The New Status Quo

[Demi Barbito]

It's new and improved.

According to me, the status quo in martial arts had much to do with less than functional tactics and training methods, persons training tactics that they would never be able to use in a fight, instructor/hero worship, accepting advice instead of testing advice and believing in some kind of martial magic (tech's that work like magic and always beat an opponent - nothing does that, not even a shotgun).

Well the status quo has either developed or evolved into something new. (Developed would mean it was methodical and evolved means it happened by itself with no thought applied - you tell me).

GROUPS: This was a problem for me many years ago. I once was a member of an organization. This is always a mistake IMO. I remember me and a number of others getting out of the organization only to watch most of them rejoin another. It fosters MOB think. And when a tenet of the group is questioned you get MOB defense which is a very aggressive attack on the person who asked a question. This can be regarding a specific tech or a DVD production etc. I have talked with many in a certain groups who (like Bruce Lee) really liked the teachings of J. Krishnamurti. Here's one for you:

"If you are very clear, if you are inwardly light unto yourself, you will never follow anyone"

-- J. Krishnamurti

By the way... I don't like Krishnamurti. I was into his stuff for a few years when I was younger. I'm all grown up now.

It's fine to show respect to someone and learn from them, even if "they belong to a group". But you do not have to join.


OWNERSHIP: I remember talking to someone about "intellectual property" years ago who said that all of her ideas were hers and that basically no one else could think them or pass them on. The funny thing was that I had heard the ideas before she ever said them. The good stuff is obvious to a critical thinker. I guess it's just a matter of who writes it down first, kinda like calling "shotgun" to get the passenger seat in a car. The silly part is how the "owner" of any given thought has become the KNOWER and appearently we must go to the knower for his thought and not have it on our own.

MY WAY IS THE ONLY WAY: Man has this one come a long way baby... Back in the day it was you must do kung fu or karate in order to be the real deal. Then it became kickboxing and Jeet Kune Do. Then Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Each one of these insisting they are the best. NOW it's the 3 in 1 of boxing/clinch/ground. Which, IMO, has tremendous merit. I wholeheartedly approve of this "as long as" you include weapons, firearms, pre-fight and psychological applications to some degree. For the most part the 3 in 1 peeps don't include much more than the 3 in 1.

Also, you have the WWII combatives guys. The concern I have there is that they have a set of "killing (???) tech's" that they never seem to functionalize. You cannot really train ripping someones throat out so how can it become functional. Again, how to you train to rip someones eyes out of their sockets. Boxing would be great training as a delivery system for this type of material but it's rare for my WWII combatives friends to develop their boxing skills.

Then there are the GUN GUYS. I love'em. But guns are not magic. They are operator dependent. Training is key. This is probably the largest group who do not get training "ever". Even when they do, they do not routinly practice the material they were trained on in order to make it functional.

I don't have enough time to get into the KNIFE GUYS...

I think that all of the MY WAY IS THE ONLY WAY guys have some good material but they need to talk to eachother.

"Simplicity is the last step of art."

-Bruce Lee

Sorry Bruce, that's dated thinking. Simplicity is the FIRST step of the art (Yes I know better than Bruce Lee). But simplicity doesn't mean "just box and you'll be OK".

Simplicity means: Learn simple, high probability empty hand tactics that have good training methods to functionalize them. Know the basics of weapons and firearms. Practice alot. Stay away from groups and politics. Divorce the word "loyalty" from your MARTIAL vocabulary. Don't be freaky and paranoid and sit around trying to figure out what color code of awareness you are on.

These are MY opinions. This is how I feel about things. If you don't agree with me that's OK. If you do agree with me that's OK too.

I just happened to have 25 minutes of free time this morning for the first time in a long time.

Demi

https://www.DemiBarbito.com

https://www.IndependentKoncepts.com

[HERQ454]

Question.

Are some of the statements you are making in response to views express on another Forum?If you dont care to say,then dont worry about it. If your stuff just keeps one person alive and or safe,thats all that matters.

[Watchdog]

Demi,
Since you have a group of instructors under you (an "organization" if you will) how do you yourself prevent the types of problems from arising that you point out often occur with such organizations?

[kwai chang pain]

I'm not a JKD guy, but I totally hear 'ya on the ORGANIZATION thing. I was in one for about 7 years. I got fed up with the politics and that "follower"
attitude. Ever heard of The Borg from Star Trek?? Not cool.

I was a team sports guy before I tried a little wrestling then more martial arts.
IMHO I think individuality is an important trait as a martial artist, a teacher, student, a human being.

If I teach martial arts again it will be on my terms and no one else's.

[ecamd1025]

Interesting Those soldiers are stuck in one direction they are riding a wave. