Fair Use

Caveat: This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

Wow, like self-defense I never realized what I thought I knew along with that, “I don’t know what I don’t know” thing I am discovering fast just how much I don’t know in martial arts, self-defense and writing. This post is on writing. Writers already have a good idea on the subject simply because of the title, “Fair Use.”

I made assumptions about how I use materials from the sources I am studying. As I got closer to completing my effort to write a book on martial arts I started to research writing and publishing. Since I do use quotes, etc., from my sources books I realized that at a “minimum” I needed to give them credit but just found out that “may not” be enough. 

Like the self-defense world, the world of writing is chock full of stuff that effects how you write especially when you publish. Note that publishing includes blogging and even FaceBool Wall posts. I will use one quote here for what I perceive is nonprofit educational purposes, i.e., mine and the readers who may want to write themselves. The quote is, “Fair Use is an “affirmative defense — the defendant copier has the burden of proof to show that Fair Use applies. Essentially he says, ‘Yes, I copied the work—but I am allowed to because my copying is Fair Use.’” - Excerpted/quoted from “What Every Writer Ought to Know about Fair Use and Copyright by JOEL FRIEDLANDER on FEBRUARY 8, 2010”

When I read the quote, it reminded me of all the quotes in all the books on self-defense where it is painfully and comprehensively explained that self-defense is an “affirmative defense.” Then upon considering all the ways one can find themselves outside the “Self-defense Square” I then realized that this is the same in the “Fair Use” arena. Granted, there is more and I have not researched it enough yet but it does make for a cautious approach to my writing especially if my book is going to be published for money.  

What I am saying is that my book is going to take a great deal more time in the editing stage. I have used my references to learn and to pass along that learning in an attempt to educate other like minded folks but I NEED to make sure that I am well within the “Fair Use Square (to borrow a bit from Marc MacYoung’s version of SD Square).

My ultimate goal in writing the book may have been altruistic in nature but the fact that it might infringe on my reference/source authors does not sit well with me. I respect and admire their work and do not want to even hint at some infringement even if they don’t really care because all my efforts are toward “getting it right.” It is a slow learning process but that is what I intend. 

The last thing I want to do is break copyright of these most excellent authors but that would include the fair use aspects in writing. I need to study about copyright and fair use then develop a check list to guide me toward creating a book that will, hopefully, provide some guidance to those martial artists out there who, like me, went so long training, practicing and teaching under a cloud of ignorance and misinformation with a strong emphasis toward the self-defense domain. 

Stupid is as stupid does says Forrest Gump and like him, I need to not be stupid and not do stupid. In closing I would like to express the following, “If I have written anything that misuse your materials let me know the post/article with your concerns. I will do one of two things, first I will correct the mistake or, second I will remove the post/article completely. 

Lessons learned: If you have a desire to write regardless of the venue, i.e., magazine articles, blogging, FB entries, books, etc., you really need to learn about writing completely, fully and as comprehensively as possible, i.e., start with copyright law along with fair use law and requirements so you don’t misuse and misrepresent what you write and what your sources “worked so damn hard and diligently to produce.” My mistake here comes under that misquote I use, “You need to learn what it is you don’t know you don’t know and DON’T MAKE ASSumptions!”

Thanks and have a great day!

Note: I immediately went to the Google images page to find a cool looking graphic to associate with this post then I stopped and asked, "Am I using this under a fair use thing? Is it copyright infringement? Do I need to ask permission? Does the use pass the four rules of fair use? Questions, questions, and more questions. I will use avoidance this instance until I acquire more knowledge on this fluid subject. 

What is deadly force?

Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this post assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

In a nutshell and in a terse form where one must seek out additional guidance deadly force is the use of any force that is likely to result in death. To keep a balanced perception we must then add in a terse form of what “non-deadly force” is as well, i.e., in a nutshell and in a terse form where one must seek out additional guidance non-deadly force is a use of force option, as defined in Section 4034.2, subsection (b) of California law, which is greater than verbal persuasion but less than force that is likely to result in death. 

This is the bare bones terse like versions and you won’t find anything, so far, in California that can be presented without some additional guidance from a legal professional who is well versed in self-defense law. 

If my understanding is fair to good on this, you have to remember that those forces for self-defense are not consistently the same across the board because use of force, deadly or non-deadly, differ between you as a civilian and those used by say, police who have a duty to act. 

Then you have to go into that whole “use of force options.” What are they and how do you know when, where and how to use those options in self-defense. There are choices and many try very hard to present them such as, “Verbal persuasion, restraint, physical strengths and holds, less lethal force, lethal force and so on” but are those lists really a good idea? Not from my perspective and when you begin your studies on this subject you will find no clear and concise answers because as one author in my references said, “It depends!”

What you should take away from this post is the fact that if you are training for self-defense you have to dig a lot deeper than simply finding the latest, greatest and most deadly self-defense course  and look to the entire spectrum of self-defense. A good start is the books I list as my primary self-defense sources below. 

This is what makes the concept and application of self-defense martial arts so difficult. You can be assured that if you're reading some advertisement that what someone is offering is the best and the most deadly self-defense course you can learn in only 9 weeks at a cost savings of some amount of your hard earned cash that you need to do some more research on the subject and seek out a more qualified self-defense course. It is my personal opinion that you will end up attending a group of different programs/courses by different professional experts in this discipline before you gain a modicum of understanding on the world or community of self-defense. 

What is deadly force is a good question but don’t expect a terse, quick and comprehensive answer because, there ain’t one - or two - or a dozen answers and there is no clear cut right or wrong - as someone else said, “It depends?” That “it depends” is the one that will get you either out of or in to “trouble.” 

Do NOT take my word for it because I am just starting to study this and just beginning to understand it let alone one with experience actually applying it in real life conflict and violence. 

Example: I went searching for some references to explain this question here in California, where I live, and found thousands of individual oriented answers such as the use of deadly force by police but could no find any one document that said, this is deadly force except the two short answers already answered above. Then, when you read those short answers above you will get an impression that even those answers will have a huge variety of translations and explanations and defining law references that will mean different things to different people be they you the martial artist, the police as first responders to your self-defense situation, the prosecutor that will inform the first responding police as to whether they should arrest or not and those twelve folks under the guidance of the presiding judge who will decide and present a judgement of whether you stayed within the acceptable limitations of the law when you defended yourself. 

Note: See, this is just one small post of one persons perceptions that will seem very complex, chaotic and confusing and it should inspire you to achieve the greatest self-defense ability, to avoid conflict and violence of that nature, just walk away, just stay away from those places where conflict and violence are present and just plain remain polite and nice in every thing you say or do. It just ain’t worth it, if it can be avoided. Yet, there will always be those who will let pride, ego, honor, and face (think the monkey brain here) dictate their beliefs, emotions and actions. 

Note II: Remember also, what you perceive and feel is either appropriate force or inappropriate force is not set in stone because there are many who will get involved that bring a complete different culture, belief and perception of what force is, what is appropriate and what defines (or a better word might be divine) deadly vs. non-deadly. When you apply force in self-defense you will have to deal with the flux and chaos of what defines what in self-defense. Something to think about, something to consider and something to train for in self-defense.