183 - Manipulation in aggressive situations: Part one

Mr S shares experiences on the late train out of London...

In “Communication Breakdown!” from the book Self Defence Vol.1, I wrote about some aspects of adrenaline and de-escalation when trying to deal with aggressive people.

This following article is the first in a series of shared experiences that show how easily some aggressive people can be manipulated when they are adrenalised and then confronted with unexpected ( and false) realities that leave them confused and in some cases very easy to control enabling you to exit before things go south and sometimes as is the case here, letting you leave your aggressor looking a complete fool.

Experience #1 below, comes from a conversation over coffee with Mr S – long time training partner and good friend. My comments are in italics:

Mr S: It was the late train back direct from London, out of rush hour so as not to be shafted by GWR, and no need to get off the train at Swindon.

(J – GWR's ability to legally separate you from the contents of your wallet would be the envy of armed muggers everywhere!

Swindon in old English translates as a “hill with pigs on”, which I'll leave to the reader to decide about in terms of continued relevance).