The knockout game.

Recently a lot of press has been given to an activity known as the "knockout game."

For those who don't have facebook accounts, the knockout game is simply a stupid game where someone walks up to a stranger and launches a sudden attack on them, hoping to knock them out with one punch.

There have been variations of this going around for years. Older folks might remember the "wolf packs" from a few decades ago. Games where people randomly attack in groups have been around for a while with one game of black youths ganging up on white victims even getting the name "polar bear hunting." Interestingly, it seems that this current game is not really an epidemic… yet. Yes, there is a lot of media coverage now. But it looks like this is a case of the media all sharing stories from other media outlets rather than a rash of new cases. However, with the added attention it is very likely that many will now get the idea to try the game.

There are a few things that need to be said about this game. We have videos of the knock outs because the attackers work in groups. They will walk around, egging each other on and then someone will take a video of the attack and later post it on a social media site or youtube.

This is key.

A few things distresses me about the comments and such I see on facebook, etc. Many martial artists seem to think that their training will save them from this type of thing. Many gun enthusiasts seem to drool over the idea of these animals trying the game on a person carrying a concealed firearm. Well, none of that will save you from being surprised and knocked out before you ever realize there was a threat. Some self defense mavens have tossed the word "awareness" around, but none really seem to detail the specific type of skills of awareness needed in this case. I will try to do that here.

But before I do that, let me point out to those that are looking for a fight or an excuse to shoot someone over this- know the legal situation. In most places in the world, you are allowed to use force ONLY when you are being attacked. In some places, I know that you can get away with using force when facing an attack but have not yet been attacked. It is a tricky call. If someone leans in to you at a bar and says, "I am going to take this knife out of my pocket and rip your throat out with it", in some places you would get prosecuted for taking the initiative and hitting them before they can pull it out. In others, if you could prove they threatened to kill you like that you would be justified in what you did. It is not a matter of just the law, but who is on the bench and in office.

In almost no place in the entire world are you justified by the local law in using violence after the immediate threat of violence has passed. That means that if someone walks up to you, knocks you to the ground with a punch and then walks away, the threat has passed. Your legal options are very limited. If you get up off the ground, run them down and continue the fight, you will probably be charged with a crime. And don't get me started about shooting someone who is only using their fist against you. If a group of youths are kicking you while you are on the ground, it is a good bet that you could prove in a court that you were in fear for your life and thus justified in using a gun- but even that is not a sure thing. But the second those kids stop kicking you on the ground is when your legal ability to shoot them stops in most places of the world.

(If you think I am being wishy- washy about the terms I use, it is because the law is complicated with many factors even if you are just talking about one city. This might be read by people all over the world. What goes over in Texas might get you sent to jail in California, and I don't have a clue about the laws in New Zealand. But the general rules of you only being able to use deadly force when you are faced with deadly force, and only being able to use violence at the exact moment you are being attacked is pretty valid in any country with a legal system.) If you don't know the law in your area, start looking into it now with the help of trained teachers and not just some idiot on the internet. (Hey- that sounds like me!)

So, if someone walks up to you, knocks you nearly out and then starts to walk away, you don't have many options left. The legal system in general wants you to leave what happens next to them. They want you to go to the police and report it. This of course probably will not do much, which the kids are counting on.

I don't think following the kids to try to get information is a wise idea. And unless you can recognize your attacker, they probably will not be caught later. One way some of these youths are being caught and prosecuted is when they post their videos and the police are able to track them down from that, complete with video evidence. That might be your only option if you are actually successfully attacked. Much better to not be knocked out in the first place.

That is the key, don't be knocked out and don't even let them get in a position to be able to knock you out. But how do you do that? Again, some people talk about awareness, but there has to be some specific advice on what this means.

Anyone involved in self defense should be aware of the color system developed by Jeff Cooper. There are variations of it out now, and it really is just putting into words something that has been known in various forms throughout the ages, but it is a good way to start thinking about things if you have never dealt with the specifics of awareness.

Again, a lot of people have tweaked with it and given new shades, but the first two colors- white and yellow- are pretty constant.

White is the state of non-awareness. Many folks talk about future victims that walk around with headphones or are concentrating on reading and such in public. It seems to me that we need a pre-color to describe that sort of obvious removal from the reality around you. Condition white can be seen in people who are out in public, but so caught up in their minds that they are not fully aware of the world around them. The key word is 'fully'. You can place orders for coffee, talk with friends and such while in condition white, but you are not picking up clues around you.

