Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Brewer
Absolutely, Tom. It's fun to do those kinds of things. I don't know if you got a chance to read the thread on Japanese Sword Arts, but I recently took up Iaido as a way to relax and meditate and I like it. In that arena, it serves a purpose, and it has real value.
But it isn't practical. Not by a looooong shot.
My gripe (and it's not even really that, since I don't care one way or another) is that the art IS NOT a self-defense art. It uses archaic methods and tools, is steeped in ritual, and emphasizes no person to person training. This is just a matter of people trying to make what they like fit what they need. If you're looking for self-defense, look at self-defense arts. Not at a system that was expressly designed to preserve an ancient tradition after it was outlawed. And while studying the methods for quickly drawing a katana, making a cut, and then putting it away or maybe studying how to fight another person weilding a bamboo version of the same, wrapped in thousand dollar armor might make a person a little more capable of reacting to specific attacks, that hardly means it's a good way to go in terms of preparing for real-world attacks.
To borrow your analogy, the guy on the bike enjoys it, and it works. But if he got a call that his wife was dying at home, I've got real money that guy jumps in a cab and says "Step on it!"
When it matters, don't try to convince yourself that the bike has you covered. Ride because it's fun, and because you like that brand of exercise, but please, for the love of God, don't try to tell the guys who drive ambulances and fire trucks that a bike will get them to their respective emergencies just as well.
I know you have it in perspective Tom. The above is not meant to be argumentative, it's just that your question allowed me to expand in that direction.
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I agree, Mike. As I mentioned earlier, some people will use less efficient forms of transportation most of the time, because they enjoy it and probably because they have the time to do so.
The guys who drive ambulances and fire trucks have a very specific, job that requires getting from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time. That being said, they need motor vehicles because they move faster. The most efficient form of transport may not be the most practical in all environments or situations though.
For example, police officers ride bicycles and horses on duty in environments that cars cannot efficiently maneuver in - in places like amusement parks or areas where there are alot of people, obstacles or narrow passageways. These forms of transportation allow relatively quick and mobile transportation in such an environment although they are not as efficient as an automobile.
The sword is a bulky, old fashioned weapon that you'll almost never see anywhere and I'd put my money on the firearm over it in most situations but I'd hate to be at the end of a sword handled by an effective swordsman even with another edged or blunt weapon in hand - a sword could make a decent self-defense weapon in the privacy of one's own home in such hands, as exotic as it might seem.
As a street weapon? Obviously not.
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