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[Reklats]

I just randomly found this site while surfing around during a break from studying. I read one of these articles, then read all four, and realized that this person states my beliefs PERFECTLY, and more eloquently than I ever could. What do you guys think?

 

http://sezme.twistedpair.net/subindex/kar_ind.htm

[stl_karateka]

I just read the 4 dojo visits ---

 

The girl is very arrogant and gives practicioners a bad name! Not because she didn't like the schools --- to be honest there is some stuff I read up there that would make me run in the other direction. But the fact that she blatantly flamed these schools --- names and specifics aren't necessary.

 

Furthermore, isn't martial arts about humility? Especially those who go about proclaiming that belts are necessary and no indicator of skill.....where is the humility in telling master ranks that they are wrong, swearing in the dojo, etc?

 

Where is the humility in thinking that because you've trained for 12 years you got it all figured out? Note -- she didn't actually come out and say she has all the answers but this is how she portrays it.

 

And 4 black belts and 3 different styles in 12 years? So what does that make her? Shodan, maybe a Nidan --- I don't think it says...hmmm

 

Something doesn't add up....for someone who doesn't see the use in rank to obtain 4 BBs....in 12 years.....she probably crossed between similiar styles and was allowed to keep rank.

 

Bottom line - I was completely turned-off by her "I know if all" attitude.

[delta1]

I just read one article:

The error in reasoning lies in the assumptions we make concerning "art." An artist is "a person who is skilled in the fine arts or the performing arts," or "one who does anything very well, with imagination and a feeling for form and effect." It’s no wonder that we associate creativity, performance, and aesthetic values—how something looks—with the words "art" and "artist."

 

However, there is an older, more basic definition of "art." It is the only one that makes sense in the context of "martial arts," but it is usually overlooked, since it has fallen out of general usage. "Art" is simply "any specific skill or its application; craftsmanship."

 

Forget creativity. Forget performance. It is a learned skill. A craft, if you will.

 

I have to disagree here. The author started out on a good line of thought, but here draws the wrong conclusion by taking that thought to an extreme.

 

You can learn a craft or skill, but to raise it to the level of an art necessarily implies creativity. The true craftsman is one who knows his basics well enough that he can be creative as well as effective. The main thread of this article is whether kata is the art part of the martial arts. It isn't the kata that is the art, it is your interpretation(s) of kata, which takes a fair ammount of understanding and creativity.

 

In actual use of your art, say in sparing or in a fight, you'd better be creative! Odds are that no kata, one step, technique, or drill has ever went exactly like what you'll face when you square off with a live opponent. If you can't be spontaneously creative, you're beat.

 

You may have learned all your basics to perfection. You might be able to do all your kata without missing a beat. But if you can't creatively put that knowlege to use, whether in a fight or in competition, you are not an artist in the sense of being a craftsman in the martial arts.

[stl_karateka]

Just looked over more stuff on this girls site - I have little respect for her.

 

And she's going after an Air Force commission --- oy vay! We don't need that kind of haughtiness amoung our leaders! And attitude like that isn't going to get ANYONE to follow you.

[Kai_Hwarang]

I just read a few of her "reviews" and "articles".

 

Someone needs to write this woman a letter and tell her out it is. She claims to be a Martial Artist, but in fact she's a sorry excuse for one. She's not humble, she's rude, and she's an egoist.

 

She claims as though she is the "know it all", yet she doesn't realize her own flaws. It's so evident by the fact that she acts like a * and tried to belittle people just to make herself look better. She's truly a bitter and very pathetic person...seems like she needs the Martial Arts just to even be anything.

 

-Kai

[Kai_Hwarang]

This is a letter I wrote her...

 

 

 

I read your articles about your experiences with other Dojos, Dojangs, Temples etc. and one on your thoughts about the concept of "art" within Martial Arts.

 

You said at the bottom of your page to contact you and tell you what we think...well I think the following.

 

First and foremost I don't really see you as a Martial Artist. The way you write makes you come off as a fighter who thinks she's got it all and then some. You come off as rude, egotistical, and furthermore, disrespectful. Your experience within the arts may have given you some insight into certain things, but to actually sit there, writing off and discretiding others styles and methods just because they don't work for you, doesn't make them "wrong". While I agree that there are some schools out there that teach in a ridiculous manner and more for sport than actual art, many styles and teachers do try to do their best to teach what they can. It is not always the teacher that cannot teach the students...many more times it's the students who do not wish to learn in the proper fashion that the traditional Martial Arts world promotes. It's either because of lazyness, cowardness...or the simple fact that their parents or their girlfriends/boyfriends or whatever don't want them to get hurt.

 

Then you move on to belts. Yes, I do see the belt system being abused as just a way to "move up". But that is not because the belts exist, it's how they are percieved. When a teacher says "just to hold your pants up" they're trying to inform the students that the belt is not just something to achieve and it is not the only goal. Into more detail, my Master used to tell me that the belt is what you make of it...it can either strangle you or show you off...the belt is not you...you are the belt. While rank does have significance, he also pointed out that it can be the unveiler of masks and truths.

 

And I also don't see the Martial Arts as a "craft". It is not a tool that someone whips around for their own enjoyment or benifit. While it can be percieved as so, it was not intended for that. It is an art because one can learn the basics of the "craft" but go off and do what they please with it by their imaginations unlimited creativity. A craft is something you do...the art is how you do it.

 

Now I hope that you take this as criticism rather than insult...as you have shown so respectfully to the other places you have visited before...

 

-Kai[/i]

[gheinisch]

This women is critical of everything. She takes on everything from Martial Arts, Church and God, politics, racism and the list goes on. She admits that she is a very bitter person who is a pastors daughter turned atheists. In her words I see nothing but arrogance and anger. I pity a person who lives life looking for the bad in everything. Almost feel sorry for her. But, she is allowed her opinion which she gives freely. I think in her little world, her glass is half empty.

[kchenault]

She appears to have some unresolved childhood issues with her parents. I'm not a psychologist, but she argues too adamantly in favor of her beliefs and against others. I was particularly offended by her rantings on the Church of Christ, when we Xn's, as she types it, do not all buy into their practices. Some of us do read our 'Holy Book', and use logic in understnding it. Too bad for her with all that bitterness to spill over to other parts of her life, such as the Martial Arts. JMHO.

[Drunken Monkey]

hmm, what do you guys think of her straw man idea?

 

i'll let you post before i give my two cents worth...

[Reklats]

I think its a good point- most traditional places spend tragically more time than its worth practicing fixed patterns instead of doing things that would really help them.