the things worth believing in

As I have come to understand it, the Filipino Arts as commercial ventures in America can be traced to a small handful of “masters”. While there have been a number of people teaching the art in the US to individuals or small groups for many years, a couple of notable figures can be credited with its sudden popularity in American martial arts circles. The art that I am associated with gained popularity via the “seminar circuit”. The master hopped around giving weekend long seminars. He passed out rank certificates based on his opinion of the students skill level and how often they came to the seminars and demonstrated how they were progressing. I think that the masters concept of “rank” and how it was to influence his arts politics was ill conceived. Perhaps it was a cultural issue, perhaps he wasn’t concerned with politics and cared less about people squabbling over titles…either way, passing out rank “willy nilly” with no discernible framework or structure was the foundation upon which a lot of rivalry was formed. To add to the confusion, senior students began to form their own variations and associations with their own rank structures, resulting in rank issued by the master as well as rank titles in their own associations. It was against this backdrop that this particular story unfolded.

For myself, time went by…I did my military service, got married, started having children, got into law enforcement, SWAT, promotions, etc. All the while I kind of existed on the fringe of this martial arts group. I trained with Paul, attended seminars and training with DB and some of his close students. Through Paul I heard the stories about the politics and infighting going on in the Filipino Arts in general and the antics between DB and THin particular. He mentioned that some interesting discussions were taking place on an internet discussion forum and suggested that I take a look. I registered with this forum and shortly found out that the board was not only heavily trafficked by students and associates of TH, it was owned and administered by a student/associate of his as well. Discussion on the Filipino Martial arts quickly divided into what became known as “camps”. The “TH Camp” and the “DBCamp”. Being a childhood friend of Paul’s and of the same mind on many issues I of course agreed with most of the points he made in discussions and my own posts were of obviously similar philosophies. Because of this I was pigeonholed as being a member of the “DB Camp”. Even though I was only bumping into DB on a once or twice a year basis at this time and had no political ax to grind.

The bulk of the controversial posts were about TH and his rank. Admittedly, he was issued a fairly high belt level by the master of the art (for whatever that was worth). What was called into question was his formation of his own association and its separate belt structure. Within this association, TH formed a directors board of people from various arts, some that were his own students and juniors in the art. Eventually he had this board promote him to an extremely high rank. This caused squabbling amongst some senior students over who was the senior most student in the masters art.

It all sounds so juvenile, silly and confusing and to a large extent it is, but there were some good points made regarding various artistic and ethical problems with this too. However, the internet being what IT is, all sorts of silliness ensued on this discussion board. Various “sock puppet” accounts jumped into the mix adding fuel to the fires. Some were obviously the same people posting with different names. Some were girlfriends, friends and students from each “camp”. Names were called, threats were made…the age of the internet makes for some very strange circumstances.

What made our local situation even stranger was the fact that many of the people “getting into each others shit” either resided in or frequented the same geographical area. When you take the “6 degrees of separation” factor and add in close proximity it becomes a matter of time before you are dragged into stupid situations and that’s what eventually happened to me.

Stand by while I try to formulate part 3 without getting myself into more stupid situations.

http://www.magpul.com/

I could watch this webpage all day just for the images and quotes that run in the top frame.

Low Tech Combat has an excellent post on how to maintain your skills and fitness even with the conflicting demands we all face in todays busy society.

Training When Busy

Training can mean different things to different people. For readers of Low Tech Combat it will generally mean two things. Strength and conditioning training along with martial arts or fight training. Either or both of these areas will be neglected as we become busier as priorities are juggled around. In today’s day and age, the requirement to be able to fight off an attacker can seem far fetched and is really a luxury and past time that is easily dropped for many people.

For those who really enjoy training, when we skip sessions, we often feel really bad about it and can regret the decision later. Obviously, this is not really healthy. What I intend to do is list some things which make it easier to maintain our training when going through some busy periods in our lives. We can cut back on the time spent training whilst maintaining the benefits or even improve ourselves with less time!

Another good post over on Low Tech…check it out.

I’ve been contemplating whether or not I should write this post for a while now. It’s been sitting in the “draft bin” while I’ve hemmed and hawed. Things have been going peacefully for me lately in the politics category and the AO has been quiet… so part of me is saying “just leave it be”, but I think that my experience could be useful for a person looking to start studying martial arts.

The thing people have to realize is that martial arts are a human endeavor and as such are subject to human weaknesses; ego, greed, envy, miscommunication, stubbornness and just plain old politics. Some of the people involved in this little story probably read this blog every once and a while so I am going to do my best not to offend anybody. I am only going to describe my understanding of the situation and my experience with it. I am going to leave any opinion on peoples behavior out of the equation.

