In my first post about “evidence based self-defense”, we discovered that even a profession as steeped in the scientific method as medicine is, still went through modern periods where unfounded opinions often held sway over more objective evidence. My point was, if this can happened in the medical profession, then it is almost guaranteed to happen to a very large degree in the “self-defense” community. Why is the “martial arts” world so prone to these kinds of excesses?
There are a few reasons for this, but to understand one of the main reasons we need to explore the kind of personalities often attracted to the wackiest aspects of “martial arts” and how they differ from those attracted to the medical profession. To my eyes, it looks a lot like a societal trend that a profession with high standards and high levels of expected performance and results tends to develop higher and higher standards. This is the process that “professionalizes” a skill or knowledge set as it becomes more exclusive.
For example, there are only so many seats available at medical schools, therefore as the number of applicants increase so does the entrance requirements and it becomes harder and harder to get into a medical school. However, once an activity or “profession” has very low standards then the trend is for the standards to continue to decline. Any business or profession with no objective standards of performance or training will generally go through this erosion especially if it becomes popular. “What do you mean it takes 5 years to get this Black Belt, the place down the road says it can do it in 2 and they say they are so much deadlier.”
I think the martial arts world is a perfect example of this because a huge part of this group probably does not want to invest the equivalent time or money that it would take to go to med school. What would be the point, if there is no corresponding reward in pay and prestige? Many people simply want the feeling that they have accomplished something or feel some “prestige” without having to do much for it. At the heart of this kind of thinking must be an admission that what they are doing is fraudulent, at least at an unconscious level. Why spend more time and money doing something I know is not real when I can get the same ego and fantasy reward faster?
In the martial arts world I have come across a lot of people who dropped out of all kinds of self-defense schools, because “it was too hard”. They then shopped around until they found something “better” which in fact was simply easier, often much easier.
I came across an ad for a home study course where the guy writing the testimonial actually said he had dropped out of a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu class because physically learning to choke people was too much like work but spending his time alone hitting a rubber “Bob” doll was the best way to learn how to defend himself. Yea, and the company was only too happy to print this, which to me sounded a lot like: “hey I’m too lazy to train in a real fighting system so I’m going to do a completely fake one and you should too”.
I also have come across an article in a life style magazine which generally had nothing to do with the martial arts but in this case did have a piece on easy ways to “make your self more interesting”. One of the things they suggested was to go out and get a black belt. However, make sure you shop around, they instructed, it takes a lot less time and is a lot easier at some places and this is what you want. Man, when I read that I finely realized that the general public was finely catching on to what many wan-a be-“masters” had know for a long time.
Now don’t get me wrong, on a certain level this is just how a lot of people are about a lot of things. I read somewhere that something like 70% of the books that get bought don’t get read, that’s just life there are a lot of demands on our time and attention. However, A problem arises when people with this kind of approach to a topic, any topic or discipline, somehow come to dominate or control that activity. This is pretty much the opposite to becoming a Doctor, the guys who don’t want to read their text books are not the ones that generally excel in medical school.
On the one hand, this experience of actually being the “best of the best” on some level can cause the problems that Dr. Sacket discovered within the medical profession. People, who actually are smarter or at least academically very much more accomplished than everyone else, start to believe that their opinions are always correct. In a sense, they have earned the responsibility of being taken more seriously, although on another level this is simply delusional when there is objective evidence to the contrary.
Nevertheless, many people need to invest their trust in authority figures. They need other people to give them the answers because finding those answers ourselves is too difficult or time consuming. Hence, the authority figures in turn often feed of that adulation, neither wants the other to be wrong. Now imagine what a profession or industry would be like, at its worst, if it were filled with people who wanted the adulation of others without having to work for it and in fact wanted the very easiest way to be their version of “special” and “powerful”.
