This is just something I've been thinking about recently and figured I'd share it with y'all.
If you practice TKD and meet a fellow TKD practitioner from another school, chances are that you've found a friend. If you practice WC and meet a fellow WC practitioner, chances are that you've found an enemy. My teacher went to a few other WC schools to train with them, and what tended to happen was that the teacher and classmates were very rude and condescending. One even accused him of being a "spy" from another school and kicked him out when he showed them his wooden dummy form. I know for myself that if I meet another WC guy and he's trained wherever he's at for long enough, I tend to sense a bit of tension.
People like to blame this on WC's lack of standardization, but I find this theory to be flawed because most people are generally able to accept that, in all hobbies, whether it be martial arts, music, painting, etc, "right" and "wrong" are generally shades of gray rather than being absolutes. I think that the root of WC's problems lies not in who is teaching WC and how they are teaching it, but rather in who WC is being taught to.
I've found that at the root of a lot of WC controversies, the core of the issue isn't necessarily people that makes absurd claims or trains in a way a few might disagree with, but people who seem to have very hard-headed and aggressive personalities, and the reason for that may be that WC's close-quarters "dirty" nature tend to attract these kinds of people. I think that in order for WC to evolve harmoniously, instructors of future generations must first analyze their students' individual characters and personalities, and then make the decision of whether or not to train them based on that.
Perhaps we can also stop trying to advertise WC as "deadly" or "aggressive" whether or not it actually is so.
If you practice TKD and meet a fellow TKD practitioner from another school, chances are that you've found a friend. If you practice WC and meet a fellow WC practitioner, chances are that you've found an enemy. My teacher went to a few other WC schools to train with them, and what tended to happen was that the teacher and classmates were very rude and condescending. One even accused him of being a "spy" from another school and kicked him out when he showed them his wooden dummy form. I know for myself that if I meet another WC guy and he's trained wherever he's at for long enough, I tend to sense a bit of tension.
People like to blame this on WC's lack of standardization, but I find this theory to be flawed because most people are generally able to accept that, in all hobbies, whether it be martial arts, music, painting, etc, "right" and "wrong" are generally shades of gray rather than being absolutes. I think that the root of WC's problems lies not in who is teaching WC and how they are teaching it, but rather in who WC is being taught to.
I've found that at the root of a lot of WC controversies, the core of the issue isn't necessarily people that makes absurd claims or trains in a way a few might disagree with, but people who seem to have very hard-headed and aggressive personalities, and the reason for that may be that WC's close-quarters "dirty" nature tend to attract these kinds of people. I think that in order for WC to evolve harmoniously, instructors of future generations must first analyze their students' individual characters and personalities, and then make the decision of whether or not to train them based on that.
Perhaps we can also stop trying to advertise WC as "deadly" or "aggressive" whether or not it actually is so.
