Permanent Exclusion Narratives

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 29th Aug 2022

The problem with labels, is that they don’t always fit exactly. After the Columbine school shooting there was a lot of debate and discussion as to whether Klebold and Harris had been bullied – and there was a reluctance to cast them in the role of the “victim” because although this wouldn’t have excused them of their violence, it would have opened the way for a simplistic argument to be made, that their actions were somewhat justified. Whether Klebold and Harris were bullied – in the true and complete sense of the world – is unclear, however what is evident,...Click To Read More

Benefits of the Freeze Response

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 22nd Aug 2022

If someone were to attack you, completely by surprise (no warning at all), with a knife, slashing at your face what would you do? Hopefully, your startle reflex, would be activated by the motion and your arm would find itself moving to protect your face – if you’re a Krav Maga practitioner and you think that in that moment, you would make a simultaneous punch at the same time, you may be surprised if this doesn’t happen – remember this attack was a complete ambush and surprise. You may be fortunate enough to connect with your attacker’s arm, and not...Click To Read More

Victim Blaming

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 15th Aug 2022

Fortunately, society and law-enforcement have come a long way from the days, when the first question that was asked of those who had been raped/sexually assaulted was, “what were you wearing?” However, there is still a long way to go in changing attitudes around victim blaming, and that includes implicit blaming, that is contained in statements such as, “that would never happen to me,” in response to hearing about someone who was sexually assaulted. In this article I want to look at some of the reasons and theories as to why we sometimes find ourselves holding people somewhat responsible and/or...Click To Read More

Secret Killing Techniques

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 8th Aug 2022

There are no secret techniques. The martial arts do not contain secret killing techniques that only they know. It’s a myth at best, and a lie at worst. To believe that either modern or ancient martial arts have found ways unknown to science, to kill a person is completely ludicrous. That some grand master, or grand wizard etc., has a greater understanding of the way(s) in which the human body operates, than modern science is so far-fetched that it is unbelievable, and yet I still hear instructors talk about the “secret killing techniques” that exist in their system, that are...Click To Read More

The Bored & The Violent

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 1st Aug 2022

In 1962, the playwright Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman, The Crucible etc.) wrote an article in Harper’s Magazine, entitled, “The Bored and the Violent”. Violent crimes had been rising in the post-war period, and although part of this may have been due to returning soldiers who had been normalized to aggression and violence, due to their experiences of war (this has been a commonly observed phenomenon post conflicts), it would be hard for such explanations to account for the increase in violent offending during the early 1960’s. Much of the violence, during this period, had become politicized, with many...Click To Read More