerated it better, but this guy had a certain cadre of admirers who kept egging him on and encouraging him in this claptrap. I doubt very seriously that he was anywhere near as bad as he wanted people to think he was, but if he had ever been in a self-defense shooting, some of his posts on this forum would very likely fry his butt.
If someone was playing their radio or a boom-box too loud, would any of you here seriously consider doing what this poster said he would do? I sincerely hope not.
Much of the time, street encounters can be prevented or deescalated by simple common courtesy. In other words, by being polite. For example, someone runs into you or you may look away for an instant and run into someone else. If this happens to me, my first step will be to say 'excuse me' and 99% of the time, this will suffice. However, if you say something to the effect of 'watch where you are going' and maybe call the other person a choice name, the situation can easily escalate into something ugly.
Or, if something you say is perhaps misinterpreted by another and the person's pride or sense of honor is offended, you can either try to defuse any conflict or you can say, in effect 'screw off' to him (in most cases it will be a male) and tell him to 'deal with it'. Bear in mind that his method of 'dealing with it' may be resorting to physical violence.
In short, try to leave the other person an 'out' that he can take that leaves his pride intact and does not cause him to use violence or lose face.
Granted, the issue of pride will likely not apply in an armed robbery, but in those cases where it does apply, we would do well to keep it in mind.
How would you defuse or deescalate potential conflict in such a way that violence is averted?