It's a bit of a tricky thing trying to spell out what I meant by that. I guess sort of along the lines of blaming his decision making, not his intention. The victim's intention seems laudable. I respect, in theory, that he made some effort to 'say no' physically, to resist being victimized. But what I find blameful is his failure to apprehend the depth of the potential consequences, combined with his almost comical lack of hand to hand skills. Points for trying... But more points deducted for almost getting himself killed in a feeble gesture which utterly failed to prove his manliness or whatever the hell he was trying to prove.
I am genuinely sorry if this offends anyone, but his choice to challenge his attacker followed by a demonstration of complete unpreparedness is just bad decision making. He could easily have cost his child a father. Over a few bucks and his pride. Demanding that someone stand up and challenge the crook scum in this case makes no sense to me. He was in no way capable of backing up his attitude with skills. Had he at least a baseball bat and the will to swing it things would likely have been different. But his body language says that he wasn't emotionally available for a real fight. He seems almost daydreaming. Or watching things unfold on TV. That sort of passivity put together with a direct, if feeble, challenge to the robber's physical superiority and obvious anger, is a recipe for disaster. Expecting weaker, uncommitted defenders to suck it up and take one for the team in terms of sending a message to criminals asks too high a price.
Maybe if there's a next time he'll have a weapon. Or do some evening classes in Krav Maga and be at least a bit more aware of his surroundings. I'm sure he's learning something from this. But part of that lesson should be, at least in my opinion, a bit of humility in terms of his understanding of when it's a good idea to just step out of the way and live another day. We get one life. Is that worth losing in such a case? That's for each of us to decide.
If I were in his position I'd be very unlikely to be fondling my wallet in a close quarters situation like that. I get my wallet out only after scanning my surroundings, always have since I was a teen. Just normal paranoia it seems to me, as I've long been aware there are those who will try to take what we value. I don't dangle my smartphone around potential thieves either. Temptation can be a powerful thing for the unintelligent and desperate among us. Extending my imagined participation in this victim's place, allowing that I'd already been so stupid as to hold my money so temptingly in front of him, I'd likely have made a quick assessment and decision either to step back out of the way of the one exit, or committing to sweeping the creep's legs out from under him one way or another. A sharp kick to the top of his locked knee with good follow-through would have ended the fight before it began, leaving me to wait with the clerks for police to arrive.
I've had to respond to physical attacks only a few times as an adult. The worst I've suffered was s bloody nose due to inadequate blocking skills. A couple of times I had to temporarily disable the attackers, while a couple of others I was able to de-escalate situations verbally, one of these involving a very angry drunk with a knife. One needs to be flexible and adaptable to get through these things. And a bit lucky I suppose. In the case being discussed, the body language seems clear from the start in telling of a lot of aggression. In the face of that sort of evidence there are serious decisions to be made, very quickly. Failing to be prepared for such decisions tends to leave the intended victim leaning rather too heavily on luck.