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Comment by dmm | Hacker News Reader

> what's the reward?

Living life as something other than a coward.

The machismo from behind the keyboard is priceless.

while I dont know what I would do in this situation, I know I wouldnt ever call someone who handed money over to someone who threatened them with a knife a "coward"

I agree with you. I'm not calling anyone a coward, but I would certainly feel like one after being robbed. It's a very intrusive, violating event.

So handing your money over to an aggravated knife wielding robber, shouting at you in Portugese, makes you a coward.

Bravo.

There's more here than the calculus of survival. Consider your right to life and liberty. To surrender that is to become a victim. Some would honestly rather risk it than enter into that class. Its a personal choice. Americans used to be famous for their backbone. This thread leaves me wondering.

Crime problems are mostly social/economic. Regular people shouldn't have to fight robbers. Thats what police are for.

Responding to being robbed isn't an exercise in patriotism.

Police are for cleaning up crime scenes after the fact and trying to catch the people responsible. There's almost nothing they can do before a crime is committed. Even if a crime is in progress, they're more interested in protecting their own skin than in protecting yours. (Ever notice that a dead cop is a tragedy and a dead civilian is just another day at work?) I've known people who were attacked around the corner from a police van and the police did nothing, if they even bothered to notice at all.

Actually, police have no duty to protect individuals. The Supreme Court and lower courts have ruled this repeatedly.

You mean movies have lied to me? :(

I was robbed at knifepoint many years ago. I gave up my wallet willingly.

I did so because I cared far more about being present for my wife and children than I cared about the fact that some assholes would enjoy the contents of my wallet.

At the time I was practicing both boxing and karate on a daily basis, so I probably had decent odds in a fight... but why bother? I can get another wallet and some more cash. I can't get my daughter a new dad.

If this makes you think I have no backbone... well I suppose we simply have different principles.

I don't know how well this works, but this is how I was told to deal with robbery.

If you have anything substantial to lose, carry two wallets, one in an unconventional place. Put about $100 (with a few ones, so it seems like a real wallet) and some expired or fake credit cards in one as a dummy wallet.

Most robbers just want to get some quick cash, usually for drugs. So they get what they want and slink away, and you only lose $100. If you're traveling in dangerous parts of the world, the police are usually corrupt and you expect such random losses in the form of shakedowns/bribes.

In my family it's common to carry a wallet, and then a hanging pouch with your valuables (serious money and stuff you don't need everyday, though I don't keep my passport there) when traveling.

So even if you're robbed, you have something left (not as good as your advice, but it sounds like it works).

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