People being awkward/angry towards MA

[Adonis]

Kamusta ka na

[BLueDevil]

When I first started I got some comments like "how many boards do you break" accompanied by some smirk or I would here some comment about ninja training, again with some smirk or chuckle. Then I would ask them if they wanted to see something from what I was learning. NObody wanted to. So now that Ive been doing it for a while people ask me if Im still invovled and I say yes and they say "thats cool". Respect takes time to gain I suppose. One of my training partners has heard the little kids comment. I havent personally.

[1st KYU]

I once took a taxi to my dojo...the woman driving made a remark that i look old enough to be teaching the class....im 17!

i dont know where this mentality about martial arts being for little kids came from but i dont like it...there are very few who take me seriously when i say im a martial artist.

[Why_Worry]

Its kidna wierd because at my school people will just kinda randomaly walk up to people and hit them so every once in a while someone tries to hit me and i just step around them and dodge and they are like "Whoa, do you do karate or something?" I'm i just say "Actually yes." So some of the people at my school think its pretty cool but some of the other kids think its kinda stupid/silly.

But i kinda like it when people are ignorant and think that its silly/stupid. Its actually pretty entertaining to be honest.

[Muaythaiboxer]

there are two groups of people who do MA at my high school the mcdojo people and the hard core fighting people. the mcdojo people usually keep quite about it cause if they talk about it all the time then they will get made fun of or get challenged to fight by wanabe gangsters and then when they get stomped they get made fun of more. and then there are the people who do full contact stuff and we usually are generaly respected more. if someone asks you if you do MA at my school if you answer i do TKD or i do Karate then you will get made fun of for it. but if you answer i take Muay thai or i take Jiujitsu people are like cool! i saw that stuff on ESPN2 or the UFC. i my experience people my own age usually have watched a little UFC or kickboxing and think its cool but tend to kind of laugh at TKD and karate. just karma i guess

AMITABHA

[KempoTiger]

there are two groups of people who do MA at my high school the mcdojo people and the hard core fighting people. the mcdojo people usually keep quite about it cause if they talk about it all the time then they will get made fun of or get challenged to fight by wanabe gangsters and then when they get stomped they get made fun of more. and then there are the people who do full contact stuff and we usually are generaly respected more. if someone asks you if you do MA at my school if you answer i do TKD or i do Karate then you will get made fun of for it. but if you answer i take Muay thai or i take Jiujitsu people are like cool! i saw that stuff on ESPN2 or the UFC. i my experience people my own age usually have watched a little UFC or kickboxing and think its cool but tend to kind of laugh at TKD and karate. just karma i guess

AMITABHA

It's interesting. I only had one or two people actually "challenge" me because I trained in Martial arts. And what I find interesting is that I don't believe I train in a "hard core" type school as you put it, but it's not quite a Mcdojo either. Currently I train rather hardcore I suppose, but that's because I've already had my fun doing kata's and the like, so all thats left is hitting hitting and more hitting.

Regardless though, any 1 on 1 "fights" that I actually caved into participating in within my Jr High/High school days, I literally would make such a show of using the flashiest and least practical techniques to toss whatever "thug" or "gangsta" in my 93.6% white, upper middle class school around with.

[KempoTiger]

I attribute a lot this in my area to the local McDojo. They think that represents the end-all of martial arts. My training couldn't be more different than that!

To add to this, alot of people when they think of the martial arts, they also think of movie martial arts, which ironically seems to have hurt Martial arts credibility rather than bolster it's respect in the mainstream populace.

People look at that and say, "it's just movie magic....they even made Keanu Reeves look awesome!"

[Why_Worry]

Just to say something, i never get in fights at my school but thats cause no one has ever challenged me just cuase that sort of thing doesnt realyl happen at my school (or at least to me as i try not to make fun of anyone i dont care if people make fun of me) but according to your theory of what a McDojo is, if its correct then i go to a Mcdojo according to your standard. But our "McDojo" deffinately doesnt produce the same kind of student that a commercial or franchise would. At my the karate dojo i go to, it is at a community center but the teachers are still very good (they are two 4rth degree black belts who are married so they work very well together and benifit each others knowledge). But we almsot never do sparring and all relaly releases, drills and kata so just to point out that just because you dont really do sparring a dojo is a mcdojo, its places where the instructors dont know what they're doing and they just paid 10 thousand dollars to go to a few seminars and get their blacks belts so they can teach that they can be classifed as a "McDojo".

I think alot of the problem now adays is that franchise/commercial schools are giving martial arts a bad name especially arts such as Karate and TaeKwonDo so taht even if someone finds a good school everyone when they hear about what they practice/study they assumeits just a silly hting. The same goes for community centers where youc an find very good teachers because all they really do is teach and arent there for money. When i tell people i take karate at the JCC they laugh at me then a couple of seconds later they usually try to punch me and then they stop laughing when they fail over and over again.

[White Warlock]

Just wanted to cover a few points not yet discussed, or just lightly touched:

• Wearing your martial arts clothing to school, even if it's just the shoes, is advertising. There should be no need to do so, so don't.
   
  
• The shoes are not actually 'martial art' shoes. I don't believe there are 'any' martial art shoes (although some companies have tried to sell their shoes by giving them martial art brandings or associations). They are more likely slippers that are commonly seen in the ol' martial art movies. So, calling them 'martial art shoes' sort of opens up the door to ridicule.
   
  
• When people, who are not practitioners and who are at a stage in their life where they are somewhat insecure (most persons in junior high and high school fall into that category), get told that you know martial arts, suddenly you have violated their personal space. You violated their personal space by mentioning such. For, many persons feel by mentioning such, you are somehow 'challenging them,' stating something like, "i know the martial arts, so don't mess with me." This is one of the reasons those persons who mention they study the martial arts get challenged... because they failed to realize that they were the ones who actually committed the challenge.
   
  
• The cutdown about kiddies was, in itself, a counter-challenge. It was a means to put down your confidence in what you practice, so as to undermine the unintentional threat you imposed by your comment. It is much the same as someone saying, "i'm a violent person, respect me," and then the counter-response being, "yeah, i'm sure gerbils find you pretty violent."
   
  
• Notice how you feel when a person mentions he is a football player. Some mention it with the specific intent to 'intimidate,' but most do not. Despite this, most of the times it is mentioned, one can feel intimidated... because football is a very violent sport and we are in a very 'non-violent-minded' society. It is the contrast of civilized vs barbaric (which opens up a can of worms for discussion, btw).

To avoid having to 'explain' yourself, or the love for your art, don't volunteer information like this. It's not important that they know, unless they have an interest in the material you study, or wish to study with you. Unlike many other sports or studies, martial arts 'is' about violence, and therefore... you are studying how to commit violence. This, in and of itself, needs to be understood... if you wish to be accepted in a 'civilized' society.

Thank you for reading

[Sengra]

I attribute a lot this in my area to the local McDojo. They think that represents the end-all of martial arts. My training couldn't be more different than that!

To add to this, alot of people when they think of the martial arts, they also think of movie martial arts, which ironically seems to have hurt Martial arts credibility rather than bolster it's respect in the mainstream populace.

People look at that and say, "it's just movie magic....they even made Keanu Reeves look awesome!"

I could not agree more...