In the days since the Zimmerman verdict, I’ve had a lot of conversations with liberal friends* in which they complain about the use of lethal force against the “unarmed” Trayvon Martin. Most of these people have no experience whatsoever with the use of hands, elbows, and forearms as weapons, and imagine that nothing really serious can come of it. (In their own case, they’re probably right.)
Let me assure you: when you know what you’re doing, your hands can kill. Learn more here.
* Yes, I have liberal friends. There’s more to life than politics. Where I live, if you don’t have liberal friends, you aren’t going to have many friends.
5 Comments
Is there any evidence that Trayvon Martin actually had the focus and self-discipline to learn how to kill with his hands? Evidence suggests Martin was little more than an indolent, directionless, temperamental pothead, well on the road to self-destruction. I suspect that the encounter between Martin and Zimmerman was embarrassingly technique-less, as was the case with the combatants in that fight I broke up a while back.
I don’t say this in defense of Martin. Zimmerman’s head wounds are ample evidence that, had Martin been allowed to continue, Zimmerman could have suffered brain damage. So yes, even though Martin was untrained, his blows could have been deadly. If that’s your basic point, then I agree with your post. I do wonder, though, why you brought training into the picture, since I fail to see how it applies to Trayvon Martin.
PS: Auto-correct is telling me to change “Trayvon” to “Traction.” I’ve just added “Trayvon” to my computer’s dictionary.
I should’ve guessed this’d be the place to expect the pretty simple explanation – I didn’t however expect it.
I’ve had “numerous” back & forths on the woulda, shoulda, couldas etc – mainly from those who were not there – explaining what they ‘woulda’ – I did get two though to try a little experiment.
Kevin mentions “technique-less” which I suppose would be more or less likely given the arena’s environmental conditions. Maybe something akin to the older Floyd Patterson v Cassius Clay. “Experience v Technique” sometimes lends advantage to the initiator and not necessarily to the ‘Experienced Technician.’
The “experiment” went like this (I am forty+ pounds less than either participant) both scenarios produced near identical results – the difference being “no intention to inflict destruction” the defender laid flat on his back on a hard surface, his head (skull) cushioned with a couple layers of thickish cardboard.
Both “discovered” it’s kinda difficult to thrust a “determined aggressor” when the defender is incapacitated from “drawing back into yesterday and knocking somebody into tomorrow.” Not impossible – but like a number of people know – stuff has a habit of happening fast. What surprised each the most however was the number of “dings” the layered cardboard sustained.
The second part of the experiment involved me placing a wood dowel into a pants-pocket then seeing whether either of the two volunteers could disable me from “my only defense.”
Both admitted – grudgingly (I suspect only due to there being witnesses and the arena was well-lit) “The runt [me] looks to have proved something.”
Not that it matters.
Kevin,
It was. I don’t know to what extent Trayvon Martin was formally trained, but if you have some innate aptitude and a pugilistic attitude, then just fighting a lot can be awfully good training. I know lots of “trained” martial-arts hobbyists who wouldn’t last more than a few seconds against a tough kid from a tough neighborhood.
Speaking of Trayvon’s being an “indolent pothead”, here’s some sharp commentary from Bill Whittle. In particular, he tells us a lot more about that “iced tea and Skittles” business than most people ever got to hear.
Interesting. And Whittle claims Martin did indeed have at least some level of MMA training.