The reasons for this strange and flaky state of affairs are many, but major culprits beyond the desire to live the fantasy of TV and movies, are things like many of the “traditional” Asian martial arts such as Kung-Fu, karate, and Aikido that often do not have a “sparring” or some kind of “live testing” component. First of all, before we go any further, let me say that I have nothing against these “traditional” arts and spent many years practicing and enjoying them. They can certainly have a positive roll to play in our modern society. However, I think we can all agree that this role was never meant to be producing legions of “pseudo-experts”.
However,the real problem, as I have experienced it, is not these arts in and of themselves but of the “Western” and more specifically, “North American” cultural mind-set that has been fused onto these arts and the kinds of personalities attracted to this world. This idea is tied to another common myth. Namely, that we in North America have somehow ruined or “water downed” these systems from their more practical original Asian form and that they are so different and deadly in other parts of the world.
I hate to break it to the people who believe this, but punching the air is punching the air and doing kata or uncontested wrist locks is doing kata or uncontested wrist locks, no matter what hemisphere you are in. The point being is that none of those training methods are very effective in preparing you for real world self-defense no matter where you are. This is because there is no objective way to observe, measure and repeat the skill sets such training theoretically imparts . However, in Asia they seem to except this and not care in a way that we simply don’t comprehend in the west.
In Asia these indigenous “arts” are just that and a real part of the culture. People of all ages have always practiced them and often exclusively for health, spiritual advancement or positive socializing and recreation. For the vast majority, these martial arts are more about doing something like Yoga or kabuki than trying to be trained killers. Therefore, in Asia many an ordinary “Black Belt” is seen more like a kind of Yoga or even a ballet instructor than something akin to the “heavy weight boxing champ” as is more the norm in North America. This is because they are intimately familiar with what a ”Black Belt” actually entails and many have earned one before leaving junior high school by simply going through their equivalent to PE classes.
Conversely, in North America, the Asian martial arts have always had a strong appeal because of their mystery and esoteric flavor. Add to this ingredient the idea that our culture can be much more physically competitive and based around ego gratification. In North America nobody in the martial arts world wants to try to dispel the mystery and myths of the Asian arts, far from it, they thrive on it.
What would the public think if they knew the sometimes ridiculously low standards to which Black Belts in usually “non contact” systems are held? I kid you not, I saw an internationally respected if not downright revered “karate master” issue a 5th Dan (A fifth Degree Black Belt) to an individual who at that time did not operate or belong to a school and had not for several yeas, so he could have had little or no interest in actually training in this martial art.What did he have to do for a Black Belt diploma of such a high grade that its equivalent in Judo would be some where around the athleticism and performance record of “world Champion” level?
The answer is, the great, grand master had the candidate swing a stick around for maybe two minutes. In karate circles its supposed to sound more impressive by saying : “he performed the difficult and deadly Bo(staff) kata”. If this sounds to you as about as “deadly” as sweeping up the floor you are right. Except sweeping the floor is usually a much longer and more strenuous activity. The worst part, was that this was not the most egregious ego excess I shamefully witnessed that day, but again, that is a story for another time. Let us just say that a lot of high “rank” was handed out for doing virtually nothing but worse yet, in direct contravention to the very, very basic “time in grade” standards that this “master” had been so strenuously claiming to uphold. To me it gave new meaning to the term “rank” because the whole thing stunk so bad.
Now there may have been some very little extenuating circumstances…maybe, but at the time as a young idealistic martial artist who wanted to dedicate myself to these arts in a professional way, I could not fathom any good reason why this would have been done or why the candidate would want to do it. Why a person held up to the public to be a “true master” would want to degrade himself and his art so readily I just could not comprehend. (In Fact, this is one of several reasons I left that organization and instructor of which we can explore later, but I think it is important to know that I am most critical of the styles and instructors that I was heavily involved with. In most circumstances the “pseudo-experts” and phonies thrive on attacking everyone else, even those they have never met and certainly never trained with. I think this is important for the public to realize and use as one of their barometers for frauds and “pseudo-experts”.)
Now the usual and often correct but cynical response to these facts is that it was all about money, while true up to a point, the “master” did not charge very much for these Rank certificates. It hardly seemed worth “selling out” for that kind of money. It took me a while to realize that the underlying reasons were far more flaky and utterly at odds with the formation of a “evidence” based profession.
