Robert,
Let me say this as a guy who has experience being a moderator here and shared a beer with you in Shinjuku.
You know I do not like frauds. You know I make fun of people who call themselves soke. And yet I agreed to be a moderator here. Do you think I would join if I thought is gave free run to the frauds?
The reason I am here is that I want people to leave me alone to do what I want the way I want to do it. And I give that right to others. I do not try to change what they think about me or my art, and I can be quite vocal with my opinions of them. But with no forcing of standards and ways of training on anyone else.
There are sites I could mention that claim to be devoted to exposing fraud in the martial arts. The ones I know of would flame you and me for being traditional and not training the way they do. In their eyes, this makes us just as big a target as Jack Stern or Frank Dux.
Recently the Horror Stories section has been frozen while we decide what to do with it. That section is supposed to be used for fraud and abuse. Now you know that I think that western sokes are egotistical incompetents, but is stupidity and ego a definition of "fraud and abuse"?
Yeah, they are idiots. That is my opinion. There are people and boards that think that the way you and I train is idiotic. Those boards will not allow any philosophy outside their narrow range. I do not like that and I do not want martialtalk to become like that.
I came on board as a moderator knowing that there would be a section for ninjutsu devoted to the arts that actually came from Japan and another for every other art- even if the founder had no experience with Japanese arts. I do feel that to call what you do ninjutsu without a lot of experience with the original art is just plain damn silly. Yet I still agreed. As long as it was clear that what they did was not Japanese or had a link to it then I did not see a problem in them doing what they did. What they did had no direct impact on what we do. Maybe their silliness dragged down the image of the art as a whole, but nothing direct. There were a lot of problems, mainly because the neo ninja guys kept trying to tear down the Japanese arts to build themselves up rather than appear to be pale imitations. But the central concept that people should be allowed to do what they want if it is honest and has no impact on others is a valid one.
Ok, so there are people calling themselves soke. As long as they are honest in the fact that they got it from a group of people that dress in silly outfits and call each other master rather than from a Japanese tradition, then they are merely silly and not fraudulant. They can be silly- that is their right. If I do not give them the right to do what I consider silly I have no right to complain about those that will not give me the right to practice and post about something they feel to be silly like Japanese martial arts. They have right to practice, I have the right to think they are idiots. You want to ask me my opinion, I will give it. But chasing people over the board that do not meet a standard you hold in the martial arts and giving them hell is not the sort of thing I want to see here. It is not really just a matter of being fair, it is a case that if it starts, who knows what kind of martial arts facist will impose their way of training on anyone who visits this board.
So I know how you feel about the matter. But I still feel that as long as it is clear that a guy is merely an idiot and not a fraud that we have to give them the right to do what they do just as we demand others allow us to do what we do. And.... if you look around, most of the idiots drop out and then start complaining about us on other boards.
Let me say this as a guy who has experience being a moderator here and shared a beer with you in Shinjuku.
You know I do not like frauds. You know I make fun of people who call themselves soke. And yet I agreed to be a moderator here. Do you think I would join if I thought is gave free run to the frauds?
The reason I am here is that I want people to leave me alone to do what I want the way I want to do it. And I give that right to others. I do not try to change what they think about me or my art, and I can be quite vocal with my opinions of them. But with no forcing of standards and ways of training on anyone else.
There are sites I could mention that claim to be devoted to exposing fraud in the martial arts. The ones I know of would flame you and me for being traditional and not training the way they do. In their eyes, this makes us just as big a target as Jack Stern or Frank Dux.
Recently the Horror Stories section has been frozen while we decide what to do with it. That section is supposed to be used for fraud and abuse. Now you know that I think that western sokes are egotistical incompetents, but is stupidity and ego a definition of "fraud and abuse"?
Yeah, they are idiots. That is my opinion. There are people and boards that think that the way you and I train is idiotic. Those boards will not allow any philosophy outside their narrow range. I do not like that and I do not want martialtalk to become like that.
I came on board as a moderator knowing that there would be a section for ninjutsu devoted to the arts that actually came from Japan and another for every other art- even if the founder had no experience with Japanese arts. I do feel that to call what you do ninjutsu without a lot of experience with the original art is just plain damn silly. Yet I still agreed. As long as it was clear that what they did was not Japanese or had a link to it then I did not see a problem in them doing what they did. What they did had no direct impact on what we do. Maybe their silliness dragged down the image of the art as a whole, but nothing direct. There were a lot of problems, mainly because the neo ninja guys kept trying to tear down the Japanese arts to build themselves up rather than appear to be pale imitations. But the central concept that people should be allowed to do what they want if it is honest and has no impact on others is a valid one.
Ok, so there are people calling themselves soke. As long as they are honest in the fact that they got it from a group of people that dress in silly outfits and call each other master rather than from a Japanese tradition, then they are merely silly and not fraudulant. They can be silly- that is their right. If I do not give them the right to do what I consider silly I have no right to complain about those that will not give me the right to practice and post about something they feel to be silly like Japanese martial arts. They have right to practice, I have the right to think they are idiots. You want to ask me my opinion, I will give it. But chasing people over the board that do not meet a standard you hold in the martial arts and giving them hell is not the sort of thing I want to see here. It is not really just a matter of being fair, it is a case that if it starts, who knows what kind of martial arts facist will impose their way of training on anyone who visits this board.
So I know how you feel about the matter. But I still feel that as long as it is clear that a guy is merely an idiot and not a fraud that we have to give them the right to do what they do just as we demand others allow us to do what we do. And.... if you look around, most of the idiots drop out and then start complaining about us on other boards.