Before I start let me say that I’m not claiming that this story is “common”, but from looking, listening and reading I am pretty confident that the reader can find similar situations nearby. And in the long run, my little part in this story is very tame. There have been situations involving lawsuits, violence and outright murder over similar events so this is going  to be sort of “milk toast” by comparison.

The names have been changed (or just abbreviated) to protect the innocent…the guilty…and myself.

My experience with the martial arts began back in the early 1980′s. After years of fascination with the Saturday Kung-Fu Cinema, and playing “Ninja” with my good friend Paul (this was the height of the “ninja craze” 80′s mind you), I convinced my parents to enroll me in a small local Shorinji Kempo school. I attended regularly until my parents and I had a bit of a falling out with the instructor. In kind of “Kobra-Kai” fashion, the Sensei there had a bizarre rule that if you missed a class (as in one) and your excuse wasn’t acceptable to him that you would be “banished” for a month. Being in high-school at the time, I had to stay after school for an academic reason one evening (read: I wasn’t doing well in science class and needed some extra credit by volunteering to help at parent night). I told a fellow classmate and martial arts student to tell the instructor that I would not be able to attend and would bring a written excuse from my parents next session. Well that wasn’t acceptable..I was “banished” for a month after my very first missed class. Since that month was already paid for my parents went ballistic, made a big scene (and got their money back…good for them) and I never returned there.

1 to 1 1/2 years later, my uncle married a woman who was studying Chinese Kenpo at a local school that I eventually joined and attended into college. Well…my Uncle and her are divorced now and I think that part of the reason may have been “something going on” between her and one of the instructors. That school closed down after I achieved a couple of belts and I was a Ronin once again.

As I was going through college my buddy Paul decided to join Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children and on his worldwide tour studied a few various arts. Upon his return he decided to attend a local community college and this is when the main issue of this little biography began.

Paul saw that the college was offering a self-defense class and took it. It was being taught by a professor DB. DBhad a base in Chinese Kenpo and had brought a then little known Filipino master to the area, this master was teaching a “new” art that was then little known in the US. DB received an instructor level ranking in this art and was teaching a personal blend of it at the college. With the written approval of the Master.

There was another group of people in the area that started following this Filipino Master and DB began to meet and associate with them at various seminars, one of them was a man named TH. After a while, TH started proclaiming himself the “number one” man in the art around our area. This sort of perturbed DB, who had been running a successful collegiate program for a number of years and was never informed of his “subordinate” status to TH. This began a feud that lasted for years and currently seems to be in a North/South Korea style cease-fire.

Eventually, I began going with my friend Paul to weekly training sessions with DB. I attended seminars and assisted Paul with instructing various groups he started up after he attained his instructors certification. I bumped into THa few times, but I was not involved in any of the dojo politics.

The internet… being the gateway to hell that it is though that was about to change.

Who can ever forget their first day “down range” with their training company? These guys had it easy. Well…I guess everybody thinks that they had tougher DI’s “back in the day”.

I just have to give an attaboy to the SEAL shooters who finally put an end to the pirate stand-off near Somalia. Simultaneous head shots on targets in a moving ship, from a moving ship. At night nonetheless. Thats damn great work there.

Story here.

I think it’s sometimes necessary to separate the “noble intentions” of religion, warrior codes, and so on from their historical application. If our standard is to be that we disregard or throw out any belief system, philosophy or ideal that has skeletons in it’s closet, we may as well all just become bitter cynics and drink the hemlock now. There is nothing that humans haven’t F$@^’ed up once upon a time. What is “noble” about humans is that we still have “faith” in those higher ideals and keep on trying to live up to them.

DARKON is a feature documentary that follows the real-life adventures of an unusual group of weekend “warrior knights”,  fantasy role-playing gamers whose live action “battleground” is modern-day Baltimore, Maryland, re-imagined as a make-believe medieval world named Darkon. These live action gamers combine the physical drama of historical re-enactments with character-driven storylines inspired in part by such perennial favorite fantasy epics like the legends of King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, and the saga of Conan the Barbarian. As role players, they create alter-egos with rich emotional, psychological, and social lives. They costume themselves and physically act out their characters exploits both in intimate court intrigue and campouts and in panoramic battle scenarios involving competitive strategies, convincingly real props, and full contact “combat”. Because real life so often gets in the way, it’s easy to understand these players motivations. Everybody wants to be a hero.

I just caught the last half of this documentary on the tube. For those interested in the issues discussed in this blog I think that it illustrates many interesting facets of the social and psychological forces that are in play. It shows, quite clearly, the difference between “fantasy warriorship” and the real thing. While this video shows the almost cliche version of the “D&D Geek” living out a fantasy life, how different are the martial artists who train 2-3 times a week as a hobby…or even as a profession…and desire to be called (or thought of by others)  “warriors”?

