# Is FMA a Low-Class Ghetto Art?



## geezer (May 29, 2017)

Is FMA a low-class "Ghetto" art?

The other day I had a brief conversation with a co-worker who is something of an authority on Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). He is a tall, very thin devotee of the rapier, as well as broadsword and Polish sabre. He is so slender, in fact, that his training partners complain that when he turns sideways, he is hard enough to see, let alone hit!

Anyway, when we spoke, he was nursing some sparring injuries and complaining about a certain mutual acquaintance of ours, a burly FMA guy who also attends the local HEMA practices. This fellow, by contrast, is a powerfully built individual, and apparently when technique fails him he compensates by just going ape and pounding his HEMA partners with brute force, oblivious to the strikes he receives in return.

...Incidentally, this same individual is not a particularly popular training partner in local FMA circles either!

Regardless, my battered HEMA friend, knowing of my love of Eskrima, concluded the conversation dismissively, stating something like, "Well, what can you expect, ...that _Filipino stuff is basically low class, ghetto fighting _with machetes and crap. On the other hand, what we do is a sophisticated art, ..._very elite!"
_
Somehow I never imagined the regular guys on the battlefields of Europe in centuries past, hacking each other apart in a desperate battle to survive ...as _elitists._

Neither do I think of myself, as an FMA enthusiast, as doing something particularly ghetto. Does this mean I have to start wearing my _pants down below my butt _and listening to _gangsta rap? _


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## yak sao (May 29, 2017)

geezer said:


> Does this mean I have to start wearing my _pants down below my butt _and listening to _gangsta rap? _




You mean you're not already?????

Better shape up there homie if you're going to keep doing FMA.


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## JowGaWolf (May 29, 2017)

Short answer yes.
But remember.  You need to be more like this.







And make sure you take some pictures. Your last ones didn't come out too well. Just remember sag your pants, not your drawers.


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## yak sao (May 29, 2017)

JowGaWolf said:


> Just remember sag your pants, not your drawers.



I have gained so much wisdom from this site over the years.


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## JowGaWolf (May 29, 2017)

yak sao said:


> I have gained so much wisdom from this site over the years.


Glad to contribute. lol


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## drop bear (May 29, 2017)

BJJ was a low class getto art untill they marketed it to rich people.

Boxing?  I think the same.


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## Headhunter (May 30, 2017)

Who cares and quite honestly if any martial artist says rubbish like that they need to seriously look at themselves


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## hoshin1600 (May 30, 2017)

geezer said:


> that _Filipino stuff is basically low class, ghetto fighting _


  said the man who had his butt handed to him.
then why didnt your sophisticated elite art win ?


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## Headhunter (May 30, 2017)

drop bear said:


> BJJ was a low class getto art untill they marketed it to rich people.
> 
> Boxing?  I think the same.


I'm no expert here but from what I heard wasn't jiu jitsu the rich people's art and luta livre considered ore for poorer people which created a rivalry between them. I'm sure I remember  reading something like that


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## Charlemagne (May 30, 2017)

FMA was, and is, a family art most of the time, so in the event that the family was "low born" that would be the case.  Regardless, it works when trained properly, and that is what I am concerned about.


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## Uchinanchu (May 30, 2017)

Seems to me that you need to find better friends to associate with. He sounds like a snob. Some of the best martial artists I've known and had the pleasure to train with were FMA. It doesn't matter the background/history of the art itself. It's the individual and said individual's action / character that bring respect to it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Tony Dismukes (May 31, 2017)

Headhunter said:


> I'm no expert here but from what I heard wasn't jiu jitsu the rich people's art and luta livre considered ore for poorer people which created a rivalry between them. I'm sure I remember  reading something like that


Carlos and Helio Gracie were very oriented towards acquiring money status, and fame, so they worked hard marketing Jiu-Jitsu to the upper class. At the same time, Oswaldo Fadda was busy teaching jiu-jitsu to poor folk free of charge. The Fadda lineage is just as legitimate in BJJ as the Gracie lineage, but the Gracies are much better known due to their work in self-promotion.

You are correct that Luta Livre was more popular among the poor, especially since it didn't require the expense of a gi. The BJJ/Luta Livre rivalry was partially class based, but given Helio's determination to establish Jiu-Jitsu as the most effective art around, the rivalry would likely have occurred even if rich people were doing Luta Livre.


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## Bill Mattocks (May 31, 2017)

geezer said:


> Regardless, my battered HEMA friend, knowing of my love of Eskrima, concluded the conversation dismissively, stating something like, "Well, what can you expect, ...that _Filipino stuff is basically low class, ghetto fighting _with machetes and crap. On the other hand, what we do is a sophisticated art, ..._very elite!"_



I seek to understand in what way a person is less dead if killed by a machete as opposed to a rapier.  I would wish to avoid an unhappy encounter with an expert carrying either one.


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## Xue Sheng (May 31, 2017)

geezer said:


> Is FMA a low-class "Ghetto" art?
> 
> The other day I had a brief conversation with a co-worker who is something of an authority on Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). He is a tall, very thin devotee of the rapier, as well as broadsword and Polish sabre. He is so slender, in fact, that his training partners complain that when he turns sideways, he is hard enough to see, let alone hit!
> 
> ...



