Kitty Genovese and Me

Hi! My name is Catherine Genovese but my friends call me "Kitty". I'm 28 years old and the oldest of five children I worked at Ev's Eleventh Hour Sports Bar in Hollis,Queens New York. My parents moved away when I was 19 to Connecticut but I stayed. Do you like my dress?I had to wait alot of tables to buy it. I used to be pretty but now I'm gone. I was murdered on March 13, 1964 I was walking home from work a little after 3 am when this man named Winston Moseley stabbed me. I screamed,"Oh my God he stabbed me!" No one came to help. Thirty-eight people watched me die and no one ever tried to help. One man even turned up his radio to cover up the sound of me screaming. My killer actually left me alive but was so surprised that no one called the police or came to help that he came back 10 minutes later and finished me off. He's in prison now but he's still alive, but I'm gone forever.
Do I have your attention now? A lone individual will generally step in if someone needs help it's called a bystander intervention but that isn't the point of this article. This real murder case kicked off alot of research where scientists couldn't believe this could actually happen, but it did. It's called the Bystander Effect. It basically means that the larger the group is that witnesses a violent event the less likely it is that anyone will do anything to help even if the person obviously means it. Let's look at a few more examples of this psychological phenomenon.

On top we have a picture of James Bulger not quite 2 years old. He was kidnapped on February 12 1993 in Meyerside,England and his body was found murdered and mutilated on February 14th. Witnesses say he was kicking and screaming at the kidnapping afterwards. he was kidnapped in a shopping center in full view of the public and no one did anything. By the way the photo on the right is an actual photograph of James Bulger being led away after he got too tired to fight anymore. Notice all the people walking by but they aren't even looking? The 10 year old on the right is one of this murders and the photo is from a security camera. Did no one think his screaming for help was odd? There are many examples of this phenomenon. In 1972 Dr Wolfgang Friedmann,who was a law professor at columbia university was shot to death in broad daylight and bled to death on the sidewalk and no one did anything. On June 23 last year in Wichita,KS Lashanda Calloway was stabbed to death in a convience store. Five witnesses just stepped over the body and one even took a pic of Lashanda's body with her cellphone to show her friends. The police were livid and I don't blame them. Lashanda was only 27 she died later that night at the hospital.
So what in God's name is wrong with these people? The fact is it's all too common. The first lab experiments done on this phenomenon were done in 1968 by John Darley and Bibb Latane. A participant was placed alone in a room with an intercom. They are told they can talk to the other participants in the other rooms from the intercom. They were actually listening to an audio recording and told their microphone would be turned off til their turn to speak. During the recording a participant suddenly pretends to have a seizure. The study found that how long the person waits before alerting the experimenter directly related to the perceived number of participants and in some cases nobody said anything they just ignored it.
There's alot excuses used for this behavior. Basically with alot of people around people tend to assume that someone else will step in and individually fall prey to the same assumption. This is called this diffusion of responsibly.Another example of this is a firing squad where one of the shooters is issued blanks but no one knows which one. This allows each one of the shooters to believe that someone else fired the fatal shot. Some electric chairs have more than one switch but only one of them is connected. This allows executioners to believe they flipped a non-functioning switch. In a violent attack witnessed by a group the number of people allows each person to believe somebody else should've done something so they don't feel any responsibility for not doing a damn thing. Some may falsely assume that someone else is more qualified to help such as a doctor or police officer. They may fear being a little humiliated by being superseded by a superior helper. They may possibly be afraid of doing a bad job assisting or making it worse and getting sued. Bystanders tend to monitor the reactions of people around them and if they don't' this helping is necessary then to them maybe they don't need to do anything. This is called pluralistic ignorance. It basically means that even if someone has a dissenting opinion from a group they don't do anything because they think the groups behavior is a unanimous belief. Either way it's all a complete mess.
So how do you combat this phenomenon? Think about it this way. If your a martial artist or combatives instructor and you have the training and ability to help then it's your responsibility to help. We have too many paper tigers in this industry already. Police,military,etc are all great examples of warriors in our society today. However you don't have to be either one to be a warrior. I bet there's something each one of us can do everyday to make a difference in our society. We can be educators. We can train people, and by God if you see somebody getting attacked take responsibility and help them! On the other hand what if your getting attacked? Don't assume anyone is gonna help you. You can break the diffusion of responsibility by assigning it to someone. Instead of yelling,"help!" Point someone out and scream for help making it personal. Scream their name if you know it. If I had started this article out by just saying Kitty Genovese and James Bulger got murdered sure people would've thought it was bad but when you see the actual face and know something about them it has a little more impact doesn't it? This also is the counter to pluralistic ignorance. When one person steps in then it provides social proof that the others may be looking for before stepping in and gets the help flowing. When you scream to this person give them a task such as call the police. It's the best way to break this horrible cycle. Their have been studies to suggest that if your part of a group or a group of people perceive you as part of their group then they will help. A good example is bikers. If you fight one your probably going to have to fight them all.
It's my hope that the people reading this article will take this to heart. If you see someone that needs help then help them. If your being attacked in such a violent way maybe you know a little more now about what to do. When I first read about the Kitty Genovese Case I was deeply offended. That offense quickly turned to concern as I compiled data for this article. The fact that a group of people could just watch someone die was mind numbing. But it probably happens on a daily basis which is sickening. I never knew Kitty Genovese i wasn't born until 1973, but I'll never forget that case or that of James Bulger. I'll never just stand there and watch someone get violated and neither should you, because after reading this article and having the knowledge you should know......................................

