The Scary Guy, who changed his name in 1998, trains Air Force Academy leaders on reducing anger and violence. He describes how his intimidating appearance provokes self-reflection in children and parents, and shares his journey from baby portrait photography to anti-violence work.
Welcome to The Scary Guy. He's on a mission, just look in his eyes. Eliminate anger, hey! Violence worldwide. He's a scary guy.
What's he doing here? Who in their right mind would have invited him? Has the Air Force lost its mind?
Everybody looks different.
I've seen mothers teach their children that are 3 and 4 years old how to hate me.
I didn't like the idea that I was a reactionary machine. Someone called me a name, I call them a name right back. After all, they made me mad, didn't they? It was their fault, wasn't it? Hey, I justified my actions based on yours? Mine's okay, yours isn't.
Oh, The Scary Guy. I changed my name in 1998, February.
I can find the phone number of everybody here in 2 seconds flat. Learned how to be that way when I was a little kid.
And by sharing my journey and my life story and what I've learned as a person that's walked on the planet for a long time doing this, they now have an opportunity to do their own self-reflection.
In the past 13 years, I've dedicated my life to waking people up to the idea that they no longer have to live as a victim just because another human being speaks.
I was a baby portrait photographer, believe it or not. From 1975 to 1980, I took baby pictures. "The Scary Guy presents!" I can't scare kids.
I can't scare a 5-year-old. I try. They laugh at me.
I can scare their parents. Moms and dads of a 5-year-old, when they see a picture of me thinking I'm coming to the school to talk to them, they get a little bit worried that their kid is going to be frightened of me.
They see it as funny. You with me? Now remember, they're getting data at light speed through the eyes.
If they aren't set up in advance and told that, "Ooh, this guy is a nasty guy," or, "He's a horrible dude," or whatever, they're going to enjoy it, and they think I'm sponsored by Crayola Crayons, so it works out real well.
