# Politics in Wing Chun



## ali55 (May 22, 2015)

There is too much politics in wing chun. I think the art will do much better if practitioners are more open minded and lineages stop fighting amongst each other for authenticity!


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## geezer (May 22, 2015)

Gosh that looks great. Back in the early 80s I started a college WC club at ASU, but I never got a couple of girls to sign up for the privilege of charging in and tickling me! Honestly, If I had been able to pull that off, membership would have gone through the roof.


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## zuti car (May 22, 2015)

I almost quit wing chun at some point because of politics .


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## K-man (May 22, 2015)

zuti car said:


> I almost quit wing chun at some point because of politics .


Don't feel WC is alone in the area of politics.


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## zuti car (May 22, 2015)

K-man said:


> Don't feel WC is alone in the area of politics.


I know it isn't but it is the worst , especially Yip Man's followers .


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## Dirty Dog (May 22, 2015)

zuti car said:


> I know it isn't but it is the worst , especially Yip Man's followers .


No, I don't think it is. 
It only seems the worst because it's what you have the most direct contact with. 


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Really.


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## ali55 (May 23, 2015)

geezer said:


> Gosh that looks great. Back in the early 80s I started a college WC club at ASU, but I never got a couple of girls to sign up for the privilege of charging in and tickling me! Honestly, If I had been able to pull that off, membership would have gone through the roof.


haha thats the life man. But in all seriousness though,  college clubs are a great place to start off an open minded martial arts community


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## KPM (May 23, 2015)

zuti car said:


> I know it isn't but it is the worst , especially Yip Man's followers .



You really think so?  Just spend some time on some of general martial arts forums!  Politics are everywhere in martial arts! I think the Southern Mantis guys are probably just as bad or worse than the Ip Man guys.


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## Danny T (May 23, 2015)

zuti car said:


> I know it isn't but it is the worst , especially Yip Man's followers .


Can't agree with this. I am involved with several martial art organizations besides WC and there is politics in them all. There will always be those who want to have governing authority and there will always be those who have and argue their particular opinion as to how the governing authority should be performed or how one's group within an organization is rated/ranked within the organization... etc. These politics are everywhere. If you truly want to stay away from the politics within an organization don't join or if you do don't offer opinions as to how something should be done. Just do your own thing, smile, and then change the subject when anyone asks questions about what you do or why.


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## mograph (May 23, 2015)

Danny T said:


> These politics are everywhere.


Yep. In all organizations, inside or outside martial arts. Ford vs. Chevy. 

Social psychologists describe the "minimal group paradigm," where even separating people based on the color of their shirts can create animosity between the groups. Minimal group paradigm - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia


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## Vajramusti (May 23, 2015)

Politics is ubiquitous


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## geezer (May 23, 2015)

Vajramusti said:


> Politics is ubiquitous



But most will agree that we do a pretty good job keeping things respectful on _this_ forum. Yes, I'm guilt of making a few snarky comments from time to time, but I mean it in good fun. I guess what I'm saying is that the whole point of getting on a forum like this should be to exchange ideas and opinions. If I want to have people always agree with me, I would only talk to my kung fu brothers in my own lineage. 

Heck, even then we don't always agree.


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## Vajramusti (May 23, 2015)

geezer said:


> But most will agree that we do a pretty good job keeping things respectful on _this_ forum. Yes, I'm guilt of making a few snarky comments from time to time, but I mean it in good fun. I guess what I'm saying is that the whole point of getting on a forum like this should be to exchange ideas and opinions. If I want to have people always agree with me, I would only talk to my kung fu brothers in my own lineage.
> 
> Heck, even then we don't always agree.


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Politics is  often present and is  not completely avoidable, But not all politics is bad, One can give honest and worthwhile opinions -if true it.s not necessarily bad politics.. Agree with "geezer" discussions here are generally civil.. Glad that there is some moderation here. The moderators do a good job.


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## Jake104 (May 23, 2015)

geezer said:


> But most will agree that we do a pretty good job keeping things respectful on _this_ forum. Yes, I'm guilt of making a few snarky comments from time to time, but I mean it in good fun. I guess what I'm saying is that the whole point of getting on a forum like this should be to exchange ideas and opinions. If I want to have people always agree with me, I would only talk to my kung fu brothers in my own lineage.
> 
> Heck, even then we don't always agree.


It was just lighthearted fun. Big deal! I enjoyed it. Thank you!


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## jhexx (May 25, 2015)

Politics are everywhere for sure.  In my perspective to be honest unless it is constructive criticism, applicable knowledge that can go towards what I am training for or to help me improve my skills and abilities, then I am all ears. But if it is this "lineage is better than this lineage" talk, I don't got time for that. I would rather spend my mental time focusing on my training or studying the different hands to improve myself, or even reading books on Wing Chun application and theory cause in the end, ain't no politics going to get my skill set to improve. I just ignore the jackals and keep training.


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## Tony Dismukes (May 25, 2015)

Maybe instead of endless threads about "my art is better for fighting than your art," we can get some arguments going about "the politics in my art is more annoying than the politics in your art. "


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## ali55 (May 25, 2015)

Tony Dismukes said:


> Maybe instead of endless threads about "my art is better for fighting than your art," we can get some arguments going about "the politics in my art is more annoying than the politics in your art. "



haha whoops started another argument


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## Drose427 (May 26, 2015)

Tony Dismukes said:


> Maybe instead of endless threads about "my art is better for fighting than your art," we can get some arguments going about "the politics in my art is more annoying than the politics in your art. "



How are the politics in BJJ?

Ive heard there can be some Macahdo/Gracie issues, but overall dont know much about it XD


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## Steve (May 26, 2015)

Drose427 said:


> How are the politics in BJJ?
> 
> Ive heard there can be some Macahdo/Gracie issues, but overall dont know much about it XD


 Saying there are some machado/gracie issues is funny, as they are basically the same family, going back to the very early days of BJJ.  Politics has been around in BJJ since the very beginning.  Anyone familiar with Oswaldo Fadda knows that BJJ has plenty of drama.  Heck, there's a fundamental difference of opinion about who REALLY founded BJJ.  The Helio side and the Carlos side.  Shoot, even among the kids, Carlson and Rolls and all of the black belts they trained who have spawned just about every major organization around.

There's plenty of drama for anyone who wants to mess around with it.


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## Tony Dismukes (May 26, 2015)

Drose427 said:


> How are the politics in BJJ?
> 
> Ive heard there can be some Macahdo/Gracie issues, but overall dont know much about it XD


As Steve said, BJJ politics go back to the very beginning. Helio and Carlos had run-ins with George while all the original brothers were alive. After Carlos died, Helio started promoting himself as the sole creator of BJJ, which didn't make Carlos's kids happy. (Carlson had some choice words concerning Helio.) In the U.S., Rorion trademarked the name "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu" and threatened lawsuits against other family members who used the name. (Until he lost the trademark in a court case with Carley Gracie, who had been using the name in the U.S. longer than he had.) There are tons of competing BJJ organizations around.

That said, though, I have personally experienced very little in the way of BJJ politics (especially compared to what I saw when I was training in the Bujinkan). I have always been made to feel welcome in any school I visited and my gym welcomes visitors from any organization. I have almost never witnessed any of my instructors bad-mouthing any other instructor or organization. I've certainly never seen the sort of discussion about such-and-such a practitioner or instructor not being legitimate or not deserving their rank that was common in my Bujinkan days.


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