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!!


In the time since this article was originally written several studies have now been done on this subject check out the video

Sources for this articale included The Bystander Effect on Wikipedia
Police:Shoppers stepped over the victim By Roxanne Hegeman Associated Press
as well as my own personal research

Armed and Irrelevant: You Can't Shoot Everybody

Today I want to talk with you about something that has been driving me nuts for a long time. Though due to some of the subject matter i have to be very careful how i write it. Public safety is not something to be taken lightly. The problems that exist for security in these fields today are frankly quite scary due to what should be obvious to all of them.
To administrative people the trend i see lately is to arm their security with guns only. No restraint and control training or any form of a backup weapon. Now this isn't based on researching the internet or any of that type of stuff. With my jobs that i do i have to go into these places and i see this stuff firsthand with my own eyes. I don't tend to see this as much in prisons or sanitariums that i have to visit as much as i see it in... i hope your sitting down......areas with a high civilian interaction.
I was in a local DHR recently doing some work and noticed their security had started carrying guns now, but nothing else. Now these security were contract security of course. Most of them were past the age of 50 and none of them were in shape. Some were grossly obese. Now i don't know if you've ever been in a DHR but most of the people there aren't happy to be there. Now of course gun training is great and being armed with a gun i think is fine i know i love my glock. The beef here is being armed with a gun only. Now i can understand if some irate guy comes in with a gun freaking out because he just lost his children then that gun will come in handy and we'd be glad they have those guns. However is that the only violent thing that takes place in a DHR? Ummm...not even close. If two people get in a fight there i suppose they just shoot them too because they don't have the training to do anything else. If so does that make it ok? The state gets sued and the taxpayers get screwed again? These companies get offers for training all the time. The simple fact is the admins won't approve the money. They tend to think reactive instead of proactive. What if someone is just yelling and you have to escort them out? You don't have any restraint or control training. You don't have any pain compliance weapons. Are you just going to shoot them too? Of course not all your actually going to do if your gun doesn't work as a deterrent is call the local police and make a big scene, scare the hell out of onlookers, and look like an unprofessional moron yourself who can't do their job properly. Because the public expects you to have the training and believe that you have the training that you actually don't have at all. It's not just municipal sites either.
You think government sites are any different? I hate to break it to you but they are actually even worse. They have all the money in the world and spend it on things they'll probably never use. I will say with their gun training if you try to storm a gate or sneak in your going to be dead very quickly. They will take you out fast so don't even think about it. But in dealing with daily crap like arguments,fights, escorting people out, the same problem rings true.
The fact is that if Bin Laden or someone similar storms the door or whatever then yes guns are the ultimate and they need those guns and training for them is very important so yes we love us some guns. But the point is that is a very very low percentage of the things that are actually going to happen. The so the truth of the matter is they have all the training in the world for something they will probably never need and none of the training they need for the things that will definitely happen on at least a weekly basis. Therefore they are armed..but it's irrelevant.
If you are an admin and your reading this please start listening to the head of your security when they ask for the funding they need. Stop being reactive and start being proactive. The public is depending on you to do the right thing. If your security and you never thought about this then start going to your admins and make them aware of it. This situation sucks and something must be done about it. Any questions feel free to contact us at www.stonewalltactical.com. If you can't find the training then contact me and I'll find it for you or i'll fly out and train you myself, but it's got to be done. Thanks