However, I feel obliged to state that in this entire documentary, nobody appears to be claiming that they are “warriors” outside their “game life”. Likewise I have to admit that if not for the self-consciousness issue and embarrassment (entirely “my issue” there) of being associated with a group like this, I could almost see myself enjoying something of this nature. They do appear to be having a lot of fun, and it makes me reminisce about my teen years …its just not for me. It brings to my mind the bible quote:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways.

While I look back on my “geek years” in HS with no regrets and fondly remember running around the woods doing this sort of thing as a teen, most of my friends and myself translated that energy into the “real world” through military and public service. As an adult I would prefer spending any available funds and free time working on “real life” skills that could help me in my actual profession. I am also very content with the life I have and the accomplishments I have achieved and don’t feel the need to develop an “alter-ego”.

A well written critique of the film can be read here. A few appropriate quotes from it are:

Skip always comes across as reasonable, yet over the course of the film, it becomes more and more apparent that, for him at least, Darkon has done more harm than good. One telling scene in the middle of the film—actually, the key scene of the film itself—involves him confronting a friend of his who has always been his strongest ally in Laconia. This friend has decided, within the game, to sever their alliance, to change his character and switch sides, essentially betraying Skip.

Their argument spills over and out of the game, into the “real” world, Skip unable to accept this betrayal and taking it very personally, his friend repeating futilely, over and over, “It’s just a game. To Skip, this doesn’t register, its plain nonsense. There’s no separation—the micro world of Darkon, the macro real world, they are one and the same to him. And this is the crux of the problem with losing oneself too deeply in a character and a fabricated world, this inability to differentiate reality from fantasy, anymore.

…

Have we lost our capacity for imagination and wonder, for the pure joy of playing make believe? At what point does childhood die? These questions, quickly raised, are never answered, and never asked again, but to me it’s the most fascinating thing about the popularity of LARPing. Though it’s easy to dismiss these folks as maladjusted, socially awkward misfits, there’s something a little noble and admirable about this defiance of the world, of their refusal to grow up. As far as escapism goes, you could do much worse.

Interesting points that one can apply to almost any pursuit that one uses to fill a void in their “real lives”.

One final thing I want to make clear. I do not want to appear to be ridiculing people who participate in activities like this or people who believe that they are “warriors” because they study martial arts. There is nothing inherently “wrong” in either pursuit. It’s a free country where we are all free to believe what we wish and I don’t believe anybody is causing any harm here (although some people in the documentary appear to be confusing their fantasy lives and their real ones). I just subscribe to a different definition of the term…and what it takes to be classified by it.

The entire documentary can be seen here.

In a previous post I used Kyudo as an example of a martial art that has become more “art” than “martial” over time. Its practitioners admit that hitting the target is not even “important”, the whole “martial” point behind a bow. The arts stated aims are to improve mental acuity, concentration and the mind/body connection. Excellent goals and nothing to scoff at. I just think it stands as a great example of the wide range of what “martial art” can mean. In my opinion Kyudo looks to be an interesting art with potential cross-over application of is mental disciplines into any aspect of combat or life in general.

Featured above is an example of Capoeira . A Brazilian/African art that has gained some rapid popularity in North America recently. I think Capoeria is another fascinating “martial art” to look at when discussing the meaning of the term. Capoeira is a dynamic, athletic and highly stylistic art who’s own practitioners apparently debate its origins and purposes. Is it a dance? a game? a martial art? While its physical benefits of co-ordination, flexibility, agility and other traits are fairly obvious, its practical application as a “combative art” leaves some questions. The practicality of highly acrobatic movements under the stress of confrontation leaves me doubting its validity as a “combative system”, not to mention the issues of environment, clothing worn and available space.

Its always been my opinion that the topic of a martial arts “combative application” involves a lot of ego, self-worth and self-esteem issues in those crusading to defend their arts “fighting honor”. Study any art you desire, they all can have benefits that can be an advantage in a confrontation. The old saying “Its not the dog in the fight, its the fight in the dog” has a bit of weight in this issue. Skill without the mindset is a losing proposition.

It seems that taking a martial art simply because you enjoy it and could care less about its combative application is somehow taboo. There is absolutely nothing wrong with participating in something you enjoy and are good at. Something that gives you a sense of accomplishment even if it may not be the most practical for self-defense.

I believe that it is the “ego stroke” of thinking that you can dominate another with your martial skills that drives a lot of the fighting over what is “combat effective”. That “stroke” can be public (as in when you tell others that you train) or private (as when you don’t tell others but enjoy the private knowledge that you are a trained “killing machine”). Perhaps this is a natural human phenomena, if it is I believe that its important to recognize it. Live intentionally, not in denial.

In conclusion I would state that studying any art that punches, kicks, grapples and trains “fighting” skills has potential to be effective. However, if surviving a street attack is your stated aim, the only way to reach that goal is to train in a manner that approximates a real confrontation. That means that working against resisting opponents, regardless of the style, is whats important.