Before I ever got involved with JKD, I studied Aikido for a number of years. Aikido, as it is practiced in 99% of the dojos around the world, is completely detached from reality. Most Aikido techniques are impractical responses to unrealistic attacks made with little energy by opponents who offer no resistance. In that kind of environment, you can make any technique work. This is really a shame, because if you see how Aikido's founder practiced the art — throwing eye gouges, groin shots, elbows, etc., to set up his techniques — you get the feeling it actually worked before it got watered down.
I think there are several reasons that people are drawn to unrealistic martial arts:
(1) Laziness: why spend lots of time, effort, and money sweating and bleeding in a JKD gym when you can "learn instantly deadly techniques in just four weeks" from the guy down the street. Most Americans want a quick fix — look at the way they handle weight loss. It's a simple matter of diet and exercise yet everyone thinks they can either do the diet without the exercise or just pop a pill and magically burn away the fat. John Dewey said "character is the interpenetration of habits" (Human Nature and Conduct 38). How can a person hope to ever develop themselves to a high degree without putting in the time to ingrain the proper habits? Habits are not just acquired; they must be learned and practiced repeatedly to attain any level of real skill in the martial arts (or any art).
(2) TV and Films: Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love watching martial arts and action movies. However, we all know that the kind of martial arts techniques that work on the street are the least interesting to watch on the silver screen. If Bruce Lee had fought in his films the way he did in reality, people would have gone to sleep in the theaters (the fights would have been over in 5 seconds, would have been graphically violent, and Bruce would have moved so fast that the audience couldn't see a thing). When I used to teach Aikido, a lot of people that would come to me for lessons did so because they "loved them Segal flicks." People watch movies and TV and get the idea of the Super-Fighter, who can take on 25 guys at once, knock them all out with flying kicks to the head, and not get a scratch on him. They are often disappointed to find out that those techniques don't work in reality and that no martial artist is untouchable.
(3) The Chi Myth: To paraphrase Sifu Lee, many martial artists spend too much time developing a spiritual energy that will replace, rather than enhance, their physical skills. People that buy in to the Chi/Ki myth are usually the first to scoff at more physical martial arts like JKD. This problem is exacerbated by all the guys that give demonstrations where they knock their brainwashed students over with blasts of raw chi energy.
(4) Untested Theories: As Burton demonstrates with his excellent Dostoevsky quote, human beings have a tendency to rationalize and objectify reality to the point where their understanding of everyday experience is obscured by their feelings of how it "ought to be." Many martial artists get too caught up in the theoretical aspect of the martial arts and never test their theories against real, resisting, competent opponents. This is what Berdyaev means when he says "objective and impersonal modes of thought are the greatest obstacle to the individual's emergence from his self-confinement."
There are probably other explanations, but my fingers are getting tired...
Take care and train hard,
Jim McRae
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We cannot live better than in seeking to become better.
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