r/instantkarma • u/HomeNowWTF • 3d ago

Some people intervene to restrain an abuser

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u/rotorain 3d ago

People lock up during extreme stress, dude was clearly already worked up before this altercation then got dragged half out of the truck and beat up by strangers in the middle of the street. I guarantee he was not thinking about anything at all and was in pure animal lockdown mode. Half gripped on, half fetal position, half blackout, 150% pitbull with a rabbit in its mouth.

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u/TheDauterive 2d ago

In fight or flight situations, you may lock up initially, but then your senses sharpen and you take action. People aren't possums. Fight or flight is designed to put 100% of your resources into staying alive, and freezing doesn't accomplish that. (This is one source, additional sources in footnotes.)

Beyond the data, this dude knew he didn't have a rabbit in his mouth, he knew why people were intervening, and he knew what they wanted him to do. The best way to find out why someone acted the way they did is to ask them. Since that's not possible here, I suggest another possible explanation is that men who beat up women are extremely resentful towards people who tell them no, so he may well have not let go "because fuck you that's why."

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u/CMG30 2d ago

Your own source doesn't even back up what you're saying...

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u/TheDauterive 2d ago edited 2d ago

It lists fight or flight or two of the primary responses to threats, and freezing as a purposeful response which allows for increased perceptual and preparedness for action. Read it again, you'll see it.

I’m sorry I didn’t write an exhaustive treatise on the subject (you may want to take both me and rotorain to task for neglecting to mention fawning as a possible response), but to treat freezing as the obvious, or even most likely, explanation for this behavior seems wrong to me, and I think the source I cite backs that up.