The Most Honest Intro Ever!

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by flashlock, Mar 26, 2007.

  1. wrydolphin

    wrydolphin Pirates... yaarrrr Supporter

    As long as we have that understand, all is well. ;)


    Carry on. :D
     
  2. flashlock

    flashlock Banned Banned

    I was wondering why some people just dismiss my posts out of hand, or make assumptions, so I thought I'd look at this old post. It was very interesting... I haven't read it since I posted it. It's like looking at an old High School Photo... a little embarassing, but it's good to see where one has developed.

    I still think it's interesting that taking martial arts could hurt you in a real fight.

    When I wrote the above, I thought MA was like a simple problem to solve and that "the answer" was easily found through data and logic. I sincerely believed there was a "best art".

    I don't beleive that any more, and debating with intelligent, hard-working MAP members has helped me take a broader view.

    First, "best" for what? Military? Citizen self-defense? LEO? The sport ring? Secondly, "best" for whom: a 10 year old girl, a 270 lbs man, a 5' 4" woman with a bad leg, a gold medalist wrestler? The question is too broad to just jump in and say all in all, X is the best.

    And best for how long? The great technique or tactic of today is the garbage in the dump tomorrow. If something keeps working against someone, they find the counter; then the counter to that counter. As long as arts and techniques (and people) evolve, what is "the best" now does not remain "best" for very long!

    Well, OK, but once you make someone aware of the problem, and they ignore you and just want to be left alone, let him be. If they want to keep arguing, then, sure, keep arguing, otherwise, heck with them.

    I have put down other arts, and that's wrong. I got so caught up in my BJJ instructor's attitudes, or was just reacting to old training that let me down, I have said hurtful things to people who love and train hard. Some times I did that just out of exasperation, sometimes just to pick a fight and see how they defend their art. Sometimes just because I was being a dick.

    I'll work on it!

    I still like specific questions tested out live. Some have accused me of jumping on the "aliveness" bandwagon recently, but I was on that wagon before I even joined MAP!

    I like those basic questions I outlinned above--I was very earnest and it does show what a simplified view I had of MA.

    Some good points mixed with dopey unsubstantiated points, but, again, "best" for what? Right now, I would say BJJ is one of the top 3 things you can do if you want a very strong grappling foundation. It will serve you very well from a fitness point of view, and as a foundation for self defense in general. But also you won't go astray with Sambo, shoot wrestling, Judo, Greco Roman, etc.

    It is a good system, but it's been getting less and less so for me as my BJJ improves. I didn't understand at the time of first posting how your stand up and ground game are so interrelated.

    I don't really know enough about muy thai to have such a firm opinion. It just doesn't interest me except for the clinch stuff.

    Too dismissive--that's what happens when you start with an assumption, ie, that it is possible to find the "best art"... you end up tricking yourself to dismiss other arts to make the search easier. Some of that criticism is valid, some of it is way too cavalier.

    Rest of the post really, luckily, didn't apply to MAP. I have found the moderators very fair, and no one is here just to promote their stupid school (like in other msg boards).

    I think I have to give some credit to MAP to expanding my views on MA. I will still make stupid posts, as everyone does.

    Just one more thing: ninjutsu sucks. :D
     
  3. Johnno

    Johnno Valued Member

    Flashlock,

    I'm glad to learn that you don't see things in such simplistic black and white terms any more - and I admire you for your honesty in openly admitting it. You've got balls mate.

    You give high praise to MAP for it's part in your 'epiphany', and I agree that there's nothing like hearing a wide range of opinions to help you to develop a sense of perspective about your own. But the credit goes to you for being open minded enough to listen. A lot of kids come here and spout their little pieces of dogma then just slope off when everyone gives it the old "yeah, yeah, heard it all before son" - but you obviously asked yourself WHY everyone reacted like that.

    I propose that you be officially removed from the MAP Comedy Troll List forthwith. :Aegis:

    Hell, we might even be able to get you off the Slip Bait List if we're lucky! ;) :D
     
  4. Verx

    Verx "Darkness Approaches"

    I just wanted to say and add to Dr@'s point that, Flashlock you're not an idiot neither are you a troll, you're just a person with strong views at times. Just had to say that as well as sorry for misjudging you as former. :)
     
  5. flashlock

    flashlock Banned Banned

    Dr@ and Verx--I really appreciate that. The more I actually communicate with people--whether in MAP or the dojo/ gym--the more interesting MA becomes. It's a lot more richer than I first thought, and I'm trying to be more respectful of other arts, but I still slip.

    Some arts let me down, but I'm beginning to see maybe I could have found more in them if I understood the problems (aliveness, MA "archeology" as I call it--find out what the origin of a technique really was for and how to apply it now, etc.)

    Sorry to be so self-indulgent by commenting on my own intro, but it was a good exercise!
     
  6. EternalRage

    EternalRage Valued Member

    All of the other intros are one page long.

    Leave it to flashlock to have a 9 page intro thread.

    Flashlock, my current theory as to why we don't have a BJJ forum instead of the subforum inside the Jujitsu forum, is that the admins are afraid that if we end up getting more BJJ exposure and getting new members, that in time there may be 10 or 20 flashlocks going through the ninjitsu forums.

    I know you're not a troll, and the arguments that start aren't intentional flaming/trolling, and that it's simply from your strong views. But there's no need to preach to the non-converted, after all, there's a forum for that and it's called Bullshido. Any time someone outside of BJJ/MMA wants to read the criticisms of their style and what aliveness/Matt Thornton's world is all about, they can go there.

