When's the last time you got into a physical fight with a stranger in public and what was it about?

Never. It is difficult to get into a physical fight with a stranger, there normally has to be some interaction between the two of you in order to fight. The exception would be defending yourself from an attack – that has happened to me less than a year ago, being attacked without warning by a group of youths. I came out of it all right – I was carrying a weapon, but if I hadn’t been it could have been nasty. (I didn’t need to use the weapon – just threaten to do so.)

What makes you assume that the fight that you witnessed was between strangers?

For some reason, I’m guessing that even though they were strangers to you, they both knew each other.

I’ve never fought someone I didn’t know.

When some cretin insulted Thom Yorke. I’m just kidding, I never got into a fight. It’s such a raffish and sophomoric way for the simple minded to solve problems.

@DarkScribe It was on a crowded street and I got the impression it was started because of some perceived ‘disrespect’ from one of the participants to the other. The body language and distance between them suggested they didn’t know each other. But perhaps I’m wrong.

Also, if you don’t mind me asking, what type of weapon were you carrying and why were you carrying it? Do you carry one all the time? Were they trying to rob you or was it because of some other reason?

@JollyTiger The body language and distance between them suggested they didn’t know each other. But perhaps I’m wrong.

In a fight it would hard to judge body language and distance.

Were they trying to rob you or was it because of some other reason?

No, they were annoyed because I paused in traffic to allow another person to safely clear an intersection. After blasting their horn at me they suddenly jumped out of their vehicle and attacked my from all sides – I was in a convertible. I was carrying a sidearm, (it was not even loaded) I was on my way to a pistol club shoot.

I do not always carry a weapon, I have more than thirty-five years experience in Martial Arts and that normally suffices – but will under some circumstance and in some places particularly if I have a female family member with me at night.

Some guy stabbed a guy he didn’t know in NYC at the big NY Public Library on 42nd Street and killed him a few days ago for that same “bumping” nonsense.

I’ll never understand the sort of mentality that is such a stickler for “respect” from people and is that emotionally weak that strangers accidentally bumping shoulders means someone has to get jacked. Of course, the attacker ended up being found dead in Philly two days later.

I’ve never fought with a stranger in public. I think the last time I struck anyone, I was 12 and only because that person was hitting me.

@DarkScribe In a fight it would hard to judge body language and distance.

True. Actually I’m not sure why I thought they were strangers now that I think about it.

That’s a crazy story. I’d definitely need a few shots of single malt after what you went through. I hope you or your family member didn’t suffer any injuries.

Good for you, DarkScribe, I really hate hearing about groups of people victimizing a lone individual. Next time they’ll think twice about trying a stunt like that.

@JollyTiger That’s a crazy story. I’d definitely need a few shots of single malt after what you went through. I hope you or your family member didn’t suffer any injuries.

I was alone, and yes I did suffer some injuries, they took me completely by surprise, it was in the middle of the day in a busy area. They cracked a few ribs – not the first time I have had it happen, but the first time in that manner.

@DarkScribe Were you able to put any of the martial arts skills to use or was there a gulf between theory and practice in the heat of the moment?

Never. I’ve never fought with anyone other than my siblings at home and I’d like to keep it that way. I’m a pretty non-belligerent person, so I don’t really think it’ll happen. I’m also not very physically strong.

I’ve only struck two people in anger. In 4th grade I punched a kid in the jaw because he tried to hit me with one of those red rubber handballs. talk about overreacting

The second time was at work. I thought I’d lose my job for sure, but the company was such a joke the higher-ups didn’t even find out – despite at least six or seven witnesses.

These were both one-offs, I’ve never been in a ‘real’ fistfight.

The only 2 people I have ever laid my hands on in anger are my sister and a boyfriend who decided it was okay to hit me. I broke his nose.

The last time I got in a fight was when I decided to take a vacation to New York City right after getting the boot from Pencey Prep. I was in a hotel and the bellhop offered to hook me up with a trick so I went along. She came into my room (her name was Sunny) and I chickened out so I paid her the five bucks to leave. Then I went to bed and the next thing I know Sunny and her pimp are banging on the door and demanding another five bucks from me even though I paid my due! So I tell them to get lost but the guy (he was a big hulking piece of work, I gotta tell ya) pinned me on the ground and beat me up while Sunny took the money out of my wallet. Then they left. Someday though, they’ll get what’s comin’ to ‘em. I promise you that.

