That the kids and public today have a badly warped sense of what a martial art even is. Snake oil, snake oil everywhere I look! What do you think of this one?
Donald: Thanks for that link. I only read some and skimmed the rest for now. An interesting read. Man of Faith: Thanks for posting my long-winded rant for me! Lol, it is idiots like this selling bs that drive me nuts. firstmanever: sorry Buddy, imagine how I feel after more than 40 years! How right you are, it is in the kata if you know how to find it. Leo L : isn't it. Johnathan Pierson: Kind of funny, except that people who know no better believe that foolishness.
2013-01-20T08:53:55Z
Donald: Thanks for that link. I only read some and skimmed the rest for now. An interesting read. Man of Faith: Thanks for posting my long-winded rant for me! Lol, it is idiots like this selling bs that drive me nuts. firstmanever: sorry Buddy, imagine how I feel after more than 40 years! How right you are, it is in the kata if you know how to find it. Leo L : isn't it. Johnathan Pierson: Kind of funny, except that people who know no better believe that foolishness.
2013-01-20T09:57:21Z
LIONDANCER: You always give such good, and straight answers, thank you. And I agree with you too. You and I have been around some of those blocks, but new people lose their potential over this stupidity. I can't change much of it, but if one young person reads this question, and begins to "get it" it was worthwhile.
Rynok2013-01-20T15:04:57Z
Favorite Answer
There's enough snake oil just on the front page to last us all a lifetime. It reminds me of what many McDojos preach - "Our way is the only style that's 100% effective!"
My martial arts teacher has been a martial artist for approx. 30 years. He used a lot of the techniques he learned in martial arts when he taught hand-to-hand combat in the U.S. Marine Corps (and if you're familiar with the U.S. Marines at all, you know that's no light boasting, especially since Marines have to, among other things, be trained to handle full-blown combat situations where, like when out on the street, there's a good change opponents won't follow any rules). A lot of what he learned from martial arts (and has taught both in the Marines and in his martial arts classes) is the very stuff that this website claims martial arts *can't* teach you (i.e. dealing with multiple simultaneous opponents, or what to do when the other guy pulls out a weapon), and often without having to use the "nerve stuff" the website is trying to pitch.
There actually is some truth to some of the things the guy says about Kali. In Kali you do spend a lot of time training to fight someone else trained in Kali. I did a bit of Arnis, and I noticed that. In Kajukenbo, which is a Filipino Hawaiian martial art, the knife and stick defenses reflect more how an untrained person with the intent of killing you would actually use a knife or stick.
The only Kenpo available in the U.K. is Ed Parker's American Kenpo. My style Kajukenbo is based on the same Hawaii Kenpo that Ed Parker's American Kenpo is based on. I can imagine that if Kajukenbo is available in the U.K., he would write that while Kajukenbo is a great martial art, Kajukenbo doesn't have any techniques against multiple opponents, Kajukenbo doesn't have any techniques for attacks coming from the side, and that Kajukenbo doesn't have any techniques against attackers with knifes, and that you have to Buy my course.
He didn't write that, but even if the did, what can you do? He has to write to express his opinion. But Kajukenbo people also have the right to visit his school or his office or his home office and challenge him to back up his claims.
While some of the things he writes has some truth to it, he is using sensationalism to sell his courses, and if consumers fall for his advertising and buy his courses, real martial artists are not responsible for anything that happens to the purchasers if they actually do have to use what they learned in the course in a real street confrontation.
Someone who really wants to learn the truth will not place all their trust in just one person shooting their mouth, one article or one website and eventually find out what is right. So stuff like that does not phase me anymore. If you think snake oil is a modern development you are mistaken. I met much snake oil in China too. There were family clans dating back hundreds of years who prided themselves selling snake oil. They were the gypsies of China, settled down did some tricks to get some money and then moved on when people caught on. Snake oil is as old as human kind. Just now with modern media we find more snake oil but at the same time we also have access to good information as Donald has shown. Sometimes it takes a while to separate the two but if we continue to keep an open mind and continue to learn and not pretend to know everything we will eventually find the truth and learn to see through the scams.
It's funny, I read the link you gave, and thought to myself that the guy doesn't seem to be pitching anything other than some nerve thing. But then I read all of the other articles about the other styles, and every article was identical in content with the exception of one paragraph dedicated to the style he was comparing to.
Reading only one article, I got the impression he is a clueless boob. But after reading the other articles, nothing changes. Except that it's clear he's just pitching for something else. The thing is, all of the articles are so shallow and devoid of detail, one can't help but think his snake oil is just as devoid of substance.
It is sad. He'll probably market this to reach the naive, and then the rest of the world who knows better has to play clean up.
Oh no! Damn the traditional karate I've been doing for the last 25+ years has been exposed! Thank you Jim R for leading me to this website where I can learn "nerve attacks" that work 100% of the time!
I didn't go any further then the linked page but, these people are just blow hards. Their stuff might even be effective and legitimate but, it won't be anything that any of us haven't seen already. Once again, there is really nothing "new" out there everything you see can be traced back to TMA and its katas.