December 15, 1996

The World Wide Web is a strange thing. It is a computerized stew of absolutely everything you can imagine. All you need to know is how to search for what you want. That's the real problem, because the web is full of stuff, mostly worthless, that finding the goodies can be something of a black art.

So, last week I was searching the web for quotes by M. K. Gandhi. I punched in a search for "passive resistance" and came up with a transcript of a TV piece. I would love to spill some vitriol over this one, but I won't. Judge for yourself...

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KOVR 13 Personal Safety Expert Bruce Anderson

Passive Resistance

If you are the victim of an assault, the wrong move could send the attacker over the edge. Here are some good passive techniques that you might want to try. A passive technique is non-confrontational with a potential offender. Some of the best techniques are good powerful positive personal protection, followed by good physical gestures and strong verbal commands. What this will do is assert yourself as a non-victim and it also prepares you in case the situation escalates into something violent.

When you are confronted by someone and they're doing something you don't want, you should assume a ready position with you feet back. Let your hips rotate and put your hands out. This gives you some distance and you declare yourself as a non-victim. Here, you want strong verbal tones and good command presence. When you leave, you shouldn't wander. Get out and go to a place of safety.

Techniques like these are especially good for someone who doesn't have a lot of personal strength or training. You can take control of a situation without fighting, or provoking a suspect who might get violent.

There are several other passive options. You might try talking to a suspect...begging or pleading. You might also want to make him think you're sick. Vomiting or spitting or anything you can do to throw him off is worth trying. Another successful technique is to distract the suspect so that his attention is diverted and so that you can escape.

We teach our children that when somebody is touching them in a way they think is bad, they need to say no; they need to go; and they need to tell somebody. It's good advice. It's good advice that we can all use.

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It is hard to explain how much I wanted to rant and rave against this piece of advice. I wanted to rip it to shreds with sarcastic comments and snide remarks. I won't do any of that.

What I will do is present some cold, hard facts, clearly demonstrating that Mr. Anderson's advice is very poor indeed...

The following tables compare different means of self defense, summarizing their effectiveness. The "percent completed" column indicates how frequently the criminal got what he wanted. The "percent attacked" column indicates how often the criminal attempted to injure the victim. "percent injured" indicates how often the victim was actually hurt. The first table is for robbery and the second for assault. These figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics for the year 1982. Not all of the percentages add up to 100% because sometimes a victim would try more than one method of self-protection. In using these tables, be aware that for a victim, smaller numbers are better.

robbery statistics

method of self-protection	percent completed	percent attacked	percent injured	number of times used
used gun	30.9	25.2	17.4	89,009
used knife	35.2	55.6	40.3	59,813
used other weapon	28.9	41.5	22.0	104,700
used physical force	50.1	75.6	50.8	1,653,880
tried to get help or frighten offender	63.9	73.5	48.9	1,516,141
threatened or reasoned with offender	53.7	48.1	30.7	955,398
nonviolent resistance, including evasion	50.8	54.7	34.9	1,539,895
other measures	48.5	47.3	26.5	284,423
any self-protection	52.1	60.8	38.2	4,603,671
no self-protection	88.5	41.5	24.7	2,686,960
total	65.4	53.7	33.2	7,290,631

assault statistics

method of self-protection	percent completed	percent attacked	percent injured	number of times used
used gun	23.2	12.1	386,083
used knife	46.4	29.5	123,062
used other weapon	41.4	25.1	454,570
used physical force	82.8	52.1	6,638,823
tried to get help or frighten offender	55.2	40.1	4,383,117
threatened or reasoned with offender	40.0	24.7	5,743,008
nonviolent resistance, including evasion	40.0	25.5	8,935,738
other measures	36.1	20.7	1,451,103
any self-protection	49.5	30.7	21,801,957
no self-protection	39.9	27.3	6,154,763
total	47.3	29.9	27,956,719

I have used strong type on the rows pertaining to Mr. Anderson's advice. I have underlined the number in each column that the victim would consider the best (i.e. whatever caused the bad guy to do less harm).

Judge for yourself.

- Dennis Griesser

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are welcome.
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