Drew, where are you? That will have a lot to do with what happens to you.
Being that everybody is talking about "the street" I assume they mean "the `hood".
If you're walking through a rough neighborhood, an individual or group will decide he/they don't like you, walk towards you in a menacing manner(or send a single representative), they will then proceed to start talking smack and comence physical violence shortly thereafter.
This will invariably happen before you are the victim of a sneak attack. Sometimes they will shout profanities and chalenges at you from some distance. It you pretend not to notice, you just my be able to walk by without incedent.
True sneak attacks are the worst scenario, but they're also not common on "the street". Not as common as the other kind anyway.
Most of the violence is initiated due to an odd mix of rascism, classism, dissalusionment, blind hatred, and plain ol' macho b.s.
Very rarely(comparatively) will you have somebody demand money or somesuch. Don't get me wrong, they'll rob you blind and strip you naked after they've thrashed you, but mostly they just want to kick your butt and humiliate you to fufil some weird deficiency in themselves.
Intentional murders are even less common. You will get beaten up for no reason 1,000 times before you will ever be murdered intentionaly.
That's not to say that it's not good policy to train for the rarest scenarios, like I said, they're also the worst. Thing is, you can see a lot of this stuff coming.
Now, if all you do is stick to upper middle class neighborhoods and shopping districts, spend little time in transit, and don't get around much at all, chances are pretty good you'll get attacked by somebody for money. Especialy if you drive a car.
Mostly because if you don't have exposure to certain environments, you're removing a lot of the more common threats and the people who you will now encounter have a more specific purpose in mind than just stomping your head for no real reason.
It's not very likely a millionaire in Palm Beach will get in a streetfight, even though they are common on "the street". He is much more likely to have his house broken into and be murdered, even though this is relatively rare on "the street".
I'm not saying these things happen more frequently or less frequently to one group or another, it's just that the millionaire is isolated from the bajillion penny ante beatdowns a hard luck bastard like myself is likely to run into before he gets intentionaly murdered or robbed.
It's not that the millionaire is getting murdered more, it's that he's getting beat up less.
Running away can be a real bad idea on "the street" or in a fight. Reason being that you can't run anywhere your attacker can't. Plus, you've now turned your back to your opponent, a "tactical" no-no.
If you want to slash and run, that's fine. It can work. Just make sure that the other guy is in no shape to give chase, and that he doesn't have any buddies who will take up the fight for him. Oh, he usualy will. These guys seldom travel alone.
Avoiding a situation in the first place is one thing, but be careful when and where you run.(remember Holy Grail? "When danger reared it's ugly head/He bravely turned his tail and fled
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A single slash may not be enough to discourage pursuit. I've seen girls in razor fights really slice eachother to ribbons before it's over. In a couple, one of the girls didn't even know she was getting cut.
Actualy, it can be hard to know when you're getting cut, `cause it usualy doesn't hurt, as your mind is on other matters. Basicaly, if you think somebody is punching you, only you're bleeding excessively, he/she is likely armed with an edged weapon.
Same thing can go for bludgeons. If an assailant produces a weapon that you weren't aware he had, or sneak attacks, you may not realize he's armed with a club.
You'll just be thinking "DAMN! this guy hits hard!"
I know `cause it's happened to me. You can talk about "tactical awareness" all you want, but things are different when the fur flies. It can take a couple whalops before you realize that the other guy is armed with something.
So if you want to be safe on the streets, don't visit them. Shelter yourself. Isolate yourself. Hole up in a rich neighborhood, order in Chinese and spend all your free time on the internet looking at porno for the rest of your life, and you'll probably never have to defend yourself.
Jim moderates here on the forum, so you might want to wander over to Community and drop him a line. He is very friendly for a guy who designed a knife called "The Outsider".