Oh, there's definitely a subtext bigger than that. This meander kind of shows the point I was trying to make. Martial artists have been lying to each other for centuries. The guys who've told the oldest lies now have students and traditions.Tgace said:Hey guys I thought this thread was about trashing "Soke" Calkins....
Bruce Calkins has no proof he ever studied Aiki arts? Hm. -- neither did the founder of Hapkido. Ed Parker's history of rank promotion remains one of the most mindbending examples of he said/she said ever (maybe he got some secret grades for developing Real Secret Kenpo, which can only be unlocked with the skills granted by a Secret PhD). Hell, Don Roley's one of the preeminent Calkins thread participants, and he studied Bujinkan "We never wanted to be in your koryu orgs anyway, nyah!" Budo Taijutsu.
Please.
Again, I'm not defending Calkins -- but the martial arts community puts up with this kind of garbage -- tolerates and *encourages* it -- all the time. I rather think what ffends is not what Calkins has done, but that he's touched a nerve by doing what so many take for granted so artlessly. It's like he parodying the essence of the MA community, and I'm sure that stings.