I always really liked something that my Sifu said often. He would say that our Wing Chun is "different not better" than other variants. Being introduced to the art by him in a coffee shop meeting, and focusing on practicing the art, I didn't really appreciate why he said it so often. That is, until I got more exposure to the broader community and some of the infighting that takes place between lineages and even between Sifus of the same lineage.
I think it is natural that, in a world where actual fighting is rare enough (outside of pro/mma, prison, war, and high school), we question the validity of what we have learned and our competence in executing it in times of need. I don't think it's good or bad, but that it is to be expected. This questioning often manifests as insecurity and a need to prove the validity that is illegal to express via direct combat, and so instead words are used.
Often, in these exchanges of words, we leverage lineage and the degree to which we stick to tradition, or who has co-signed our skill, as a proxy for our good credit as a competent fighter. The one problem I see with all of this conversation is that it is conversation, and not training. The time spent debating is time that could be spent training and so when I hear "different not better" now, I appreciate it's ability to disarm and side-step all together that debate so that we can get back to work.
~ Alan, Wing Chun Student