Don't shoot the messenger. I just read this article that was written a few months back. The author says that old style TKD resembled Krav Maga. Would anyone like to weigh in on what the author is saying? He's basically saying that all TKD taught today is mainly for sport and not for true self-defense. What do you think? http://moosin.com/2014/07/why-taekwon-do-is-not-good-for-self-defence/
I thought the article was awful, personally. Full of the sort of exaggerations I thought we'd started to move past. "The law wouldn't look kindly on a trained fighter elbowing a guy in the face for punching him once." Okay... So taekwondoka are incapable of elbowing someone ONCE in the face? The whole article seems to be the "too deadly for X" argument that's usually reserved for parody these days.
Isn't old style TKD basically karate? In which case, it's definitely an exaggeration to say On the battlefield it's going to be exceptionally rare that hand to hand combat techniques are necessary at all. Most modern fights are settled with firearms, not traditional martial arts. Otherwise I can't really comment on "authentic" TKD, as I've never seen it, at least from the description in the article!
It's typical marketing hype from someone with no real autority to make such a claim "Oh they suck sure, but at MY school you can have T3h D34d1Y!!!!!" Poorly written and conceptually flawed
so why do you keep posting these types of articles? you've already done it in another thread, i think, with aikido. clearly, if you're posting the article, you've got an opinion. maybe we should start shooting the messenger, figuratively of course. i read the first paragraph, then decided it wasn't worth the time... yeah, ok. exceptional indeed.
Giovanni, so I'm a bad guy for creating a discussion? Isn't that the point of this website? I simply asked for feedback because I'm still learning. So, because of that you're going to write me off?
Aegis, I also thought the same thing. I know that Song Moo Kwan is considered old style but is also hard style karate. None of the Kwans are really TKD but combinations of Shotokan and other styles, right? I know, for example. a guy in LV that teaches SMK. He's one of the only grandmasters in the U.S. and he's very good at what he teaches but, what he teaches isn't TKD. What I didn't get is that he's relating TKD to his home environment and claims it's not effective. However, did you look at his credentials at the bottom of the page? He crosstrains. That's one of the last things I noticed. He's also a 4th dan in ITF TKD. So, if he doesn't think it's effective then why does he still train?
I wouldn't pay the article much mind. I used many aspects of taekwondo to protect myself in fights (I say "fight" instead of "self defence" because most of my experience is limited to bar brawls in my army days, mostly instigated by me or mates). That includes punches, head kicks, head butts and eye jabs, because I learned all those things in taekwondo. People watch the Olympics and (stupidly, regrettably) think that's all this amazing system can offer.
I think sometimes "what do you think?" as a kick off is called out because it is often interesting to find out what the OP thinks first - do they agree with the articel and why? This is usually better because without the author being there it is hard to get into the meat and potatoes of a discussion
Well Hannibal, I usually start off my posts like this because I am generally interested to find out what everyone here thinks vs. the author of an article. I just don't see any logic in Giovanni's comments? My threads are pretty innocent. I think Giovanni has decided he knows what's in my head before I do. I'm just a student of martial arts like everyone else here. I didn't realize that asking questions would some how cause people to "size me up' or judge me. Maybe this forum is not the place for me if I'm not allowed to ask questions without judgement.
Setting the baggage aside for a moment, the mods would prefer that--if you're going to post a link, video, etc.--you lead with what YOU think. It's not dire though. Carry on.
So, I'm guessing that we're dealing with a dictatorship and not a democracy, right? I didn't realize I need to have all of my headlines pre-approved before posting. Hmm, that's very interesting indeed.
Heh - the article says "There is a reason why Alex Gillis called his book on Taekwon-Do’s history A Killing Art." I've read that book, and IMHO it doesn't at all try to put forth any claims of "too deadly". Basically it describes how TKD started out as Karate (and may have been used for lethal unarmed military combat), and added high kicks, etc. Pretty much the book is in line with much of what you read on MAP about TKD.
post the article, sure. tell us what the article is about. tell us why you agree or disagree. start the discussion. your post failed at these basics. when you start off with "don't shoot the messenger", you're just asking for trouble.
Oligarchy. Either way stop bitchin about stuff, if you want to post then do so, if you don't like the rules then don't post. It's a bloody forum at the end of the day, that's all.
I was *shrugs* It was simply an observation based entirely on what has been going on consistently on MAP for years and people have been advised about for years......take that observation and make of it what you will - I will sleep just fine tonight regardless
I am just curious. Do you wait for other posts to form your own opinion? There is someone on here who seems to changes their opinion on a post per post basis. This seems to water down most of the discussions he jumps in on. My point is say why you were compelled to share this article with the rest of us. I can lead to a much more interesting read for all of us. In my opinion wtf tkd Olympic stuff no good. all other tkd just as viable as any other hard style and the person who trains it.