@holden you just made my day, lol

@JollyTiger Were you able to put any of the martial arts skills to use or was there a gulf between theory and practice in the heat of the moment?

Yes, after a delay caused but the unexpectedness of it. My first warning was two blows, being punched in the back of the head by one of them and being kicked between the should blades and pushed into the passengers seat floor well by another. I was facing two who ran up to the passenger side – yelling abuse. I kicked back and grabbed the handgun from its case on the floor well and sat up with it in my hand. It was all over then – they ran. I am fit and trained, but even so I would have been very lucky to have managed to handled them unarmed – they were seventeen/eighteen year old footballers and had already injured me.

They were caught after similar attacks on other people. They had filmed all of their attacks on a mobile phone and it was their undoing. There has been a lot of this recently – random attacks that are filmed. It took a long while to reach Australia, but it has arrived. Unfortunately in the same area, about three kilometres away, a guy walking through a park was killed a week or so later. Beaten to death by a group of teenagers for no reason whatsoever. They caught them.

@DarkScribe Glad to hear they were caught but sorry to hear how bad it was. Did it cause you any psychological distress afterwards? I’ve heard about similar attacks on homeless people in the U.S. that are uploaded to Youtube. I don’t understand where that comes from. It’s very sick.

@holden Brilliant.

@JollyTiger Did it cause you any psychological distress afterwards?

Yes – I got very pissed off. Aside from the fact that I am now more cautious – and act as though I am living in a dangerous area – no real problems. However I now carry a weapon at all times – but not a firearm. Something as effective for defensive purposes but more innocuous. I am trained in Escrima as well as Aikido & Karate and I carry a Police issue folding baton in my hip pocket. (I have the requisite security licence.)

I have never been in a physical fist fighting fight before, I’ve been in a verbal cursing fight.
But, if that bitch doesn’t shut the fuck up, I will have to kick her preppy concieded ass.

I’m shocked that I can even answer this question, considering how non-violent a person I am. I was on the cusp of 13, we were really poor and lived in a bad neighborhood with gangs, though I knew a lot of people and never really had any problems. Except this one day, my step-brothers and I went to visit a friend in the complex across the street. I was the oldest, my step-brothers were 9 and 11.

As we were walking there, we passed these kids hanging out on a play structure. One girl of about my age, the other maybe 10, and then a little boy of about 6.

They started yelling insults at us, stupid insults, so we just rolled our eyes and kept walking. They yelled the entire time we were in sight. We hung out at our friend’s house for a while and headed back home because it was almost dark. On our way back, there were these three kids from the playground waiting for us on the path.

They started yelling dumb stuff again, but now I was getting annoyed, so I started yelling back at them. Then everyone yelled back and forth for a while, then the girls got closer and more physically threatening, like trying to get in my face. I was really angry at that point, then the oldest girl made this ridiculously exaggerated move to slap my face hard. Well, I had taken karate and blocked her slap, then socked her hard in the jaw like I’d been taught. I remember her head whipping to the side like in the movies.

Then there was a scuffle, the two girls basically girl-fighting me and not doing much damage, while I rained a hail of fist blows randomly with my eyes closed. I mean, I just kept pummeling. Not to mention, comically, I had the 6-year-old boy clinging to my leg.. I remember shaking my leg and trying to get him off of me.

When they got sick of getting the beatdown, they let off me and backed off to a safe distance, then tried to cover the defeat by taunting me more. I knew I was victorious, though, and smugly left them behind and went back home.

And what of my chicken step-brothers in all of this? I was like, “Thanks for the help, guys.” They said, “Uh.. it looked like you had it.”

Never.I tend to avoid situations like that.I will only fight if my life is at stake or if its for someone I care about if that is the only chance we have at getting away and finding help.

I got into a physical fight with some young white teenagers almost 2 years ago, over a racial insult that one of them directed at me. It was not a good idea to pick a fight with these kids, as I had found out.

@MRSHINYSHOES Got your ass beat, then?

@FutureMemory Read my PM!!