Martial Arts fanaticals

[Jenna]

Is not just in martial arts of course, and but some martial artists appear as kind of evangelical missionaries attempting to persuade the rest of the martial art world to their singular, dogmatic and non-inclusive view of what is right, what is best, what is most apropos as a way of doing martial art.. Have you also encounter this??

Though what is right for that one person is right for people unilaterally??? That cannot be true?? And what mind set make people disregard the idea or be ignorant of the fact that other martial artists are different from them??? What kind of mind set is that??

An evangelist say to me what I am doing in my art is like I am like try to hammer in nails with a screwdriver.. say, come and change to my art, it is the hammer for the job! I say I was never trying to hammer any thing.. hammering is too noisy here where I am.. He say, you are trying to get a job done, hammering is the only way.. I say no, it is not. And but he cannot hear because hammering is so noisy.. So what is that mind set??

Being caring I would still advocate in your hearts for compassion for a martial artist missionary should you encounter him on your journey languishing by the roadside lost in a fog of indoctrination, starving for appreciation of context, for bigger pictures. This cannot be easy living as that person, unable to accept -or even blissfully ignorant of- how others choose not to do what they them selves do, enamoured of the idea of having the best hammer and then picturing the whole entire universe lost in happy reveries of hammering nails. Is difficult for these people. So please will you also in the middle of my lecture spare a moment to understand their pain.

And but never the less consider before allowing your compassion to sway you to their doctrine. Why? because your martial art is personal to you. If you are serious about it, diligent in practice then you know you do it for your own reason, and yours alone. And your own reason is perfect as it is.. Just because the evangelicals declare it not the hammer for the job, still your reason and your way, it do not need amended, adjusted nor changed cept you decide of your own volition.. I would urge, like it ever need to be said, that you not practice your martial art not for any body elses reason or with any body elses mind set.. these people prey on those with the fickleness of youth! Ye your martial art is YOURS.. your martial art for you, your way!

And so will you ponder this? what do you think? or will you give ear to this fanatical preaching over hammering? perhaps you are like me and always just prefer screwing..

 

[jobo]

yes and it seems to be the bjj lot that are the worse, most dogmatic and judgemental

 

[gerardbu07059]

Even among hammers there are different types. You can not set a diamond with a sledge hammer. All martial arts are beautiful in their own way. There are also differences between fighting for your life and fighting as a sport. You will find however that those that are always trying to find which art or hammer is the best have not experienced more than one art and their judgment is based on one specific dimension. And while i practice an art i also prefer your mentioned activity.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[thanson02]

Yea, it is all over the place. Martial arts are very tribalistic and since so much of it involves competitive sports, you are always going to find people who will try to prove that their system "tribe" is better then everyone else using their own standards to prove that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Circular logic is funny that way....

 

[Hanzou]

yes and it seems to be the bjj lot that are the worse, most dogmatic and judgemental

Says the clown who derailed an entire thread arguing that wrestlers can't fight.

 

[jobo]

Says the clown who derailed an entire thread arguing that wrestlers can't fight.

and you are trying to derail this one claiming they can, which of course they cant

 

[Headhunter]

Says the clown who derailed an entire thread arguing that wrestlers can't fight.

Says the one who's made a number of threads and talked constantly about how rubbish traditional martial arts are and how great jiu jitsu is

 

[Martial_Kumite]

Based on my understanding of the topic, people who are this way are because of one of 2 things.
1: It is the only MA they know, and outside of youtube, they have not experienced anything else
2: Someone has convinced them that A is better than B, and so on and so forth.

What I find is that people should stick up for their art, but be more like bamboo than a stone. They need to be flexible, simply acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses compared to a different art is major leaps and bound. If they are not even in the mind to grow, then there is no point in trying to convince them. I am not going to push them, or waste my time when I could be doing something els. As long as they don't follow me home, I'm good.

 

[JR 137]

and you are trying to derail this one claiming they can, which of course they cant

What style do you train?

 

[Headhunter]

Anyone who says this style is best and this style doesn't work are just idiots plain and simple every style works. It all depends on the person and how they train it.

 

[jobo]

What style do you train?

it doesn't have a name, its a mix of various styles and arts, its predominately karate but with kung fu and jujitsu mixed in

 

[oftheherd1]

Anyone who says this style is best and this style doesn't work are just idiots plain and simple every style works. It all depends on the person and how they train it.

I agree except for one caveat: There is always the probability another MA will have an effective move or technique that is unique to their art. If you aren't familiar with it and haven't trained to defend it and use it to your advantage, you may get an unpleasant surprise.

 

[hoshin1600]

i would agree with Jenna IF... martial arts were like music and we all have different tastes of what we like, all music has value to those who listen to it.
however ....the problems arise when someone says Jazz is the same as classical and then someone else says blues guitarists are better than bluegrass players. Indian Sitar is way more complicated and harder than Guitar.

martial arts has a myriad of different flavors and that is great. but most martial arts are judged in some similar areas . mainly self defense and fighting ability. again this is not the only value but it is one that often is a way to measure the value of an art. some people feel to judge an art by this standard is arbitrary others think it is the only standard.

 

[oftheherd1]

@Jenna - Interesting article. Thanks for sharing. No martial art is the best or the worst. All have advantages and disadvantages. There is always the probability that an art may have a little known signature move that will catch other martial artists unawares. The up and down praising of one's own art and putting down other's arts does not serve us well.