The “master” was simply at the apex of some goofy “ego triangle”, the more people he had calling him “master” and relying on him for their pathetic “ego fix” the more important he felt and the more “eminence” he had. And yes, the more customers he had to fly him around to give seminars and hand out high Dan Grade certificates faster than a Black Jack dealer gives out cards. It really was that appallingly simple, at the time it was a horribly illuminating epiphany that made me truly realize “the emperor had no clothes” but worse yet no body minded as long as they could be “mini emperors” as well.
Now here is the kicker that ends up causing a “standards” nose dive that thankfully the medical profession can never experience. You see, for an “emperor” it is actually to his benefit to have true flunkies and losers for this kind of sycophant-ism because people with no real skill sets and not interested in developing any cannot really go anywhere else. Real “fighters” and people interested in real skills and knowledge are a very big pain in the ass because they actually want to accomplish something real and will question all the BS. But excepting the BS is the ultimate entrance examination for a pseudo-profession. In other words, only your “master” is going to take you and this nonsense seriously, the rest of the world might laugh at the absurdity. I would have… if I wasn’t so busy crying and thinking about all the time I had wasted on this style or more properly farce.
It is this very cheap kind of ego gratification that has become so wide spread in certain areas of the martial arts community and actually weeds out the “normal” people looking for real substance and skill sets. This weird process actually forces lower and lower standards as the normal people “look behind the curtain” and leaves a lot of odd people who crave the hollow mystique and power of being a “Black Belt” or “emperor” without having to work up much of a sweat to get it. I am not exaggerating, I have met a few “maters” including one from Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (Marcus Sores), who simply don’t train and don’t want to. Physical activity is simply not part of their ego fantasy and may actually be counter productive to it-which is a topic in itself.
In any other kind of “cultural” pursuit what would be the harm? However, when these people hold themselves out to the public, to be “role models” or deadly fighters and true experts on “self defense”, we have a potentially dangerous problem that I for one refused to be silent about. If the only criteria for very high ranks is to unapologetically take part in the collective fantasy that the guy at the top is a semi-mystical “master” well count me…out.
In all seriousness, where else but in the North American martial arts world can you have sedentary, obese middle aged suburbanites being treated like omnipotent gods of war by a room full of kids or pimply faced low self-esteem types? In Asia people want to do the stuff, that is the fun part. To them it is a rewarding physical life style and showing great deference to cultural leaders, seniors or “authority” figures in an exaggerated way is just part of their culture. There really is nothing like it in North American culture, getting to role play as the all powerful martial arts “master” must be about as good as it gets for certain kinds of people, and those people are not going to med school. In North America too many physically lazy, ethically weak and cowardly people are into the cache and ego gratification that comes with the largely false perception of what a “Black Belt” is and want the self glorification of role playing at instructor or “sensei”.
Thus, in North America the “arts” are not really any different but the public perception of what a “black belt” is, can be vastly different and breeds an entire industry largely devoted to selling people the “idea” of the North American fantasy of the “killer” Black Belt martial arts “master” or some other incarnation. I mean, come on, look at just the nomenclature. In Asia, the title “sifu” or “sensei” is used by all kinds of instructors in university etc. but in North America it is too often translated into “master” or “Grand Master”, who else in North America with the exception of maybe the Klu Klux Klan wants to use such grandiose titles?
Ergo, people go into med school because it is a lot of hard work, but that is what it takes to be a doctor and that is a real accomplishment. As way of analogy, many people in the martial arts field want to pretend to be doctors because med school is too difficult but the public doesn’t really know this about the low standars and we are not telling…wink, wink.
As good self-defense consumers, we of course have to absolutely positively recognize these kinds of sources of “self-defense” expertise for what they are. However, Instead of criticizing everyone else, we need to first start with ourselves and hold that person in the mirror to a higher standard. That means we need “evidence” for our opinions especially opinions about ourselves.