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By Bradley J. Steiner
“Even a paranoid can have enemies”—Henry Kissinger
No, I do not like or respect Henry Kissinger. Still, the old power-lusting political monster does have a point (at least insofar as the above quotation goes, anyway).
Many people wonder why they’d ever have any need for self-defense or close combat training. After all, they live sensibly. They don’t go to “those” places. They don’t hang around with “that” kind of crowd. And of course they live in a “nice” neighborhood*.
The truth is that anyone (paranoid or otherwise!) can indeed have enemies.
Often, the victims of stalking discover that they have become the object of obsessive interest for some freak who they either know only peripherally, or whom they never even had the slightest idea knew them!
Strange and mysterious are the motivations of that garbage known as “humanity.” People are not “nice,” and they certainly are not “basically good.”
Whether they are basically rotten or not (I personally believe that they are quite rotten, indeed—with few and rare exceptions) depends upon the philosophy and standards that you hold.
However, it only takes a little honesty to see that potential danger from other individuals exists all of the time, for each of us, regardless of who we happen to be, how we happen to spend our time, and where we happen to live. Like it or not, this earth is chock full of two-legged, homo sapien predators; and, since mankind has obviously never exhibited the sense to deal with this scum appropriately and finally when and where they rear their heads, it would appear that the problem is here to stay.
If you are a decent, productive, responsible, courteous, and benevolent human being (as I believe, for example, I am) that in no sense “protects” you from those who are not like you.
In fact, in certain instances, being a decent and benevolent person might make you a more attractive target for predation. (Why? My response is politically incorrect and socially unpalatable, but for whatever it’s worth, it is this: Because people are for the most part no damn good.)
Whatever you happen to believe, it is wise if you occasionally glance at reality to adjust your world view. Reality—history—seems abundant with evidence that life on earth, amongst people, is potentially dangerous.
Everyone needs to acquire the ability to defend himself and to protect those whom he loves.
*There are no “nice neighborhoods.” So long as people live there, the neighborhood is at best a tolerable compromise, where a sane person might be able to live; the “nice” place to live is where you are unaffected by humans and where your contact with them is exclusively on your terms.