 

[jobo]

i would agree with Jenna IF... martial arts were like music and we all have different tastes of what we like, all music has value to those who listen to it.
however ....the problems arise when someone says Jazz is the same as classical and then someone else says blues guitarists are better than bluegrass players. Indian Sitar is way more complicated and harder than Guitar.

martial arts has a myriad of different flavors and that is great. but most martial arts are judged in some similar areas . mainly self defense and fighting ability. again this is not the only value but it is one that often is a way to measure the value of an art. some people feel to judge an art by this standard is arbitrary others think it is the only standard.

its the measure most often use d by bjj fan boys, based on it's success in ufc etal, they then try to bask in their reflected glory. Ignoring the many benifits that traditional martial arts bring to the individual

 

[Headhunter]

yes and it seems to be the bjj lot that are the worse, most dogmatic and judgemental

I know a lot will disagree with you and I know it's not all the bjj crowd but well this kind of thing didnt happen as much before the ufc came around. It just didnt. All practitioners did there own thing and everyone just minded there own business but since the ufc has started everyone seems to want to criticise everyone's style and yes a fair number of the bjj crowd do act like there superior because of something that happened over 20 years ago.

Jiu jitsu is a great art but the thing is when the ufc started no one had a clue about what bjj was not a single person knew. Even the referees and the commentators didnt understand so of course it would dominate easily but now days everyone knows what it is so people would know what's coming. I'm not saying the results would be any different but it'd be interesting to see. Because me personally I don't know how to do or defend an arm bar but I know what an arm bar is and it wouldn't be something I didn't recognise.

But at the end of the day people just need to grow up and do their own thing if I meet a guy who believes in no touch knockout systems and loves it and enjoys it then that's up to him.

Basically why the hell do people care so much what other people do with their time and money.

 

[wingchun100]

its the measure most often use d by bjj fan boys, based on it's success in ufc etal, they then try to bask in their reflected glory. Ignoring the many benifits that traditional martial arts bring to the individual

Aren't there fanboys of every style though?

 

[wingchun100]

yes and it seems to be the bjj lot that are the worse, most dogmatic and judgemental

That in and of itself seems dogmatic and judgemental, to lump all BJJ people into that category.

 

[wingchun100]

Reminds me of what Michael Caine said when he played Austin Powers' dad in GOLDMEMBER.

"There are two things I can't stand in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures...and the Dutch!"

 

[wingchun100]

Is not just in martial arts of course, and but some martial artists appear as kind of evangelical missionaries attempting to persuade the rest of the martial art world to their singular, dogmatic and non-inclusive view of what is right, what is best, what is most apropos as a way of doing martial art.. Have you also encounter this??

Though what is right for that one person is right for people unilaterally??? That cannot be true?? And what mind set make people disregard the idea or be ignorant of the fact that other martial artists are different from them??? What kind of mind set is that??

An evangelist say to me what I am doing in my art is like I am like try to hammer in nails with a screwdriver.. say, come and change to my art, it is the hammer for the job! I say I was never trying to hammer any thing.. hammering is too noisy here where I am.. He say, you are trying to get a job done, hammering is the only way.. I say no, it is not. And but he cannot hear because hammering is so noisy.. So what is that mind set??

Being caring I would still advocate in your hearts for compassion for a martial artist missionary should you encounter him on your journey languishing by the roadside lost in a fog of indoctrination, starving for appreciation of context, for bigger pictures. This cannot be easy living as that person, unable to accept -or even blissfully ignorant of- how others choose not to do what they them selves do, enamoured of the idea of having the best hammer and then picturing the whole entire universe lost in happy reveries of hammering nails. Is difficult for these people. So please will you also in the middle of my lecture spare a moment to understand their pain.

And but never the less consider before allowing your compassion to sway you to their doctrine. Why? because your martial art is personal to you. If you are serious about it, diligent in practice then you know you do it for your own reason, and yours alone. And your own reason is perfect as it is.. Just because the evangelicals declare it not the hammer for the job, still your reason and your way, it do not need amended, adjusted nor changed cept you decide of your own volition.. I would urge, like it ever need to be said, that you not practice your martial art not for any body elses reason or with any body elses mind set.. these people prey on those with the fickleness of youth! Ye your martial art is YOURS.. your martial art for you, your way!

And so will you ponder this? what do you think? or will you give ear to this fanatical preaching over hammering? perhaps you are like me and always just prefer screwing..

Sadly, this is true even within certain styles. Wing Chun is famous for its lineage wars. Want proof? Go look at all the warnings the admins had to give us on the Wing Chun board here. I will admit that I was guilty of it myself: someone disagreed with me on the purpose of Chi Sao, which seemed really far out there (to me), so I said, "What the hell kind of Wing Chun are YOU studying?" I regret it, as it is an example of the same kind of close-minded behavior that I despise so much and fight against.

But I do try, and I succeed more than I fail. I wish it were easier for more people to agree to disagree.

Think about it this way: Person A and Person B have two different religions. Person A thinks their religion is better so, when they hear that Person B thinks THEIRS is better, they take it as a personal insult. They bludgeon Person B over the head with why their religion is better. Person B gets offended and winds up hating Person A.

Why can't we just ask each other questions? Why can't we say "that's interesting, what draws you to that religion?"

Substitute religion with other words: music, books, movies, martial arts, philosophy...whatever. All I know is this: if I ASK instead of judge, then I learn something.

Thomas Carlyle wrote, "Every man is my superior in that I may learn from him." I try to live by that. I try to not act superior to anyone. Everyone has had a different life experience than me, so the odds are they know something I don't.

Actually, let me rephrase that: many of us have similar life experiences. We have more in common than we have different. However, we all live inside our own minds and filter things through our own lenses. Let's say @Jenna gets cut off in traffic on the way to work. I know how that would make me feel, so I can imagine how it would make her feel...but I cannot really know because she has her OWN lens.

Ask. Listen. Accept the answer as is without arguing how YOUR answer to the same question is better. Gain knowledge.

Why is that so hard?

And why am I rambling on like this? LOL