We've met Selco Begovic in these pages on several previous occasions. He survived the Bosnian war in the 1990's, and has published three books about his experiences during that time. (I own all three, and recommend them highly.) He teaches and writes about survival skills in extreme situations.
He had these thoughts about the assassination attempt on President Trump.
You all watched the video of the shooting at Donald Trump.
Shots were fired, and how many people took cover (except Mr. Trump)? How many people at least lad down to make themselves smaller targets?
Very few.
There is active shooting. Nobody exactly knows what is happening, how many shooters there are, what kind of weapons are being used, and what more gonna be used. The majority of people are standing up, looking at what is happening, and recording scenes with cell phones.
Bit weird right?
It looks like the majority of people in SHTF will die simply because they will try to record SHTF on their phones.
It is not only about the system. It is about ordinary people too.
We become idiots mostly, with zero survival instincts, and the better and more modern life we have, the longer and more painful the fall we will have when SHTF.
Now, combine those people with times when the big plug gonna be taken out…
What do you think will happen then?
There's more at the link.
He makes a very good point. Preparedness means being prepared to act in unusual, uncertain or potentially dangerous circumstances, without waiting to find out what, precisely, is going on. All those people standing around as shots were fired at President Trump, looking frantically from side to side to try to understand what was happening . . . they were sitting ducks. The few who were thinking as they watched the President realized within a matter of seconds what was happening, and ducked or lay down to get out of the line of fire. The rest - not so much.
I don't wish to denigrate American women - after all, I married one! Nevertheless, they're notorious not just among American men, but all over the world, for being independent-minded, unwilling to simply obey orders from a man, even "pushy" about their "rights". In an emergency, particularly with husbands who may have military or police or EMS experience, such attitudes may get them killed. It's definitely a factor in planning for emergencies.
I've warned my wife many times that if I ever grab her and pull her to the ground, or shove her in a particular direction, or yell at her to follow me, she's not to hesitate: she's to do what I tell her, right now, without arguing. Very fortunately, she understands my reactions and the background that's ingrained them in me. She's also seen them kick in during a couple of high-stress moments that could have gone badly; so she understands why I'm saying that, and doesn't try to refuse, or stress her feminine independence, or anything like that. I can only ponder how many other American women would do likewise. How many would refuse to simply "obey", arguing that they have a right to an explanation before they do? And how many of them would die waiting for that explanation?
That's not to deny, of course, that many women - former military personnel, emergency services, etc. - are better prepared than most men to handle such emergencies. How many of their husbands or boyfriends would object to being given sudden, blunt orders, on the grounds that "they wear the pants in our relationship"? I've met too many like that. This is something that needs to be discussed between couples and within families, so that everyone understands who has the knowledge and experience needed to respond swiftly to emergencies so that they all have a better chance of surviving them.
More food for thought . . .
Peter
23 comments:
On the other hand, a lot of right-wingers know that panicking and screaming and running away just makes matters worse for the protective detail.
Can you imagine how bad things would have been if the crowd had acted like... democrats? There'd be 20-30 dead, 60 or more severely wounded, just from the trampling. Then there's the ones that would die just from the stress, ones that would kill to escape. Ones that are more concerned over their own skin than their families.
I was kind of proud of the MAGA crowd. They stood still, stood firm, didn't get in the Detail's way.
And, well, can you imagine how little we would have known about the shooting if there hadn't been all those cell phone videos showing the truth?
yeah, it is rather weird how people react to gunfire.
ones that have lived thru it before duck or drop to the ground. others not so much.
odds are a lot of people will just stand flat footed when it does happen close to them. that will get messy.
Me and my wife, who have been married for 45 years, have had that discussion. My wife's family is military and she is fine with weapons, which we own. Our two sons who are in their 30s have been taught to handle weapons by us and they both own them. We are from California but due to business moved to the southeast in the 90s.
I watched the Trump Rally and the shootings on Trump and others in the stands. I am sure that it was planned by the Biden-Harris Admin. The Secret Service as they did not provide proper security coverage for distance or overhead view. I feel Trump did the right thing to give people hope and show his is the country's leader, but if people did a mass panic and tried to run more people would have been hurt.
Eaton Rapids Joe has a good post on some observations about the events: https://eatonrapidsjoe.blogspot.com/2024/07/not-about-trump.html
I have to agree - modern day Americans are complete idiots. Watching the tourists walk up to wild animals in Yellowstone to get a close up photograph end up being trampled or gored or bitten. There are signs telling them NOT TO APPROACH WILD ANIMALS but evidently, this is beyond them.
I'm not sure who planned that assassination attempt on President Trump but there are too many coincidences to simultaneously occur that tell me there was a plan by people intimate with the facility's layout. I think it was Divine Intervention which spared Trump's life and he acknowledges it.
GF used to get pissy when I'd tell her it was time to go now, when my "this ain't right" radar would occasionally go off.
Then a loud guy that was the reason for one particular time had a full-blown methamphetamine psychotic screaming meltdown, 30 ft. away from us in the store, as we were making our way out the door, and he was having both sides of an argument with a clothing rack at about 95dB.
By the time we were hitting the exit drive, three po-po black-and-whites were inbound going past us.
Suddenly, the penny dropped for her: "Is that why you get all pushy about leaving sometimes?"
Communication decision tree got much shorter after that, and no backtalk, once she realized I was looking out for her (and her younglings), not trying to ruin her shopping trip, because I've seen too many drunks, methheads, and screwloose whackjobs escalate for the last 30 years or so, and it sets off the spidey sense any time it happens.
Typical of the phone screen crowd. They have ZERO situational awareness.
