Making fun of karate people?

[ShotokanKid]

Ever had someone drive by and yell out, "Hi-yah!" What's the point of doing that? Just wondering.

[Shorin Ryuu]

Well, for four years, my dojo was at a converted squash court at my university. This was an open squash court, so it meant that everyone could see you (it was in one of the athletic buildings). Many times, the lacrosse team or football team would sort of congregate by the benches and often make disparaging remarks (which were obviously said loud enough so they knew we could hear them) or the ridiculous mock kiai. At the same time, you also had people just watch out of genuine interest. Rarer still were those that kind of acknowledged how deadly or effective some of the stuff we were doing was.

 

I understand the frustration that comes from seeing people openly mock what you do. I certainly never walked next to football practice and mocked them by pretending to do drills and tackles, nor did I mock the lacrosse team by pretending to catch a ball with an imaginary stick. It's just that the martial arts are often not taken seriously ("Oh, that stuff will never work") and are an object of amusement. You just have to ignore them and understand the ignorance or whatever factor it is that causes their actions. If nothing else, think of it as a concentration drill.

[jedimc]

Us Martial Artists are a more wiser group of people, our art have made us more disiplined and we see life a different way as others because this is the way of the martial artist.

[Shorin Ryuu]

Well, I don't know if I quite agree that all martial artists or maybe even most martial artists are more wise or more disciplined than others. For one thing, I hesitate to attribute wisdom based upon martial arts to a large group of people, simply because I think wisdom is a lot deeper than that. Perhaps more disciplined that those that have done nothing at all with their lives, but it is an overly broad statement to say that we are wiser or more disciplined that others. Rarer still is the person who is a true warrior or has a warrior outlook (I held this view before I read Major Forrester Morgan's book Living the Martial Way, and I agree with him on many points).

 

Traditional values are also not necessarily limited and/or representative of those who take martial arts either. I think martial arts can foster these more traditional values (I hesitate to limit them by simply saying "Eastern values"), but despite what I wish the truth to be, I think it is too far of a stretch to place all or even most martial artists in a category apart from everyone else in these respects.

[AngelaG]

Ever had someone drive by and yell out, "Hi-yah!" What's the point of doing that? Just wondering.

Because they are morons!

[47MartialMan]

This is interesting-many of times. Back in the "old days", it wouldnt just be a yell, but a actual walk in challenge.

[opnek]

We were in class one day, and a current students brother came in to watch. (We take Kenpo). He started blabbing on and on about how he was "a streefighter from way back", and how this or that wouldnt ever work. My instructor (a 3rd black) got frustrated with it, and called him up on the mats with us. He walked up to the instructor, and the instructor asked him to show him some of his moves. He threw a wide right hooking haymaker at my instructor, and my instructor stepped in to the punch, and executed a left chop to his right forearm on the brachial plexus nerve mass, and a right chop to the nerve mass in the crook of the shoulder (in between the chest and arm, in the socket). The guy immediately dropped to the floor and started rolling around.

 

He is now in class 3 days a week.

[username9]

Ever had someone drive by and yell out, "Hi-yah!" What's the point of doing that? Just wondering.

Because they are morons!

 

Simple as this really - People always fear/mock what they don't understand!

 

Small Minded People!

 

Game Over!

[ncole_91]

We were in class one day, and a current students brother came in to watch. (We take Kenpo). He started blabbing on and on about how he was "a streefighter from way back", and how this or that wouldnt ever work. My instructor (a 3rd black) got frustrated with it, and called him up on the mats with us. He walked up to the instructor, and the instructor asked him to show him some of his moves. He threw a wide right hooking haymaker at my instructor, and my instructor stepped in to the punch, and executed a left chop to his right forearm on the brachial plexus nerve mass, and a right chop to the nerve mass in the crook of the shoulder (in between the chest and arm, in the socket). The guy immediately dropped to the floor and started rolling around.

 

He is now in class 3 days a week.

 

- so how did you start Martial Arts?

 

- The instructor beat me up,

[dingyuan]

You know what, in most Bruce Lee films Karate fighters were always pictureed as bad guys.