Raging Ignorance in Self-Defense

[RoninPimp]

LOL @ Edmund BlackAdder!

 

[Jimi]

A lout thrashing about in the clear waters of wisdom will dirty those waters for everyone else!

 

[WingChun Lawyer]

Now THAT was an excellent piece of work Mr. Edmund.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Edmund

I've been following this and I have been staying out of this, but I got to say, your my new hero.

And I always like you on TV too

 

[Phil Elmore]

There is no populist hero more quickly minted than someone who'll take the time to stand up bravely and ...criticize someone else's work.

 

[RoninPimp]

heat, kitchen...you know how it goes....

 

[Xue Sheng]

Phil

I went back and really read your original post and I can only speculate that it was written to enflame.

Have you read it?

The reason I ask is that it certainly could be defined as pontification, something you are supposedly talking against.

And as previously stated by flying crane, it is a lecture, which is not adhering to your final statement about 2 types of people. You are not being the student here from what I have read.

As for the "pulsating avatars"

How is that different from a linked gif that if viewed with your post certainly does more than just hint and an agenda?

 

[Phil Elmore]

That would be, as you've said, speculation. It would also be incorrect.

The editorial was written to decry a phenomenon that affects every aspect of our lives where preserving our lives is concerned -- and that is that rampant, raging ignorance is making it harder for us to defend ourselves, making it more likely we will suffer legally and socially for so doing, and making it less likely that our fellow citizens wil l understand and support the very concept of self-defense. In a violent world rife with politics and no shortage of pontification about this topic -- from people who know little or nothing about it -- I thought it was worth an outspoken condemnation or two.

As for pedantic lecturing from the bully pulpit, I'm not against it as long as it comes from knowledge rather than ignorance. Many a student is entirely capable of a lecture or two of his own.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Phil

If nothing else you are predictable...and entertaining.

I leave you to your agenda and bully pulpit.


Xue

 

[kickcatcher]

.......................................................................................

 

[Phil Elmore]

Phil

If nothing else you are predictable...and entertaining.

I leave you to your agenda and bully pulpit.


Xue

I would hope so. I try to be philosophically consistent. As for my agenda, I'm interested only in furthering the cause of pragmatic self-defense for my fellow citizens. (Truth be told, I wouldn't mind making a lot of money selling books in the bargain. I mean, who would? Writing in this field is about the last choice I'd make if money was what motivated me, though -- it's easier to sell toys on eBay, or some such nonsense.)

 

[Edmund BlackAdder]

Greetings Seekers of Knowledge. I am Brother Edmund, of the Holy Order of the Blackadder. Our ancient order has had many members, who stand between the shadow and the light. Today, we examine one of the many mysteries of our time: Raging Ignorance in Self-Defense. In today’s lesson, we will read from the Gospel of Saint Phil the Martialist, in his letter to the Fecestines, and seek to make it understandable in the common tongue of all our peoples.

It’s rampant. It’s unavoidable. It’s reprehensible.

Translation: You can't miss it.

There exists today an epidemic, a crisis, a pervasive and powerfully negative phenomenon in self-defense. That phenomenon is raging ignorance, willful stupidity, and the intentional evasion of reality in the flight from cognitive dissonance. This would be bad, but perhaps slightly better than it is, if not for the fact that those most uninformed on self-defense seem to be the ones pontificating most loudly from ignorance.

Translation: A lot of people who choose to be stupid are acting like experts

We see this raging ignorance in both domestic and foreign-dominated websites at which "martial" artists dismiss, deride, or deny the utility of weapons like knives and firearms, substituting their culturally based hoplophobia, wishful thinking, and projection for the reality of weapons in the context of self-preservation. We see it in vulgar, childish Internet boards dominated by adolescents (and those who think like adolescents), where pontification from ignorance has been raised to an art form in which kids with little or no training and absolutely no grounding in reality presume to tell the world how very, very wrong are all those across the Web whose opinions and martial systems differ from those of the hectoring virtual orators. We see it in editorials published in newspapers and periodicals, in which people who know almost nothing about weapons, the martial arts, or self-defense presume to tell the world what the laws and society's mores should and should not be, proudly parading their lack of knowledge in shockingly unsupported and even contradictory statements about the topics in question.

