Jason LefkowitzMar 5
Nobody tells you "resistance is futile" unless they are desperately trying to talk you out of resisting
Show threadJason Lefkowitz

Long ago, as a kid, I read a book written by a defector from the Soviet Army. It's still an interesting book, I recommend it.

There's a chapter in it about leadership lessons he learned. One is that threats are a sign of weakness, not strength. Threats are what people resort to when they don't have the power to just act. Human beings don't threaten bugs; they just step on them.

So when someone comes at you with threats, keep that in mind. Often the threat is a tell, a sign that the person making it needs to scare you into complying because they can't just force you to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Soviet_Army

Inside the Soviet Army - Wikipedia

Mar 5 at 5:57pmWeb
Show threadWill DeakinMar 5

@jalefkowit I put this down to arseholes internalising the Sun Tzu maxim "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak."

In my dotage I found a meta take: people generally who are aggressive are either in a hole (reactive) or are arseholes (systemic bullying).

I don't have a lot of time for either. Although if you can convince to former to stop digging*, then they can be improved.

* the first law of holes

Show threadIrenes (many)Mar 6

@jalefkowit we heard a story once from a friend, which, you know, may or may not have been true

about being mugged by someone whose gun turned out to have no bullets in it

Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonMar 6
@ireneista @jalefkowit How does one figure that out, other than counting the shots they fired.,?
Show threadIrenes (many)Mar 6

@meltedcheese @jalefkowit the story goes that the assailant cocked the gun twice in a row

which, we're told, would eject the bullet or cause a jam, if there were one in the chamber. so that meant it was empty.

we're not gun people, we're going entirely on what our friend reported here, we've never used these devices

Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonMar 6
@ireneista @jalefkowit Me either. I have no way to evaluate that.
Show threadIrenes (many)Mar 6
@meltedcheese @jalefkowit we told it to somebody who does know that stuff once, and either it checks out or they were unnecessarily polite. but yeah
Show threadComrade elronxenuMar 6
@jalefkowit Relevant: https://youtu.be/bCBrg251HyQ
Perfect World - Threats & facts

YouTube
Show threadMike McCaffrey Mar 6
@jalefkowit @NilaJones On the other hand, one of the scariest parts of the Soviet Union was that they could just make you disappear without any sort of threats first.
Show threadMartin SeegerMar 12

@jalefkowit One tactic:
Someone is yelling at me
I ask: “What causes your fear?”
Usually confusion settles in
Finisher move: “Yelling is a typical sign of someone deeply afraid”

Works quite well in most cases.