I have been reading a bit online about different peoples attitudes toward self defense, and have come across quite a bit of thinking that I feel is totally wrong headed.

Self-Defense is a survival skill. There is a lot of people that confuse this with "fighting." From a survival standpoint, I want to be as far away from the danger as possible. I have no interest in escalating a situation that I could just as easily avoid.

Fight to escape. If I can't run then I am going to fight. I am going to fight until running becomes viable. If I don't think I can win the foot race, then I am going to fight to advantage myself in the foot race.

Fight to protect. All of the people in the 'always run away' camp ignore that there are somethings we can't effectively run away from. I am not planning on sprinting to safety while people I care about are still in danger. Try gathering up a family of four for your speed tactical withdraw sometime and you will realize that somebody is going to have to fight a delaying action at a minimum, or achieve a decisive victory on the spot.

Hurt them enough. The law generally provides for "sufficient" force. This does not mean a punch for a punch for a punch, it means I get to punch you until I can reasonably believe that you aren't going to try to punch me anymore. Many people will strike once and try to restart deescalation, but I think this is a mistake. If it's already come to blows, you should be hurting them enough to make them not want to continue. The tipping point is when your assailant begins to fear for their safety.