What do you make of this?

[JiuJitsuNation]

There is a school a city over with 2 locations and brings in between the 2 about 80 grand a month and they never make contact during sparring. Do you think the owner cares what works and what doesn't? He seems to be more aware of what the public will pay for. No bruises. Bragging rights that they are black belts and he sits fat. Hm who's wrong here? With this being the information age, are these people misinformed or just looking for something to do?

[tallgeese]

It's probably a combination of both.

There will be that segment that doesn't care what works and what doesn't. They just want an aerobic exercise or a cultural study, ect. And quite frankly, that's fine as long as that's what an individual wants. Just because I don't have an interest in it doesn't mean that it's not a valid pursuit.

The bigger problem I have is those, who you mentioned, are duped into believing that it's something it's not. That this type of training is preparing them for sd situations. That's when I have a problem with marketing.

[MMA_Jim]

I think you summed up an appropriate response to your own question.

People giving "black belts" who have no idea how to fight whatsoever. Now, there are plenty of people that say "martial arts are not about fighting." They most certainly are. No martial art has ever NOT been about fighting. You're practicing punches and kicks- thats fighting if I saw it.

Most people have no idea what they're getting in to- thats what it means to be a novice. They see someone with a black belt and assume he must know what hes talking about (after all, they dont just give these things away, right?). After awhile they buy in to whatever this guy is selling, and try hard to repress obvious questions (will this really work) because they've invested so much time into the style that they NEED it to work so they dont have a psychotic episode and realize after all these years they really didnt learn anything....

[bushido_man96]

I agree with all comments so far. But, I do think that with MMA coming around, and being more mainstream, people are going to begin to see what fighting is really about, and when they compare what they saw on TV to what they see being done in schools, then in a matter of time, things should start to come around.

[DWx]

I tend to think of places like those as practising martial sports rather than martial arts. Each to their own though. If people want non-contact exercise that's fine as long as (like tallgeese said) its not marketed as an effective self defense.