I frequesnt a few different Martial arts forums, and read in one of them that knowledge has a price. While I can see that it does, how do you feel about someone holding on to a piece of martial arts history instead of sharing it with the community because of money? In other words, lets say there is a film of Hwang Kee doing a form and it is all very rare. Is this something that should only be viewed by the highest bidder and kept for those privilaged few, or show it be available to the general public? I have mixed feelings about this personally, so I would like to hear other people's thoughts.
All knowledge should be shared with anyone willing to receive it. When it comes to the martial arts, I feel there's a responsibility to share what one knows after reaching a certain point. Otherwise, the martial arts would die or become stagnant due to people hording knowledge for themselves. The only reason we practice them today is because masters in the past passed down knowledge to their students who then did the same thing. Of course, there's always exceptions. You don't want to teach a hotheaded beginner a "touch of death" technique lol. But with forms, they should certainly be shared openly.
I agree - now "Devils' Advocate" That knowledge is the product of an instructor, correct? So, should they try to make a living off of something like this? After all it is capital.
Why not? If the producer of said info acquired the knowledge after enduring huge inconveniences then why not? He or she maybe just putting a price on something that has value simply because it was so hard to get.
As a librarian, I would like to see something that rare and valuable put in the public trust in some way shape or form, but that doesn't mean that whomever acquired the tape shouldn't be compensated for their time/effort/monetary expenditure. Once one gets past that point the question becomes: are the martial arts something that the owner of the tape feels comfortable making a profit on? Such an item could have great value as a primary source document for scholarship, but could also make money for the holder and enter the scholastic realm more slowly that way.
Personally I would share it for free. If the form was considered a "holy grail" kind of thing and there were lots of masters just dying learn it, I would show them. If its Tang Soo Do then Tang Soo Do practitioners should be able to study it, not just the owner of the video. I dont like secrets in the MA and im all for the free flow of info in the TSD community especially if its an important piece of our martial arts history.
I would see a bright future for it on ebay.... Seriously, depends on the instructor. Its like someone finding a Rembrandt for sale at a tagsale. More than likely he's not going to just donate it to a museum, he's going to auction it off. In todays world, it would be sold, not donated for viewing.
Or perhaps this person would not sell or share it because they can always claim they know/have something no one else does?
Yes like that guy in an ad I saw once in TKD times said that he can increase the speed of your punches overnight!