Pressure Testing and Paper Tigers

Yes! This is going to be one of Those articles. You know I hate to sound like a broken record. I've been doing various martial arts my entire life and I truly believe in it and that it can help people. I think martial arts like karate,jujitsu,fma,etc. can change many lives in a positive way. Please understand before you read on that this is an individual problem that has nothing to do with any particular art. There's good and bad in everything like everything else it usually depends on the instructor.
Many years ago these techniques and concepts were used on the battlefield by ancient warriors. These warriors used this stuff everyday and they knew what they were doing because of it. If something wasn't working properly then it would be modified because lives would be lost if it wasn't the best that it could be.
In many circles this has been lost in dojo training. Instructors today are not the warriors of yesterday. Some of the guys i know of have never been in a fight in their lives. All they do is teach a curriculum that was handed down to them by some other guy that it was handed to. Going back generations none of the people may have ever had to use any of these techniques or tactics. A lot of the old tactics were designed to combat someone with a weapon or for some other scenario other than for what they are being taught. This can be very dangerous for a potential student.
I'm very aware that a lot of people do martial arts for exercise or for self confidence or some other reason other than self defense. However, I believe if your teaching a martial art that it is still implied that your gonna teach someone how to defend themselves. To think otherwise is very ignorant. I've seen instructors across this country that basically just phone it in. They aren't trying to help anyone they are more concerned with walking around looking important instead of actually being important and this frustrates me to know end. You know i saw a book the other day called Weapons of Karate. Talk about not giving a damn. For those that do not know karate is a word from Okinawa meaning "empty hand". Weapons that were taught to them was actually a separate art called Kobudo or Kobu-jutsu. You would think an author would know this...but they don't. It's honestly gotten that bad.
If your an instructor please understand me when i say to you that in this day and age your responsibility is not to some grandmaster that you may never meet. Your responsibility is to the people that come to you for help. They put their blind faith in you and you should strive everyday to make sure that you earned it. Every technique that you teach should always be tested under stress before you teach it. This is called pressure testing. Pretty much any technique will work on a compliant person that is standing still when nothing is on the line. That however isn't gonna be the way it is if one of your students gets attacked. I think every instructor owes it to their students to pressure test techniques. When you see a technique you should ask the same questions of it even if it works. Here are some examples:

Did the technique work?
What would make that technique fail or what would the counter be?
Is there a different technique that would be higher percentage?
Does this technique require a student to be a certain size or gender?
How long would it take a student to become proficient at this technique?
Should it be higher or lower in the overall curriculum based on training time?
What situations or scenarios would this apply?
What are the concepts that drive the technique so my students can understand it better and possibly modify it if need be?

These are a few of the questions that you should be asking simply because it should matter to you. Pressure testing can be done safely! One way to induce the stress is to have a student stand with there back to the attacker in class and have them turn around and the person attack them as they turn around. Another way is to use a whistle in class so you have the attacks happen randomly when you blow the whistle and know one gets to know when it happens. These are just a couple ways to induce real stress in a controlled environment. This will tell you right away if that technique is gonna work. If it doesn't work then toss it. Let your students know your testing the techniques. At least they know your not gonna teach some bogus thing on purpose and that your putting them first. I still have students that contact me today that i taught when they were children just to say how much they've been helped by the training. That means more to me than anything. I made sure they always knew that their safety came first and that they are what mattered not some outdated logic. I think as instructors you owe this to your students. Potential students if your going to a dojo to study make sure you ask these questions so you don't get stuck with a paper tiger just going through the motions. Make sure they pressure test. Sure you may not be on a battlefield everyday but the world is getting more violent everyday. You don't gamble with your life betting on someone who is just going through the motions. Make sure they pressure test. Thanks