VS threads

[The Master]

The question was asked, why post the vs threads I have? They are hurtful, spiteful, and not in the spirit of this site.

They are meant to be funny, humerous, sarcastic and satiricle. No real offence is intended. Simply a chuckle, and a comment: VS are really pointless. There is no right art, no one single answer. Just the one that is right for you. All arts have their good and bad points/people/schools. Investigate before going in and training, keep your mind open, and enjoy what you do. Stop worrying about who is tougher, better, etc. Historically speaking, on any given day, anything can happen, even 1 man with a machette stopping a bayonett charge single handedly. (WWII, Pacific)

So, stop worrying about how arts will fight other arts, or who can beat who or other pointless debates. Enjoy life, but watch out for the A&W. It's got a hell of a hook.

I remain, The Master.

 

[Miles]

Versus is also a television network and nearly the only place a hockey fanatic can catch an occasional game.

As far as comparing martial arts-you are right. There is no superior art-just superior artists. No need to compare with anyone but yourself. Are you better today than you were yesterday?

Miles

 

[terryl965]

No supperior Art then why do I train, I wanrt to be like Kane on Kung Fu and be blessed with the faster movement and so much wisdom that I'm never wrong.

 

[CoryKS]

All I know is that if I see one more fat kenpoist joke, I'm going to go out and attack a Chinese buffet. :rofl:

 

[The Master]

Please don't do it during a training camp. The workers are already over worked and fear being confused with the moogooguypan.

Remember, he who finishes last is grandmaster that week.

 

[shesulsa]

Mr. The Master,

Though I believe you when you say these threads are posted in the interest of humor (and maybe a reality check?), I must tell you ...

We *really TRY* to discourage style VS style threads on MartialTalk because they are, indeed, pointless. Let's look at it a little more seriously than you stated in your thread in the MMA section:

Kenpo vs. kung fu: It could be argued that Kung Fu is a strong basis for Kenpo though there are stylizing differences in the world of Kenpo, and some factions have incorporated weaponry into their syllabus - far from the "empty hand" style some of us were once familiar with. Kenpo has strengths and weaknesses as does kung fu.

KMA vs. judo: depends ... if the KMA has incorporated judo/jujutsu into their syllabus then it all depends on who gets what on first - and KMA is famous for strong kicks.

FMA vs. BJJ: Okay, to even this out, you'd have to take the sticks away from the FMAist and, if you do that, you have to take something else away from the other guy ... say ... legs? And then what are you left with?

And then there's weaponry. I think there are a lot of arguments about ground fighters vs. styles who train strongly with weapons ... but to accomodate the ground fighter, the weapons style can't use weapons. :idunno:

So that's a less-funny version of what you said and I think just about anyone can appreciate the fact that basic philisophical approaches to arts make this kind of argument virtually pointless. And to add further to that argument, one just cannot assume that all ranking persons in one are all compatible with each other. Do they each possess the same skill set? Perhaps, but each has their own strengths and talent level. So the argument then usually sways to the "artist vs. artist" argument.

*sigh*

Back to *really trying* to discourage these threads, we are not interested in being thread nazis or post nazis, no matter how frustrated we may become with arguments which are fundamentally flawed in their uselessness.

That said, I'm going to recommend that your humorous "VS Threads" be moved to a humorous location - the Comedy Cafe. We'll see what the staff says. Would you have any objections?

 

[Flatlander]

FMA vs. BJJ: Okay, to even this out, you'd have to take the sticks away from the FMAist and, if you do that, you have to take something else away from the other guy ... say ... legs? And then what are you left with?

No, you wouldn't need to take anything away from the BJJ'er. FMA with or without the weapon, "It's all the same."

 

[Blindside]

That'd be fine if they were, you know.... funny.

 

[Flatlander]

With that subtle dig in, I have to wholeheartedly agree, I've been here for coming up on 3 years, read an absolute ton of these "vs" threads, and they all tend to degenerate into unfriendly discussion, sniping, a complete lack of decorum and logic, and the occasional challenge.

How many times has it been repeated by respectable members of the martial arts community: "It's not the art, it's the artist."?

Though I recognize that the ideal would be to just ban those types of discusssion altogether, it seems to me that to actually turn that into a rule isn't really in the spirit of the Martial Talk way. However, discouraging them is another story.

I wonder, would it be possible to link this thread, or move it or copy it to the Meet and Greet forum and then sticky it? Then, at least, we've dangled a sign out saying, "Hey, these things are pointless, do a search, see what they turn into, there's just no value there aside from the theme that it's the artist, not the art." That's all I can suggest.

Otherwise, this thread will drift away, the message will be lost, and we'll continue to see them pop up occasionally.

 

[exile]

Like Shesulsa and Flatlander (and a lot of other MTers, but they've seen way more of it than most of us), I've had my fill of these X-art vs. Y-art debates... but I think it's important to recognize that The Master (and remember, guys, this is `The Master' as in `Dr. Who-villain-"The Master"') is parodying these debates and (to my eyes anyway) showing just how silly they are. I've no objection to moving them to the Comedy Cafe, because they are funny; but the humor here is in the service of an important point. TheM is just taking the typical kinds of `reasoning' that people who push this sort of comparison engage in to its funny absurd-reductio conclusion—in that sense, he's doing a valuable service to the cause of suppressing these utterly pointless debates that, as both Shesulsa and Flatlander observe, usually lead to nothing more than ill-will and a pile-up of overblown claims and unverifiable `what if' scenarios and mistaken assumptions about what counts as confirmation. I can't see anyone who really believes it makes sense to try to figure if FMAs are better than KMAs getting much comfort from TheM's `vs' posts...

 

[lostinseattle]

It's not which martial art is the best. Because most teachers you talk to will claim that theirs is definitely the best.

So therefore the issue must be which is the bestest, right? ... and the bestestest? ... (is it any coincidence that bestestest contains the word it does?

 

[CoryKS]

What exile said. I took them as a variation on this sort of thing - Languages: How to shoot yourself in the foot. They probably should go in the Comedy Cafe, though.