Note: Philosophy forum, not intended as a bashing of anything, just a little fun looking at things Andy brought up a interesting point about trends, but there is another way to look at things. Trends exist, they are a part of everything we do, no one can deny that. But at the same time perhaps what we are going through is not a new trend, but a sort of renaissance. Go back a bit in history and you won't find the same sort of style divisions we have now. Go all the way back to pankration at the ancient olympics and you won't find different styles, with lineages, heirarchies based on specific stylistic variations. You would find a bunch of guys who would learn and train anything they thought could help them win. Test it as best they could before going for real. Then go do it. Go to feudal Europe and see what the warriors are doing. They are doing basically the same thing, taking whatever they can make work, testing it out as best they can before hand. The tools are different, but the basic idea is the same. Now to modern times, soldiers are still doing it. Learn what will work, test it out as best you can in training, improve things if you can. Again, same idea, different tools. But now we have other things as well. The combat sports, wrestling, boxing and fencing being the main western ones. Highly restrictive sports based on certain elements of fighting. What are they doing? Basically the same thing, train whatever works, adapt it and test it before doing it for real. We also got the "Martial Arts" Systems passed down from older times based on teaching and training methods of warriors of old times. What are they doing? Not the same thing, they are following the style, maintaining the lineage, Keeping the traditions and preserving something of old as best they can. A worthy goal for some, but basically they are being historians in some sense. But then it got put to the test and didn't hold up as well as everyone thought it would. Progress had been made in one on one fighting, but they had been left behind in that. That doesn't mean they are no good, Newtons work may not be at Einstiens level, but Newtons laws hold for most purposes. MMA showed what does and does not work in one on one combat, they put things to the test. The test was not full as it only focused on one on one unarmed combat in a certain environment. But this is not the only test that can be done. Limited rules fighting with minimal protective gear can encompass just about any possibility. Weapons, multiple attackers, different environments, different objectives, etc. All can be put to the test fairly safely with minimal gear and minimal rules. The traditional arts can't do that, if they did they would no longer be traditional. Instead of different styles and lineages you get different fighters, with different attributes and different strategies, but no "styles" in the traditional sense of the word. Now back to Newton and Einstien, Newton, although replaced by Einstien, can be derrived from Einstein. So Can the Traditional styles be derrived from the modern methods which go and do those things, get in the ring and fight, grab a pair of sticks and fight? If not they are untestable and "pseudo-science", Like Astrology, which cannot be proven or disproven. Some people still like to follow astrology, some do not.
I agree. The problem with a lot of martial arts nowadays is they seem to feel unless you can trace a lineage to some ancient warrior class or an old guy up a mountain somewhere, your art is not worth studying. If you look back at the guys that the arts were actually derived from, they were mostly travellers/curious people who used the best parts of everything they had learned and found something that worked well for them as an individual. That's the key, it's someone who stepped outside the box and had the balls to question the rules of the past (something we should all do more often). Ever seen Life of Brian? same situation - as soon as you name something/someone as 'special', then you get the tourists and wannabe disciples pounding at your door. A loose quote: Brian: "I'm not the messiah, you're all special, you're all unique" Voice from the crowd: "I'm not"