About 10 years ago, my wife and I were birding. As we walked along a trail, something moved in the grass to our right, and I saw a rattlesnake (about 8 - 10 feet long) laying there. I said in a low voice, "Just keep moving," and walked slowly down the trail.
My wife took about 3 steps and stopped about two feet from the snakes head. "What's the matter," she said.
I told her to just keep walking, and then she turned and saw the snake. Fortunately, she did not scream or panic. She cautiously walked away.
Still does not respond correctly when I need for her to move. I expect to get the final word on this when I bury her one day.
sadly my wife will be among the dead if this ever happens. not that she's a raving feminist or anything like that, but because she just has that hesitation thing. it's "huh?" then i repeat myself. then "what?" i say just go! she says "why, what's going on?" bang you're dead, and i'm dead too trying to save you. thanks honey..... we've discussed it, practiced it, she understands it, but when the time comes she reverts.
This is pretty true.
Panic can make you leave a safer place and run toward a dangerous place. Unless you can drop down through the bleachers to the ground below, bleachers are not a place you want to lie down when bullets start flying. You won't even have the illusion of cover.
Peter, my lady is a strong, capable country girl, but we've had the same discussion. She knows that if I grab her, or give curt orders, she is to obey, & if she likes we can argue about it later, when we're safe. I'm lucky--she understands the reason. Like many here, I'm a veteran. There usually isn't time to explain why--just (maybe) enough to act.
--Tennessee Budd
Thank you or this post. For those who are fortunate enough not to have the experiences that created an appropriate natural reaction, this is something to add to your list of emergency drills.
Hmmm.... So I will say, that if my husband ever gives me those commands I will obey. BUT so will he. Neither of us would for anyone else, on both sides we have zero reason to trust people. He is a logger and forester from the age he could run a piece of equipment (age 8), I have worked with interesting! horses and farm machinery my entire life.
The reason most people, most women, don't listen when someone says 'Stop'? Is because most of the time the other person, who is generally male and generally thinking with his dick, knows f--- all.
Most American males are as bad or worse than women for situational awareness. I would say Worse. At least some women have a concept about a dark alley.
Other than that, I agree with your comments.
As a woman, I believe your last anonymous is full of horse puckey. Women have better situational awareness than men? Not hardly. The vast majority of people I see with their heads buried in their phones (in the car, on the street) are women. The most gullible, trusting, naive, 'I'm a girl boss' beotches are women. The individuals who dress provocatively and proudly proclaim themselves 'sluts,' in total and deliberate ignorance of the male's visual biological nature, are obnoxious and entitled women.
I have had a job that required me to be highly aware of my surroundings, but until some men taught me better, I was almost oblivious to extreme levels of surveillance. Even now, I will be actively looking out the window as a passenger (not just enjoying the scenery) and my husband notices dozens of details I miss.
For little miss anonymous to claim all men think with their dicks just demonstrates that she doesn't think at all - she just feelz and lashes out at those responsible for her survival despite her reprehensible stupidity.
Anon @ 8:02 - "The reason ... most women don't listen ... is because most of the time the ... male ... thinking with his dick, knows f--- all."
Charming ! That attitude is the exact problem Peter is talking about. Most city women in the west are experts about everything - just one.
It's also the reason I will never mentor a woman at work or even come to a random woman's aid in the street unless she's very elderly & obviously frail. You are on your own. Unless you're my wife, related to me, or a friend - it's just not worth the risks.
I worked On The Street for years and it doesn't take much "out of line" to trigger my radar. More than once I said "we're crossing the street/leaving this store/etc.. NOW." and it became the opening remark for a debate.
Which is why she's the ex; her corncob-up-the-butt attitude about questioning everything and demanding explanations will, someday, get her killed, which is - now - her business; I didn't want it to be both of us who get killed.
> It looks like the majority of people in SHTF will die simply because they will try to record SHTF on their phones.
Then suddenly, just like that, the numerical ratio of NPCs to conservatives shifted.
I'm not going to apologize for the comments I made, but I could have made them clearer. You will note that I didn't say all men by the way.
But, what I really should have said is this, in my experience as a 45 yr old woman, living in cities in blue states, in academia professionally for fifteen years before leaving in disgust, and still living in a very blue, very suburban state: most men my age and younger have the same situational awareness as women do. But, by virtue of being male, believe that they know more about the physical world than a woman does. They don't. Most of them are just as incapable of evaluating a threat, and the reason I say worse, is because a sizable number of women have at least had the unpleasantness of learning through the reality of getting assaulted. Some women don't learn from that, some do.
So no, I won't listen to some random guy just because he is a guy and claims much life experience and superior skills due to chromosomes. You have to earn my trust first.
My fear response is all ducked-up. I'm unfortunately difficult to intimidate. There are lots of guys like me in prison.
People not smart enough to duck...and do so quickly are being selected for the application of a Darwinian filter. It's cruel but a necessity for the health of the species.
You really should differentiate between Soy Bois and men... BIG difference!
@ Anonymous: "I saw a rattlesnake (about 8 - 10 feet long) laying there. I said in a low voice, "Just keep moving," and walked slowly down the trail."
I had a similar thing happen with my very liberal brother. We were standing around an outdoor firepit when I noticed a rather good sized rattle snake perhaps a foot or two behind him. I didn't want him to jump, so I told him, "John, you need to calmly step forward a few steps." His response? "WHY? Why should I step forward?" "John, just step forward slowly a few steps." "WHY? Why do you want me to step forward?!" So I told him. "John, there's a big F**ing rattlesnake by your foot!" And of course he jumped. Didn't get bit, but of course he jumped.
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