Condition yellow is mindful awareness. If you look at the old writings of the samurai and martial artists, this is the near- zen state of mind they talked about. You are centered in the moment and aware of almost everything going around you. Your thoughts stay tuned to the present and do not get carried away by distractions- easier said than done.

It is said that you can live almost your entire life in condition yellow. Yet few do. Living in the moment is the goal of many buddhist faiths, and one of the things that attracted Edo- era samurai to the religion. It is a case of the old being cast aside because those doing the tossing did not understand the full importance of the subject and thus thought it was out of date and useless. Now, zen mindfulness is being revived by those in the self defense world much like those that rediscover fire.

Further levels usually include something that sets off hyper alertness (typically "condition orange"). If something twigs your attention as a potential threat, such as someone acting strangely, then you concentrate on them more. After that is usually a level like condition red where you know there is a danger that you may have to deal with. If someone walks into your business with a knife, that is red. Some forms of the system have the mindset in combat called condition black.

However, what we know as condition yellow can be used in almost all these situations and is what they samurai worked for. Miyamoto Musashi wrote about making your every day mind your combat mind and vice versa. This is what he meant. You neither drop your awareness out of combat, nor let yourself lose control of your mental state when fighting. The old samurai and many modern practitioners of old style martial arts have incredible control of their mind in violent situations, and are always aware and in the moment when out of combat. In my experience in Japan, this seems to require training that involves high potential for death or serious injury if done wrong. There is something about dodging a dangerous weapon wielded by someone who is actually trying to hit you, while at the same time keeping the proper form and being open to small changes by the attacker, that builds up a resistance to being a slave to your fear in reality.

But I get ahead of myself.

Obviously, you want to try to be in condition yellow, on and off of the martial arts mat. One problem I have with the godai system many in the Bujinkan still cling to even knowing that it was made up by someone in America and not part of what Hatsumi teaches is that it is a system without a lot of proven history behind it. The creator of it has never faced anything worse than a school yard fight as far as I know. I have never heard of someone doing like they did in class and doing a "wind" technique while someone was trying to put a knife in their guts. But there are many, many cases of Japanese warriors training in simple mindfulness and being centered in the moment while training and being able to pull off the same in combat. This is what we are supposed to do in the Bujinkan, in and out of the dojo.

In Japanese, the term closest to condition yellow would be called “Zanshin” which means “remaining mind.” That might sound a little strange until you realize that it means that your mind remains centered in the moment and not led off on a chain of thought. It is so important to traditional Japanese martial arts, that some styles such as the Takagi Yohshin ryu of the Bujinkan Dojo has it written at the end of every kata. After you finish the technique, you are supposed to remain focused and concentrate on zanshin. Zanshin can also be used in the context of everyday life, though it is a bit dated as a term.

This is the problem with most martial artists when dealing with things like the knock out game- they need to switch mind sets from their ordinary mind to one that they are used to fighting in. This is even worse with those that train in the godai or in being very aggressive in martial arts. Many, many martial artists fall prey to sucker punches because they do not get the chance to change from their every day mode of living to their mindset while training in martial arts. Two guys getting into a ring and trying to hurt each other is fine for situations where you know the other guy is trying to hurt you, but is far from the start of the attack in sucker punches and the knock out game. You won't get a chance to drop into a fighting stance before these types of things come at you, nor will you be able to put on your war face and build up your spirit. So you have to be used to fighting in the same mindset as you live your life and live your life (largely) in the mindset you fight in. The aggression and anger you see emphasized in most martial arts are great once the punches start flying, but won't help you much when that first unexpected blow comes at your face.

One of the best, though fictional, examples of having the same mindset in ordinary life as in combat is Toshiro Mifune's character in the movies "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro." If you have not seen them, try to arrange borrowing the DVD. While fictional, movies from the period they were made it tend to be fairly close to reality, and the genre includes such classics as "The 7 Samurai." Mifune's character is a master of iai (fast draw) and it is hard to tell when he makes the change from merely walking down the street to cutting down a victim.

Don't structure your training so that your martial arts mind set is different from your drinking coffee while walking down the street mind set. A guy I know said it best, "The fight does not start with the first punch. The fight is is largely decided by the time the first punch is made." When someone starts screaming at you about looking at his girlfriend, you have to go to condition orange or red and realize that the fight is on, even if you are able to walk away. Ideally, you should not have to recognize the danger because you are in condition yellow and stay in that fairly calm state even with someone looking for an opening to take advantage of and punch you out. With the knock out game, you won't even have the chance in many cases to go to condition orange.

You can maybe get that chance if you are aware and know what to be aware of. This is why I have trouble with people just saying that awareness will help avoid the game. Part of that awareness is knowing the signs you should be aware of and let you make the shift up in your color system.

