You may remember the announcement a couple months ago about the classes in London & Sydney…

How both sold out before I’d even been able to get out a follow up on them.

And how it was a problem because I’d promised a couple groups in both locations we’d let them promote the classes, never imagining every spot would be gone before they could do anything.

And how many others had sent emails saying they were still checking to see if they could get off work those days.

Class 2 in Sydney is on

Well, since the weekend following both classes was available we started working feverishly to secure a facility that could host both classes for both weekends. And in a story with more plot twists than a James Patterson novel, we’ve finally locked in a 2nd live training date for September in Australia.

Here are the details:

• Dates: September 19-21, one week after the existing September 12-14 class date
• Location: a southwestern suburb of Sydney, a quick 9.5km ride from the airport (we’ll provide details once your registration is complete)
  Facility: a terrific place with approximately 200 square meters of matted floor space (that’s over 2,150 square feet for those of us who can’t give up our feet & inches)
• Price: the same as for class #1 — $497. We decided that since our client/sponsor underwrote the cost of the first class and since we’d already be there, we’d reciprocate by holding the second at the same sponsored rate. If you haven’t read the original email I sent explaining how this all came about, you can find it here:

Register for Sydney Now

Space is still limited This time we’ve already reserved about 1/3 of the spots for those groups I mentioned to promote to their folks so that leaves around 25 available.

Which isn’t a lot, I know.

And it means if you had wanted to get into the first class but missed out, you won’t want to make that mistake again.

Listen. The following weekend is the only one that works. And it’ll be at least a year before we return (it’s actually been two since we were in either Australia or England). And we certainly aren’t expecting another sponsorship deal like this unusual one.

So use the link below and click on any of the links there that read, “Register for Sydney Now.”

Register for Sydney Now

And one last thing.

Even if you’re far from Sydney, you just might want to consider joining some of the others who are traveling great distances to take advantage of this amazing 1-time rate.

PS. London? Well, we’re still working on a 2nd date there. Nabbing a location that can handle 30-40 people with the floor surface we require (judo-type mats) and that gives us run-of-the-facility access for 2 consecutive 3-day weekends isn’t an easy find.

Here’s an unfortunate video that underscores two of the cornerstones of TFT:

1) Understanding the difference between antisocial posturing (monkey politics) and asocial violence (killing), and

2) Making sure that if you’re going to lay hands on someone you know how to put them down so they can’t get back up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV3dLrukBM0

Of course, it also illustrates the fact that firearms come pre-packaged with all the requirements for striking — a good whallop of kinetic energy and complete follow-through, just add vital target.

It’s just another horrible, preventable example of what can happen when one person reads the situation as antisocial, a contest for pecking order, while the other is willing to cross all those lines and go straight for the kill.

This is why we spend so much time on those two topics — how to effect that kill with your bare hands and understanding when it’s appropriate vs. the 99.9% of the times it flat-out isn’t.

In either case — walking away or putting the other man down — the life you save just might be your own.

Everyone recognizes the lethal power of firearms–so much so that something as simple as showing one can change people’s minds. Guns are often the exclamation point at the end of an argument.

If what you know how to do with our bare hands is the same, ultimately, as the work of a bullet, wouldn’t it also follow that you could somehow convince people to do what you say in the same fashion? Can you not inspire that same mortal fear and get things done without having to use what you know?

Can you ‘flash the gun’ of knowledge?

Most people see the progression in use of force with bare hands being the least effective, sticks and knives being better, and firearms being the end-all be-all. This makes obvious sense, as most people are completely untrained in the use of their bare hands and so work at that level is entirely inefficient and haphazard. Knives and sticks amplify effort and magnify trauma, allowing even the untrained to do potentially lethal damage. Firearms pre-package the requirements for injury, needing nothing more than a trigger-pull and an intersecting vector to get the job done.

To truly understand violence as universal and equivalent, no matter what the circumstance or tool, you have to ditch the idea of progression and see the firearm not as the end of the line but as an excellent example of what’s required in violence, period.

This is why we are fond of saying the goal of violence is to do the work of a bullet with your bare hands.

Understanding this–truly and viscerally–is the key to making violence universal and equivalent. You want the end result to be identical whether you shot him, stabbed him, or broke him with a stick or ‘just’ your bare hands. In each case you want him non-functional.

All of those various methods are really one idea–striking. They are all the delivery of the largest amount of kinetic energy you can muster through vulnerable anatomy. The knife, stick and the ends of your skeleton all driven by your entire mass in motion; the bullet driven by energy stored in chemical bonds. Striking someone with a fist or a bullet can be equivalent acts if you know what you’re doing. Ultimately, shooting someone is just striking them at range.

In the world of equivalent violence, the only advantage that firearms have are a reduction in personal effort and an increase in range.

Outside of that world, in the world of the antisocial–primate domination games or ‘monkey politics’–firearms do have one aspect that we cannot replicate with our bare hands–the universal transmission of implied intent. They can convey the instantaneous understanding of mortal threat.

Of course, this is not a recommended use of the tool, as you just might succeed in intimidating someone who is willing to kill you… and then it’s on and you’re a half-step behind.

Waving a gun around screams, “Do what I say/go away or I will kill you,” in every language possible, all at once.

But what happens when someone trains with us and learns how to replicate the work of a bullet with their bare hands, learns the universality and equivalency of violence but still wants to play at monkey politics?

How do you wave that ‘gun’ around?

They’ve learned all this new cool stuff, eye-opening and mind-blowing, and it looks like the Final Word in monkey politics–visually, violence and primate dominance can look the same if you squint a little:

- Monkey slapping with one primate whaling away while the other goes fetal

- Destruction where one person puts the other down and keeps him there.

Violence appears to be a great tool for getting this done–it entirely truncates the back-and-forth so often seen in monkey politics. So how do you wave that ‘gun’ around?

You can’t verbally warn them–talk is cheap. Your words aren’t going to stun them like flashing a real gun would.

How about if you ‘go easy’ or slap them around for the purposes of dominance? Without ‘really’ hurting them?

This is a very dangerous conceit. The sad fact is, there is no way to wave your knowledge or intent around in a way that would do the work of showing a gun. Knowing how to do violence regardless of the circumstance or tool is like having an invisible gun. If you said to a group of people, “I have an invisible gun,” they would all laugh at you or think you were insane. If you shot one of them dead, everything would change. Then they would know.

This is the essential problem of violence in monkey politics. Telling people you know how to do it isn’t going to have an effect. Demonstrating it hypothetically for the purpose of example, “See, I could do this,” just leads to argument. It’s all just wind and noise until you stomp somebody down and curb them in front of everybody else. That’s the sound of the invisible gun going off–unmistakable, instantly recognized the world over.

But ultimately ‘unwavable’–there’s no way to show it without doing it. And that makes it entirely unsuitable for the needs of monkey politics.

PS. This also gives us a non-ambiguous answer to the question, “When do I use violence?” The answer: “Anytime you would pull out a gun and empty the clip into someone.” Burns off a lot of crap, doesn’t it?