THE DIRT BAGS YOU NEED
Distract, Deter, and Discombobulate: Non-lethal Self-Defense Tool
image by MoFarrelly from Pixabay
DISCOMBOBS are available from Etsy here.
DISCOMBOBS (or “Dirt Bags”) are a low-cost, easy-to-use, highly effective way to distract, deter, and discombobulate potential assailants.
DISCOMBOBS are small (2” X 3”) burlap bags filled with clean sandbox-quality sand. By throwing them at an assailant’s eyes, thus distracting and “discombobulating” them, you can make a quick getaway and get out of their reach.
DISCOMBOBS can be kept in a desk (at school or at work), in a purse or jacket pocket, in your car, your kitchen drawer, carried in your hand or hands as you walk, placed on your night stand, or ... any other place that makes sense to you.
The concept is simple: By throwing sand in the face of someone threatening you with serious harm, you can fluster them and cause them to shift their focus from harming you to protecting themselves, as they will doubtless be intent on getting the sand out of their eyes (which causes discomfort and temporarily impairs their vision), thus giving you an opportunity to escape.
The DISCOMBOBS’ ingredients are simple: All DISCOMBOBS are is a small (2” X 3”) burlap sack filled with clean sand (shipped to you in plastic baggies to prevent spillage).
Three DISCOMBOBS shown by a dollar bill for scale
The DISCOMBOBS’ usage is also simple: Leaving the drawstring loosely tied (so that the sand can escape when it strikes its target), throw the DISCOMBOB at your assailant, aiming for the middle of his eyes. Look directly at that aiming point as you let go of the DISCOMBOB, throwing with all your might. If your aim is true, at least some of the sand will get into his eyes —unless he has closed them, which will produce the same benefit of him not being able to see you. In the latter case, though, this “temporary blindness” won’t last long, so don’t hesitate, but get as far away as fast as you can, and seek help.
DISCOMBOBS are available from Etsy here.
Here are some quotes, thoughts, and warnings related to DISCOMBOBS:
QUOTES
“There’s only one basic principle of self-defense. You must apply the most effective weapon, as soon as possible, to the most vulnerable target.” — Bruce Lee
“Is it [throwing sand in someone’s eyes] ethical? Only if you are trying to survive a violent encounter and genuinely fear for you life. In that case you should employ any means necessary to escape…not to “win”, but to escape. That is always the best defense.” — Nicholas Hale, on Quora
“Self defense is not just a set of techniques; it’s a state of mind, and it begins with the belief that you are worth defending.” — Rorion Gracie
“I don’t even call it violence when it’s in self defense; I call it intelligence.” — Malcolm X
THOUGHTS
If you are a person who easily loses their temper, this might not be a good product for you, as you could be tempted you use it on somebody who is not threatening you with serious bodily injury.
Similarly, if you typically overreact to situations, thinking they are more dangerous than they really turn out to be, this may not be the best for you, either.
DISCOMBOBS are safer (for you, too) than using firearms. Studies show that firearms are often used against their owners. As an assailant probably has something worse in mind than throwing sand in your face, even if your DISCOMBOB is used against you, it won’t be fatal. And some people who are too young to even consider having a gun are not necessarily too young to be equipped with a DISCOMBOB.
DISCOMBOBS are only meant to be used in hopefully very rare situations, where the chance of potential danger you are encountering is greater than the risk of using a DISCOMBOB when it is unwarranted to do so or your use of it is ineffective (possibly due to your not striking the target, just aggravating them more).
In fact, it is hoped that you never have to use your DISCOMBOB — that would mean that you’ve been fortunate enough to avoid extremely dangerous situations. So consider DISCOMBOBS as you would health insurance: They are nice to have for peace of mind but even better when you don’t have to use it/them.
As someone once said, “When it comes to self defense, it is better to have the power and not need it than to need it and not have it.”
WARNINGS
As mentioned above, if you miss your target (so that the sand does not get into the eyes of your assailant), their anger could escalate, or their violent intentions could be further inflamed.
You could misjudge a situation and harm somebody who had no evil intent towards you.
You could throw the DISCOMBOB in a way that would cause some (or even most) of the sand to fly back into your eyes (or that of an innocent bystander). This would be most likely to occur if you were to spin the bag by pushing on the bottom of the bag with your fingertips as you threw it, like a basketball player might do when shooting a basket.
Particularly in regard to the last warning directly above, you could practice your aim and technique with your DISCOMBOB to minimize the chance of misdirecting the sand. Note, though, that you would have to be able to scoop up the spilled sand and return it to the bag.
A couple of things you might consider purchasing to help you do this are life-sized cardboard cutouts of men or just the face of a man [not to be sexist, but most assailants are males].
I have no financial arrangement or affiliation with these products, but just to give you a couple of options, you can order a life-size cardboard cutout of a man here or just a face here. Each of these products were under $10 when I discovered them.
“true-to-spirit” images generated generated by Google Gemini, although in reality the DISCOMBOB is in a smaller-than-depicted burlap bag and is meant to be thrown (if possible) from a greater distance, rather than while within close proximity to the assailant
This is the most accurate image AI was able to produce — the burlap bags are still a little oversized, and it would be best to have the bags untied when thrown, but all-in-all, not a bad representation
To capture spillage of sand from the porous burlap bags (which is “a feature, not a bug,” as you WANT the sand to come out), the sand-filled burlap bags are shipped inside a plastic baggy. It is recommended you keep them sealed in the plastic baggy until you are preparing to use them.
DISCOMBOBS are available from Etsy here.
