Self-Defense Competency: Environmental Knowledge, Rule Knowledge, and Domain Knowledge
Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: http://mdpofsd.blogspot.com/2014/05/self-defense-competency-environmental.html
Millions of people expounding on different ideas of what constitutes self love. Google”self-defense competency” and the outcomes drop down to a couple million.
What does it mean to be competent in self defense? It does not mean that you’re safe. You can safely lock yourself in your fortress-like home and still be incompetent in self-defense.
Self defense competency is described in many ways by different people. I define it as a competency in three different, but inter-related and inter-dependent elements of Environmental Knowledge, Rule Knowledge, and Domain Knowledge. Environmental Knowledge (EK) is understanding the general makeup of a location/area/place/surroundings. Having EK means the environment is seen by you as it exists, not as you believe it to be. EK requires understanding cultural motives in addition to social norms and human nature. And these needs and behaviors and attitudes effect the inhabitant’s rules. (Watch Marc MacYoung for the first deeper description of the concept)
2. The Rules are created by the Environment. All human societies, groups, organizations, tribes, families, etc have some kind of Rules of Behavior. These rules are specific to the Environment, but underlying them are universal principles and concepts (that are not so hard to understand). It’s not sufficient to understand the environment, you also need to know how the rules guide behaviors, allow people to function/work, and to reward and punish behaviors. You need to understand who implements/enforces the rules, what are the principles, how the rules are communicated, how the rules are enforced, how compliance/respect for the rules is shown. Understanding the”principles” of criminal behaviour is vital to RK.
3. Domain Awareness (DK) is having the knowledge and skills to deal with/operate in the specific Environment and also to be capable of protecting yourself and others (within reason). It is here that understanding criminal behaviour is crucial. A portion of DK is having both RK and EK. It requires RK to be derived by EK. It takes RK to develop the competency of DK. DK is what most people think of as”how to perform self-defense”. What they don’t”see” is the inherent knowledge of when to do something, what to do, why to do it, where to do it, and against whom, or not against whom, and when it works, when it doesn’t, and what to do next.
The opposite of Self-Defense Competency is Self-Defense Incompetency. Since Self-Defense Competency requires having all three components of EK and RK and DK, incompetency means lacking any one of the three. Most Self-Defense Incompetency stems from not having a comprehensive comprehension of Environmental Knowledge. This understanding contributes to insufficient Rule wisdom and incomplete or entirely defective Domain Knowledge.
Despite being the foundation of Self-Defense Competency, Environmental Knowledge often is assumed to be common knowledge. It’s viewed assaulting Good Guys. Environmental Knowledge is also separate from”situational awareness”. It’s not enough to simply be aware, you need to know what you are looking for, and what to know about.