The knock out game is a strange version of what is called social violence. For those that claim to do or teach self defense, you need to go out and read Rory Miller's book, "Meditations on Violence." He was the first I know to really lay down how violence is not just one thing, but a complicated set of circumstances indeed. Criminal violence is fairly obvious, with people beating someone up for their money. But social violence is what we do as part of our DNA as social animals. The book really is a must-read and I can't do it justice here, so go out and read it. What you need to know for this is that people are doing the knock out game in order to cement their status and reputation in a group. As such, they need friends who will see it.

So if you see a group, that is a sign of potential trouble. In some cases, the group might hang back and film it from a distance, so only seeing one person means a lesser chance, not no chance, of being a victim. If you are in condition yellow, you are far more likely to notice a group a ways off than if you are in white and only pop into yellow when you see someone come toward you.

Another thing about knowing what to be aware of, you need to start learning to read people on the street. I've sat down at coffee shops all over the world and spent time just watching people as they walk around. Certain things just start coming to you when you take the time and actively watch how people walk and interact.

Another book people involved with self defense need to read is Gavin de Becker's "The Gift of Fear." Again, as with Miller's book there is a lot covered aside from what I deal with here and I can't do it justice in a blog, but it needs to be read.

One of the things de Becker makes clear in his book is that our unconscious mind often picks up signals that our conscious mind either does not, or tries to deny for social reasons. The best way of looking at it is that if something starts to make you feel uncomfortable and/or a little nervous, you need to take heed. People often discount their feelings because they can't site a specific reason and they fear the social consequences of acting on the warnings.

In the case of games like the knock out game, this means that if you see a person that sets off something in your head, go to condition orange or red- but don't actually shoot them. It may be that there is a false signal being sent (someone thinking about the fight they had with their girlfriend is going to send off signals that will alarm the aware) but it is always best to take precautions. Sadly, all of the cases I have seen of this game being played are of black youths targeting other races. Many people are very, very disturbed at the idea of blacks being treated with suspicion without cause. Most black youths would never play the game, or even think about it. But with all the examples on youtube, it is only natural that people start to look on groups of blacks with a bit of fear. Being accused of racism sucks, and in some cases our fear of societal backlash might cause our conscious mind to discount very real signals being sent.

At the same time, I would not count on this remaining the exclusive property of black youths. With all the examples out there, I would bet that some young whites seeking to prove to their social peers that they are tough mother-fuckers will start it up as well- if they have not already.

In both cases of white and black, there are keys to helping understand when there is a higher chance of attack. Dress doesn't help much. I would put anyone in a suit at a lower level of threat than someone dressed like Eminen, but the videos all seem to show kids dressed like every other kid out there.

More telling is body language and such, and this is where experience in watching people on the street comes in. Let us say that a friend is coming over to pick you up to help him with a chore you promised to do. However, he really has a nice surprise planned for you, maybe taking you to see a sister you haven't seen in years who just flew in. The anticipation and pleasure will radiate off of many people and be visible if you are in condition yellow. At the same time, it might be they are excited about something unrelated to you. And I know people who can walk up to me, stab me in the eye and walk away all while having an expression that would not attract any attention. But youths are not that experienced in disguising their feelings, and if you get a group of seven or so the chances of all of them having perfect poker faces are pretty low.

From descriptions, one person in a group suddenly launching an attack without consulting others is not that common. Most times, it looks like they discuss it, egg each other on and get ready to watch/record the 'fun'. This may be the biggest thing to be aware of if you listen to your inner voice. If you see a group of guys coming down the sidewalk and all of them seem to be suddenly trying to look in any direction other than at you, that is the time you should listen to the alarms going off in your mind. One guy changing direction to break away from a group that is laughing conspiratorially and heading toward you is a signal to be ready.

In none of these cases should you do anything more than be defensive. Make sure your hands are free, watch his and put yourself in the mindset you have in the dojo just before your partner is about to throw their punch. In most cases, you don't have to be obvious or rude, but I would keep those options on the table.

In time, this game will fade away, maybe to be replaced by another. But being mindful and aware will never stop rewarding you. Even if you never have to deal with a violent attack, as we hope, just being able to smell the flowers as you walk by and be more in touch with the people around you is a joy too many of us deny ourselves in this busy world. Knowing how to kick and punch alone will not save you from the knock out game, but being aware will and will also improve the quality of your life.

(Blatant spam- I plan on coming out with a DVD dealing with all these little things people in the Bujinkan should know, but are easy to overlook. Keep looking on this site if you are interested.)

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