Social Media Naysayers

[Steve]

To be clear, I liked the "show." I also liked the shows Lion King, The Godfather, and Fraiser. That doesn't mean they're MA.

Rewatching that bo video, I saw MAYBE 10% MA related moves that could conceivably be effectively applied in combat. That leaves a minimum 90% that has nothing to do with fighting. I think this disparity is more than enough to classify the show as something other than MA. An entertaining exhibition of dexterity and skill to be sure, but not MA. My "preferred" version of a kata is one that is related to "martial" art.

I’m sure you believe all that to be true, and that what you do is totally different. I would guess your kata is like 110% MA related. Of course, you’re creating the evaluation using your own kata as the de facto standard, so how could it not?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

To be clear, I liked the "show." I also liked the shows Lion King, The Godfather, and Fraiser. That doesn't mean they're MA.

Rewatching that bo video, I saw MAYBE 10% MA related moves that could conceivably be effectively applied in combat. That leaves a minimum 90% that has nothing to do with fighting. I think this disparity is more than enough to classify the show as something other than MA. An entertaining exhibition of dexterity and skill to be sure, but not MA. My "preferred" version of a kata is one that is related to "martial" art.

If it's 10% martial, 90% art, that still falls under martial art. It's just that most MA are closer to 90% martial, 10% art.

 

[isshinryuronin]

If it's 10% martial, 90% art, that still falls under martial art.

This is not logical at all. Why wouldn't it fall under the category that's the 90%? Leroy Neiman is a painter famous for his sport scenes. He did a painting of Ali the boxer. Is Neiman a martial artist because 10% of his work is related to MA?

 

[Steve]

If it's 10% martial, 90% art, that still falls under martial art. It's just that most MA are closer to 90% martial, 10% art.

I appreciate and agree with your sentiment, and superficially, this provides some room to discuss how much "martial" is enough for something to be considered a "martial art." What is and is not MA is a very subjective, moot point. That's really the entire crux of it.

People presume that what they're doing is "martial" and what other people do isn't "martial." Or in this case, there is a spectrum, and some things are "martial", and others are "martial-like". It's the very definition of moot.

But we don't tend to get that far. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that some people think I'm being critical of their style of martial arts (I'm not) or that I'm trashing TMA and/or kata (I'm not). In the same vein, some people are trashing XMA, but think it's entirely justified because... well, because they believe their opinion is obviously, objectively correct (it's not).

 

[Steve]

At this rate, someone's going to suggest that clackledockling is not a real martial art.

 

[Steve]

This is not logical at all. Why wouldn't it all under the catagory that's the 90%? Leroy Neiman is a painter famous for his sport scenes. He did a painting of Ali the boxer. Is Neiman a martial artist because 10% of his work is related to MA?

How martial is your kata?