I guess that is because he gets nothing but flak from us and we are just big meanies. If he joins with the kooks, he'll get confirmation because they're only interesting in confirming each other to gain credibility.
I think you hit an underlying facet of his motivation there.
What it seems to me, and merely speculation as I have not met Mr. Cummins, is that he had his head full of "ninja" when he was younger, much like many of us. He's admitted to having some Hayes books as a child.
In one of his videos or posts, I remember no which, he goes on to say that he was all super hyped and eager to go to Japan and train with Hatsumi. When he got there, he saw "a bunch of overweight men rolling around on mats" (not a directe quote, but close enough).
Well, I could see how that would dash a child's dreams of seeing a ninja training dojo as something...more...well...like a Hayes book or movie (
American Ninja training camps, anyone?). Perhaps he feels wronged by Hatsumi and the Bujinkan. Perhaps that is why he has found a niche aspect of Ninjutsu and has worked to exploit it (Ninjutsu being only stealth techniques, and not a hand-to-hand martial art), both for profit and revenge.
I think Antony is merely misguided. Had he not been so disheartened with the Bujinkan, and stayed studying, perhaps he'd be channeling all of his interest for the greater Ninjutsu good, so to speak. And not to say all of his information is flawed, but it does seem to come with an agenda to do the Buj and similar organizations harm. You can see this within his presentation, most notably his claims of having the one and only truth about ninjutsu. He's rarely happy allowing others to exist, in turn making his recent partnership with Choson Ninja interesting.
Then again, said partnership is no different then a lot of the Koga groups joining forces in their own anti-Takamatsuden camps. I would worry, yet be amused, if the greats such as Ashida Kim, Frank Dux, Antony Cummins, Choson Ninja, emiliozapata, and the rest were to ally and meld their fantasies together...
Finally, that's just my thoughts and feelings, based on what I've observed on the net. I can't speak with certainty. Figured I'd put that disclaimer in there.
