Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Keeping It Real Goes Wrong: Woman Attacks Man Over Parking Space

Run Up Get Done Up
Equal Rights Means Equal Lefts
Don't Start None, Won't Be None
There are men in this world who go about demanding to be killed. They argue in gambling games; they jump out of their cars in a rage if someone so much as scratches their fender. These people wander through the streets calling out "Kill me, kill me."
-Mario Puzo:The Godfather
I've blogged before about physical altercations between men and women. Regardless of who is in the right, such conflicts rarely end well for women, assuming the conflict is one on one, both parties are equally bent on harm, and no weapons or surprise attacks are involved. I don't know if such fights are more common now or we just hear about them more often. I think some women might have watched Wonder Woman or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon a few too many times. It bears repeating that absent a direct and immediate need for self-defense, most women should avoid fights with men. It's not fair but it is what it is. Women on average just aren't in the same weight/muscle/strength class as men. That's not saying anything negative about women. I would also do my best to avoid fair fights with Deontay Wilder or Brock Lesnar. The results wouldn't be good for me. 

We all have the right and duty to do whatever is necessary to survive, stay alive and defend ourselves against unlawful force no matter how big the offender is. And sometimes in a blue moon a desperate vicious smaller person with more aggression, better training, more speed and the advantage of surprise can carry the day against a larger individual. But there is a reason there are weight classes in martial arts and boxing. And it's the same reason we don't encourage women to fight men and look down on men who fight women. And we shouldn't encourage anyone, male or female, big or small, to initiate violence. A recent incident in San Antonio illustrated these truths.

The below video started when a mother/daughter couple "stole" a parking space that a man and his passenger were trying to utilize. The man didn't appreciate it and let the two women know of his displeasure. I understand that the daughter was upset that the "gentleman" donkey-kicked her mother's car and may have said something nasty to her mother. But running up and punching the fellow wasn't the right move. It led to the beatdown caught on tape. 



Given that the woman in question, Angelica Lozano,is a martial arts instructor, the ensuing fracas where she was apparently tossed through the air like a rag doll couldn't have been good for business. I mean I already know how to get my a$$ kicked in a fight. I want to pay someone who can show me how not to get my a$$ kicked in a fight. Paying money to a martial arts instructor who gets so thoroughly dominated in a street fight is like watching your famed acting teacher struggle to keep up in the grade school production of Three Little Pigs. Not good.
Lozano is under attack on social media and has been ever since video was leaked showing her and her mom being beaten last month. "I didn't know what was happening. I was on the ground, my head was pounding, my back is hurting," Norma Lozano said. "I didn't know what was happening." She suffered a black eye, bumps and bruises yet she's being criticized by the appearance of throwing the first punch. "I don't know what's worse the beating they took or the beating we're taking every day," Anjelica said.
Both father and daughter are high ranking martial arts instructors now taking a beating on social media. "They're doubting my martial arts," Anjelica said. "That's not what I'm trained to do. I'm not trained to go hurt people." We know we can fight but we don't look for that, that's not what martial arts in about," Henry Lozano added.
On a more serious note, we do live in an armed society, one in which people have successfully used deadly force in reaction to thrown punches, alleged or actual. You never ever know what someone is thinking or what they will consider proportionate force. If the fellow had, upon being punched, pulled out his pistol and shot the woman dead would that have been ok? I would say no but the woman would be just as dead while the courts figured everything out. I think the fellow went over the top in his reaction but Lozano was wrong to start the fight. Even large men have the right to defend themselves. Don't start fights. Avoid them if you can. Win them if you can't.