Episode 117: Attack of The McDojo Droids
It was really only a matter of time before it happened. Since I've been studying self-defense under the tutelage of former military guys, PPCT (Pressure Point Control Tactics) instructors and videos, books and the like, I had to know that there was going to be one of the McDojo Nerds coming out of the woodwork sooner or later.
Recently, I'd had a conversation with a new kid on the compound. Decent enough guy but the word was on the compound that this guy had been studying Tae Kwon Do, had the black belt, the trophies, the certs, won competitions and the like. Do I think he deserves those kinds of accolades? Well hell, he went, he saw, he won, they're his. Plain and simple. What do I think of this type of instruction? I'd take it even though it isn't really self-defense that would actually save you in the street if you were suddenly attacked by some vicious criminal thug.
Put simply, if someone is angrily coming at you with a baseball bat, are you going to immediately start searching for a glove and a ball and attempt to pitch to him? Hell no. Why would I want to use combative sport to deter or neutralize an attack? That doesn't make any damn sense.
If someone is coming at me with a sword, do you think I'm going to paint his portrait? Refer to the answer from the previous question if you really don't know. Again, attempting to neutralize an attack with a cultural fighting art does nothing but get you injured at best and the whole getting killed thing...well that doesn't exactly help does it?
While I think that Cultural Fighting Arts and Combative Sports are great for your health, I don't think they'll save you one bit during crunch time. Besides that, if you're in a bad situation, do you have two years? No, you have only seconds. So if what you are looking to learn takes two years to master and the problem child is what's motivated you to look for some type of actual self-defense training, you're already in trouble. Another thing, I'm not going to fight an attacker off with eastern philosophy. I'm not going to use my inner chi to shoot lightning from my ass at him and I'm not going to try to ward them off with quotes from Confucious. If you would like to try that, by all means...go ahead. I won't stand in your way.
Me and the new guy discussed what we liked about our respective studies and left it at that. That is, until something happened. The guy wouldn't even talk to me. He wouldn't come near me and he seemed to avoid me. No problem, I thought, until I finally got the word and it turned out to be far more than rumor.
Apparently, I'm a phony to him and all my education came strictly from the interwebz. Seems, after our conversation, he claimed that, not only did he win those competitions with all the other stuff I listed but he's also broken jaws, bones, etc.
Okay, so he's been in fights and he's busted people up. Nice.
Now my question...what's wrong with this picture? Was his belief in his McDojo so threatened by my training that suddenly, he has something to prove? Does he really NEED to be top dog that badly? If he wants the title, he can have it as far as I'm concerned because I'm not concerned at all.
Why? Well, much like anything else, if I hadn't had what formal training I was able to get (and my options are fairly limited) then I'm sure that my ass would have been in several slings if I was even lucky enough to get past the first two. What he thinks and what I know...worlds of difference there.
He got lucky enough to have some formal training. Great. He's got a resume' of cracking skulls. Okay. He's got lotsa belts and certs. Bravo.
When he shows me one of those that will save his ass, I'll let HIM teach ME. Until then...well?
If he really feels he has something to prove, I'm sure that, one day when I'm outta there, he'll have it all proven by then but until then, I'm sure he'll get over that.
Recently, I'd had a conversation with a new kid on the compound. Decent enough guy but the word was on the compound that this guy had been studying Tae Kwon Do, had the black belt, the trophies, the certs, won competitions and the like. Do I think he deserves those kinds of accolades? Well hell, he went, he saw, he won, they're his. Plain and simple. What do I think of this type of instruction? I'd take it even though it isn't really self-defense that would actually save you in the street if you were suddenly attacked by some vicious criminal thug.
Put simply, if someone is angrily coming at you with a baseball bat, are you going to immediately start searching for a glove and a ball and attempt to pitch to him? Hell no. Why would I want to use combative sport to deter or neutralize an attack? That doesn't make any damn sense.
If someone is coming at me with a sword, do you think I'm going to paint his portrait? Refer to the answer from the previous question if you really don't know. Again, attempting to neutralize an attack with a cultural fighting art does nothing but get you injured at best and the whole getting killed thing...well that doesn't exactly help does it?
While I think that Cultural Fighting Arts and Combative Sports are great for your health, I don't think they'll save you one bit during crunch time. Besides that, if you're in a bad situation, do you have two years? No, you have only seconds. So if what you are looking to learn takes two years to master and the problem child is what's motivated you to look for some type of actual self-defense training, you're already in trouble. Another thing, I'm not going to fight an attacker off with eastern philosophy. I'm not going to use my inner chi to shoot lightning from my ass at him and I'm not going to try to ward them off with quotes from Confucious. If you would like to try that, by all means...go ahead. I won't stand in your way.
Me and the new guy discussed what we liked about our respective studies and left it at that. That is, until something happened. The guy wouldn't even talk to me. He wouldn't come near me and he seemed to avoid me. No problem, I thought, until I finally got the word and it turned out to be far more than rumor.
Apparently, I'm a phony to him and all my education came strictly from the interwebz. Seems, after our conversation, he claimed that, not only did he win those competitions with all the other stuff I listed but he's also broken jaws, bones, etc.
Okay, so he's been in fights and he's busted people up. Nice.
Now my question...what's wrong with this picture? Was his belief in his McDojo so threatened by my training that suddenly, he has something to prove? Does he really NEED to be top dog that badly? If he wants the title, he can have it as far as I'm concerned because I'm not concerned at all.
Why? Well, much like anything else, if I hadn't had what formal training I was able to get (and my options are fairly limited) then I'm sure that my ass would have been in several slings if I was even lucky enough to get past the first two. What he thinks and what I know...worlds of difference there.
He got lucky enough to have some formal training. Great. He's got a resume' of cracking skulls. Okay. He's got lotsa belts and certs. Bravo.
When he shows me one of those that will save his ass, I'll let HIM teach ME. Until then...well?
If he really feels he has something to prove, I'm sure that, one day when I'm outta there, he'll have it all proven by then but until then, I'm sure he'll get over that.
posted by Lord Genocyde at 7:32 AM
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