Recently I\u2019ve noticed some extremely disturbing \u00a0trends in the current martial arts world. Now I realize I may piss off a lot of cohorts by writing about this generally hidden-in-plain-sight issue in the industry, and I\u2019m okay with that potentiality. The martial arts world simply does not provide what the majority of people want nor what they need. A paradigm shift would seem to be called for, as it would in any other industry during evolutionary processes inter-field but, alas, it simply won\u2019t happen in this instance. I just don\u2019t see it. That would take self-reflection. Doing heavy research in a vast number of areas. Handing in our pride, ego and maybe even all those colored belts. (I\u2019m willing if you are)<\/p>\n
We are bass ackwards in our view. Title-whoring. Idolatry. Politics. Pecking orders. Elitism. Hell, racism. Skewed histories and downright lies. We are a service industry and people pay us (like a plumber, carpenter, janitor, electrician) to provide them with something needed, hopefully with honesty and ethically. NOT to get a mountaintop guru that feeds them the bullshit they want to hear. We assume secretly that people are stupid and laugh about it behind closed doors with other killers-in-their-own-minds. They, the public, are not. This is, quite possibly, the most information-savvy public in the history of humankind, at this very moment. I hate to say it, but they are often the ones laughing at us.<\/p>\n
The majority of instructors, I\u2019d be willing to bet, have never done any market research on what the average citizen is actually looking for. From most average folk that I\u2019ve talked to, the perception is two-fold: 1. The pyjama-wearing, barefoot, color-belted, screamer who hits air and goes through multi-cultural rituals that usually don\u2019t pertain to his\/her own. 2. The tough guy who walks around glaring at people and acting out on misplaced child opportunities to express him\/herself demonstratively. Very rarely does the cerebral professional whose goal is to train you to stay out of the dangerous spots come to mind. We are missing a huge demographic that will never find themselves on the inside of a \u201cdojo\u201d. They see a never-ending supply of vast physical responses to all situations, outdated methodologies, no classroom time or analysis of current crime and reverse-engineering to address it. A systemic linear curriculum. (From my experience, which may or may not be correct from your vantage point \u2013 and that\u2019s okay \u2013 violence is not, linear that is: it\u2019s organic, fluid and varying and graduating suddenly on a sliding scale of escalation.)<\/p>\n
We continue to play these parlor games of long-term syllabi and progressive learning curve, oftentimes being negligent at best, putting our students directly in harm\u2019s way at worse. Teaching what in the real world would amount to murder. (16-cut lethal knife solution to single right cross, anyone?) No address of local laws. Post-event LE interactions. The varying phases of adrenaline. Spatial considerations. Situational and environmental awareness. Internet safety. Defensive driving and car safety \u2013 in the plainest terms, not like Jason Bourne, just learning how to simply drive defensively. Anatomy. Psychology. 1st<\/sup> Aid. What constitutes self-defense and what not. Body language \u2013 both yours and \u201ctheirs\u201d.<\/p>\n Most seemingly do not understand, don\u2019t care, only pay lip service as it\u2019s boring content or worse, don\u2019t even know about the difference between social and asocial (dueling\/matchfighting and violent one-sided crime\/victim selection) violence nor the difference in prep for each being unique unto itself. And when this is brought up, one gets the stereotypical response. \u201cCome to my club and we\u2019ll see who knows about violence!\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll meet you at this time and this place to discuss this further\u201d \u201cIf I were there, I\u2019d kick your ass.\u201d Listen, when I say the vast majority of martial arts don\u2019t work, I\u2019m not saying physically they\u2019re not capable of being functional. (although this is another issue entirely, just not for this article) What I am saying is they simply don\u2019t address modern needs, modern scenarios, modern problems, modern criminals nor modern legal\/ethical\/psychological\/moral complexities. They don\u2019t. At least not the way the majority teach them. We teach 95% physical, 5% mental. What people face is 95% mental (physiological\/emotional\/moral\/psychological), 5% physical. Ass-backwards. I\u2019ve far too often heard from instructors: \u201cOkay, Johnny, be situationally-aware out there, alright? Great! Now let\u2019s get back to hitting the heavy bag (grappling\/striking\/cutting ad infinitum)!\u201d Meanwhile, Johnny is left to wonder that something really bloody important was just glossed over at the expense of curriculum\/syllabus. As he has no clue of what \u201csituationally aware\u201d means, what he\u2019s supposed to look for and what it means even if he does.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an axiom I always revert back to, it helps me both sleep at night and look in the mirror the next morning: \u201cI teach nothing that I wouldn\u2019t use personally to defend the lives of myself or my family.\u201d Now, I know this will be perceived as a macho testosterone-filled statement but, in actuality, this also means not taking myself out of their lives and putting in jeopardy my ability to provide for them stupidly and irrationally. It means analyzing situations, both in the moment and well-before (visualization\/risk analysis) so I have a plan of assessment as to what constitutes worthwhile and what simply doesn\u2019t. (HINT: Social media doesn\u2019t) It means not getting killed or seriously-injured nor doing the same to anyone else out of pride or ego. It means not screwing my family over with a mountain of legal bills post-incident. And it means not making important decisions with either my lizard brain or what\u2019s conveniently-covered by my boxers. (boxers vs. briefs will be left for a future article) Now I know most would say they want someone who\u2019s been there\/done that with regards to violence or at least pressure-testing\/resistance-training, and this I agree with. (Delivering damage is different than \u201csquaring off\u201d, all other avenues being exhausted) But I also often ask this as well, to play devil\u2019s advocate, which allows for some thought a little further down the rabbit hole of context on one\u2019s experience with said violence: \u201cCan someone who simply can\u2019t ever seem to stay out of the shit, away from violence, teach someone else counter-violence or personal protection?\u201d It is a fine line and there are those out there who come from both worlds but they are becoming increasingly hard to find.<\/p>\n Maybe this is an overreaction. Maybe not. But we run the risk of becoming redundant in the martial arts world. A caricature of ourselves. Stagnant. We walk a fine line of self-importance that quite honestly wouldn\u2019t be tolerated in another line of work or other industries. Hammer and nail theory. Evolution is good. Healthy. Self-assessment and self-realization are the pillars of that evolution. Ego, politics, status and status quo are the destroyers. I’ve chosen not to play the game any longer.\u00a0The mirror? Well, still having problems but that\u2019s a matter of prettiness or lack thereof, not ability to look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently I\u2019ve noticed some extremely disturbing \u00a0trends in the current martial arts world. Now I realize I may piss off a lot of cohorts by writing about this generally hidden-in-plain-sight issue in the industry, and I\u2019m okay with that potentiality. The martial arts world simply does not provide what the majority of people want nor … Continue reading AN HONEST ASSESSMENT ON THE STATE OF THE THING<\/span>