This reminds me of more than one CMA Internal vs External conversation, article, discussion...apparently getting your butt kicked by a Baguazhang guy is much more high level than getting your butt kicked by a long fist guy......made about as much sense to me there too....


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## Flying Crane (May 31, 2017)

The general reckoning in the martial arts is that whatever "I" do is high class, sophisticated and elegant.  Whatever anyone else does is ghetto, low-class and crude.

Don't you all know this???


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## Xue Sheng (May 31, 2017)

Flying Crane said:


> The general reckoning in the martial arts is that whatever "I" do is high class, sophisticated and elegant.  Whatever anyone else does is ghetto, low-class and crude.
> 
> Don't you all know this???



Especially if you're talking.....Xuefu


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (May 31, 2017)

Flying Crane said:


> The general reckoning in the martial arts is that whatever "I" do is high class, sophisticated and elegant.  Whatever anyone else does is ghetto, low-class and crude.
> 
> Don't you all know this???


I thought it was whatever I do, is brutal and efficient, and the rest of it is all flashy or fake?


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## Charlemagne (May 31, 2017)

kempodisciple said:


> I thought it was whatever I do, is brutal and efficient, and the rest of it is all flashy or fake?



Now we're talking.


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## Flying Crane (May 31, 2017)

Xue Sheng said:


> Especially if you're talking.....Xuefu


Well that goes without saying.  So I didn't say it.


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## Flying Crane (May 31, 2017)

kempodisciple said:


> I thought it was whatever I do, is brutal and efficient, and the rest of it is all flashy or fake?


A rose by any other name...


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## Buka (May 31, 2017)

There is a certain Je ne sais quoi to first floor apartments in the projects.




Hence, I  more fancied High Class Ghetto MA. Spoiled, I guess.


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## Juany118 (Jun 2, 2017)

geezer said:


> Is FMA a low-class "Ghetto" art?
> 
> The other day I had a brief conversation with a co-worker who is something of an authority on Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). He is a tall, very thin devotee of the rapier, as well as broadsword and Polish sabre. He is so slender, in fact, that his training partners complain that when he turns sideways, he is hard enough to see, let alone hit!
> 
> ...


What's funny is that the broadsword and polish saber are "soldier" arts and not gentlemanly arts.  I am friends with a HEMA practitioner and we often reflect on how there are similarities in techniques between HEMA and Kali.

I think that part of the problem is people who study HEMA think of the Knights of fiction, not the real life soldiers with a title they were, and certainly not the mercenary armies such as the Landsknechts.  Next time to talk to him ask him about the later and ask which is more "noble", a soldier for hire or a warrior defending his tribe/village.


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## Gerry Seymour (Jun 2, 2017)

kempodisciple said:


> I thought it was whatever I do, is brutal and efficient, and the rest of it is all flashy or fake?


Same thing. Effective is high class, too. Everyone knows that...except you low-class, ineffective folks.


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## Rich Parsons (Jun 6, 2017)

geezer said:


> Is FMA a low-class "Ghetto" art?
> 
> The other day I had a brief conversation with a co-worker who is something of an authority on Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). He is a tall, very thin devotee of the rapier, as well as broadsword and Polish sabre. He is so slender, in fact, that his training partners complain that when he turns sideways, he is hard enough to see, let alone hit!
> 
> ...



Hey Geezer,

1) Please do not wear your pants low. It makes it hard to run. That should be part of our tool set. Even if just a short distance. 
.
2) If we look at a little bit of history (* Rose colored glasses to brown colored glasses *), In Europe the noble would learn to carry the light weapon and fence. There were even schools that came through in Germany to the 20th century with a prestige attached to these schools.  
>
In the PI, the Spanish outlawed the practice of the local arts. So it was more back yard, farm, or boxing gym (* also considered low end *). So in the mid to late 20th century when martial arts was becoming available, the store front schools were Korean and or Japanese. 
So, those with Money, even in the PI would say the FMAs in general were low class and or gutter. 

I think as stated by others it does not matter about the art , yet it matters about the person and the situation and their training on that day at that time. 
.
So there could be a perception of what he stated. personally I would just smile pull a pen from my pocket and poke him in the kidney area and say dead is dead. 

best wishes.


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## Gerry Seymour (Jun 6, 2017)

Rich Parsons said:


> 1) Please do not wear your pants low. It makes it hard to run. That should be part of our tool set. Even if just a short distance.


This is the least of the reasons why we don't want Geezer wearing his pants low.


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## Finlay (Jul 1, 2017)

I have heard this attitude from HEMA guys before. I think they refer to plain sword swinging as a peasants style.

They study a lot of treatises and get the notion that they are directly following on the traditional of knights.

I have come across similar attitudes from aikidoka in the past.

Boxing was both a peasant art and a gentleman's art. The rules and system was slightly different 

In any case to throw disdain on any art due to the social class (current or in the past) may not be the smartest thing to do. Possibly shows a lack of understanding or experience of martial arts


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