Translation: The guys in the funny costumes and sweaty gym pants play patty cake when there is a perfectly good stick with which to hit someone upside the head with. Know nothing know-it-alls with potty mouths act the expert in magazines and forums and the like.

We see it in politics when politicians (such as New York Attorney General and Governor-wannabe Elliot Spitzer's would-be Lieutenant Governor, who has repeatedly introduced legislation that would punish police officers for shooting and killing assailants threatening the officers with lethal force) attempt to pass, or succeed in passing, legislation hostile to self-defense and empowering to society's criminal element. We see it in our courts, when groups of backseat-driving Monday morning quarterbacks (in the forms of juries and judges) apply their collective 20/20 hindsight to judge and condemn the acts of citizens who have done nothing but defend themselves.

Translation: The NYAG wants to make the cops play nicey-nicey with the bag guys and the juries are full of morons who think CSI is a real cop show.

We have seen the reality time and time again: If you ever use physical force to defend yourself, especially if you use a weapon to do it, you can and most likely will end up in court to justify your actions, essentially guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of those who've never touched a weapon, never studied a martial art, and know less about self-defense than you've managed to forget in the course of your training.

Translation: The courts protect the bad guys, so phooey on you if you fight back.

It is this raging ignorance in self-defense that relegates so much potentially interesting and worthwhile discussion on the topic to the virtual garbage dumps of the Web, where intellectually masturbatory would-be experts opine from anonymity, their often vulgar and frequently animated avatars pulsing epileptically next to their underwhelmingly clever pseudonyms, criticizing anyone and everyone who dares to share earnest and substantive opinions about the martial arts and human survival. It is the most delicious irony of all that those who themselves so frequently hide behind the safety of their CRTs and LCD monitors, who so rarely identify themselves by name or have, to back up their own opinions, credentials anyone would find particularly impressive, are themselves the quickest to attack those standing up for what they believe.

Translation: Ignorant Anonymous Cowards get off on being jerks on the internet.

It is these largely anonymous critics who demand to know why and how others presume to offer and to substantiate their opinions -- while the critics have nothing with which to justify and substantiate their own statements. From within the shelter of a mob, it is easy to throw stones -- but not so easy to stand clear and stand up.

Translation: These people have no clue, but demand that others justify things. They throw rocks and brown lumpy things I really hope were potatoes alot.

The single biggest threat to the continued legality and promotion of success in self-defense in the modern world is this raging ignorance. It contributes to hostile legal climates, to hostile societies, to discouragement among practitioners, and to disinformation among students. Raging ignorance in self-defense is rotting the industry from within, too, with too few voices uttered loudly enough to counter it. Fewer still of those voices come from those who actually contribute to self-defense, providing material and ideas of value to those searching for such information.

Translation: These ignorant people are a problem, and the few smart people need to speak up more.

No, it is far easier to sit behind one's computer for hour after hour of the day (while speaking of one's demanding training schedule and one's refusal to compromise in one's dedication to one's physical conditioning and one's no-holds-barred attitude), criticizing and condemning and screaming, as the Wright brothers ignore you, that it will never fly and should not be attempted.

Translation: I'm talking about the guys on the web who are all talk but no action.

There are times when I think this raging ignorance in self-defense is, ultimately, a terminal disease -- one with no cure and no future, no hope and no prospects. It is, therefore, a measure of one's convictions -- one's martialism -- to determine to fight an impossible fight. It is a measure of one's character when one determines that a war worth fighting remains worth fighting when its victory is unlikely. It is a measure of one's psychological and even physical fortitude when one stands for what is true regardless of popularity, regardless of provenance, and regardless of petty punditry.

