“Freezing up” is not uncommon. This is why training is necessary or at least people have to have the conversation with themselves as to what they would do if confronted with these situations.
I used to do conferences with people who were likely to be defensive, argumentative and at times totally hostile. I found that if I went over all the scenarios I could imagine occurring, if/when they did occur, it was like riding a bike on a road full of ruts ... my brain bike hit the appropriate rut & kept going forward instead of trying to plow new ground with a scenario I had not prepared for. Same with gun training, self defense, etc. .... if you’ve “been there”, your brain will react as trained. You have training to overcome the immobility of fear.
Not everyone freezes, but most folks have no concept of true “evil” or danger and the first time they are confronted with it, they tend to try compliance or don’t have time to get past the ‘freeze’ before they are shot/killed. Just my 2 cents.
>>>Not everyone freezes, but most folks have no concept of true “evil” or danger and the first time they are confronted with it, they tend to try compliance or don’t have time to get past the ‘freeze’ before they are shot/killed. Just my 2 cents.<<<
True enough. I was once in a holdup against a guy with a shotgun. I guess I could have tried to fight back, considering the distance and placement of the guy with the gun, which would have been easy enough to take out (in retrospect), but you’re right - I froze up, although my mind was going a mile a minute trying to remember things like the guy’s face and clothing. If I had been in the military, no doubt I would have had training to respond more forcefully. So I see your two cents and raise you two more cents.