    The MAP Flashlock Flashflood must be contained.
     
  7. Saz

    Saz Nerd Admin

    And my theory is that the only reason Brad Pitt isn't beating my door down is because he's keeping up appearances with Angelina, but that doesn't make it correct now does it.
     
  8. Emil

    Emil Valued Member

    Haha! Eternal Flame - Nice link for you
     
  9. Scarlet Mist

    Scarlet Mist Banned Banned

    Ummm. Yeah, BJJ is like, the best everrrrrr

    :rolleyes:

    I wonder when the next epiphany is coming.
     
  10. Kraken

    Kraken Valued Member

    Ok first of all ,Hello flashlock, i agree with many others here about how you have contradicted yourself in a big way but what annoys me about your initial post is how your seperating the different styles of martial arts, for example Thai-Boxers having less superior ''punches'' to western Boxers your making it sound like ALL people who practice Muay thai will allways have inferior punching when compared to Western Boxers wich wouldnt always be the case, what if someone did both Muay Thai and western Boxing? would that mean they've multiclassed and will gain XP at a slower rate?...........The way your explaining it sounds exactly like your playing D&D or somthing. No Martial arts are crap, everyone is different and uses what they have learned in a different way so saying stuff like BJJ isnt good against Multiple opponants or TKD is Absolute rubbish is stupid, due to the fact its not the Art that has to face ''multiple opponants'' its the person and people react differently to situations their put in no matter how well trained they or what they are trained in, All martial arts deserve to be respected because they have all severed people well in the past as tools to use when put in hostile environments ,So saying in a street fight someone who does BJJ will only try and take someone to the ground and apply a subbmission hold of some kind no matter how many people he is facing , or a practitioner of Gung Fu will look to Chi blast people into Oblivion is quite a Broad stereotypical out look on things, You can look at things how you want but iam just saying that someone who does BJJ can be just as good of a striker as anyone, its not like they get a THAC0 reduction because there primarily grapplers or Gung Fu people are all ignorant to ground fighting because they do gung fu, so no theres no ''feats'' or ''special abbillities'' or ''hit dice'' people get for doing certain Martial arts. thankyou
     
  11. flashlock

    flashlock Banned Banned

    Mm, I was banned from Bullshido, so that's not an option.

    I have strong views... I think that's a good thing. I constantly get criticized that I don't have enough experience to have such views, and that I hop around, implying once an art gets hard I quit.

    I'm tired of some of these circular arguments myself. I am actually proud of my "Hatsumi Grapples Multiple Opponents" thread. It wasn't about me blabbing, I just showed a clip that, I think, woke a few people up to some BS they were spouting. And THEN it turned into me blabbing.

    Less is more.
     
  12. MatsunoCj

    MatsunoCj Jujitsu rookie

    yea its good how ur views changed a little and it seems like ur more open to other peoples input, this thread was actually one of the only interesting intro threads i actually read all the way through lol and i never do that
     
  13. flashlock

    flashlock Banned Banned

    Well, if you're going to make an entrance... make an entrance! :)
     
  14. Zannen!

    Zannen! Banned Banned


    Its not that you lack experience ( although you do ) its that you lack tact and any real knowledge about other martial arts to be making these comments. You can`t even make comments about BJJ that are justifiable.
    Stick to what you know.

    You can`t justify or haven`t presented any strong justification for any of your comments, that is simply the problem.

    If you have been banned from Bullshido, that is seriously funny. You might want to look at that as a wake up call. (People can be banned form Bullshido wow, that must be a difficult feat, you must have trolled the hell out of that forum). I understand your spirit in how you post but, you might want to tone it down a bit.
     
  15. Johnno

    Johnno Valued Member

    True - but bragging in your first post about how many forums you've been banned from is always going to give you a negative image which you've then got to demonstrate isn't the 'real you', if you want people to take you seriously.
     
  16. flashlock

    flashlock Banned Banned

    I can't help if people are too narrow to get past "impressions" (like rjhartung).

    I was banned from bullshido for editing their wikipedia entry. They were eventually forced to keep my changes, but they banned me for it.

    I went into the reasons before--they were, in my opinion--crappy sites. I say the same things here as there, but MAP doesn't ban you for stating your opinion if it differs from the mods'.

    If you want to post on bullshido or martialtalk, go for it. It's a badge of honor to be banned from those places...
     
  17. Andy Cap

    Andy Cap Valued Member

    FLock -

    I read this thread for the first time today. I read the first 4 pages and then the last 2.

    I have to commend you on what appears to be a liberation from what appeared to be a rigid narrow view of what is right and what is wrong. You show a lot of humility and vulnerability as well as patience.

    Throughout this thread you have spoken of the years you spent studying various martial arts. However in 6 months of posting in this forum you appear to have learned the lesson most senior martial artists have learned - Don't dismiss anything out of hand.

    In your first post you were focused on physical domination and death dealing. It's great that from this simple forum you learned there is more to martial arts than simple self defense.

    So, it is high time I say hello and welcome to the forums.
     
  18. Scarlet Mist

    Scarlet Mist Banned Banned

    Why were they force to keep your changes?
     
  19. EternalRage

    EternalRage Valued Member

    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 16, 2007
  20. EternalRage

    EternalRage Valued Member

    So you're saying that's not a concern? I messaged one of you and you never responded to me. But I posted what I thought twice in two different threads and you're relatively quick to come in and deny it.

    Interesting.

    Could you then PM me and tell me the reasons why you're considering we shouldn't have one.
     

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