Translation: To be real you fight unwinnable battles regardless of the stupid people around you.

You can do nothing to fight the raging ignorance in self-defense. You can do nothing, that is, that you are not already doing. If you are part of the solution, you continue to apply an active mind to your training, refusing dogma and dismissing others' agendas as you pursue success in self-defense. You embrace that which you can use and you discard that which you cannot. You apply logic and reason to the data of your senses. You understand your limitations and you seek to work past them to the best of your abilities, while understanding that you must so often work within them. You look around you and you see the rampaging, raging, roiling ignorance in self-defense that seethes and bubbles all around you in an endless sea of foolishness -- and you keep right on paddling your way toward your goals. You are, as the old poem goes, the master of your fate, the captain of your soul. You are among the few who understand the pursuit of self-defense.

Translation: You can't change things. Just do what you do. Be All You Can Be! In The Army!

You grasp what it means.

You know why it is necessary.

Translation: You're a fart smucker.

If you are part of the problem rather than the solution, there is nothing you can do. Ignorance insulates you from yourself; you will not see what you do not know and you are not interested in learning. You are raging; you are rampaging; you are pontificating from ignorance. You are the mob, the tidal wave, the rolling fog that obscures all but has no substance to call its own. You are the uninformed and the unenlightened. You are the hopeless and you are destroying others' hope in your flailing, fuming foolishness.

Translation: Wise man once say, open mind catch idea. Open mouth catch foot.

I have heard it said that there are two types of people in the world: There are people who think there are two types of people, and there are people who do not. Among both the former and the latter, there can be only the students and the stupid. The students learn; the stupid complain. The students ask; the stupid demand. The students contribute; the stupid opine.

Be a student.

Translation: I see 2 types of people. I like the smart ones better. They understand me. The others are stupidheads who don't. The stupids are also bossy. I hate that. So, listen to me.


Thus endith the reading of the Gospel of Saint Phil.

Onion.

 

[Carol]

Seems like I fall in the stupid category.

I've always been a difficult student. I'm the one that wonders aloud, questions why, wonders how, and pushes for answers to questions I don't know. I loathe mollycoddling, I adore teachers that will find out an answer that they don't know. I despise teachers that duck tough questions. I demand a challenge. If I don't get one, I complain. I demand a high level of competency in my instruction. If I don't get it, then I really complain.

I'm delusional enough to think that by pushing for high standards, I might actually see them realized.

I'm self-centered enough to think that *I* might actually be able to inspire someone to learn.

I'm selfish enough to want a great class for everyone when I go for training.

And I'm demanding enough to insist that my instructors meet these expectations. I complain if they don't.

These habits are entrenched. I'm likely to be stupid forever.

 

[Edmund BlackAdder]

There is nothing wrong in asking questions, seeking reasons, trying to understand the "why". Remain "stupid" my lady. The "smart" ones tend to be of closed mind, and sneaker of breath. :asian:

 

[Hand Sword]

The "stupids" RULE !!!

 

[WingChun Lawyer]

Mr. Edmund: if I were gay, I would totally shag you for that last post.

 

[Phil Elmore]

Greetings Seekers of Knowledge. I am Brother Edmund, of the Holy Order of the Blackadder. Our ancient order has had many members, who stand between the shadow and the light. Today, we examine one of the many mysteries of our time: Raging Ignorance in Self-Defense. In today’s lesson, we will read from the Gospel of Saint Phil the Martialist, in his letter to the Fecestines, and seek to make it understandable in the common tongue of all our peoples.

Translation: I'm a spectator taking shots at someone else because I've seen how quickly it makes me popular among a larger group of similar critics.

 

[MSUTKD]

Edmund for President, uh, I mean King of America!

 

[Phil Elmore]

I think we could all get behind that ticket. Given the courage required to heckle from within a sympathetic crowd, he would rank among such presidential luminaries as Carter and Bush. Perhaps even Ford.

 

[MSUTKD]

Ahh, well respect must be EARNED.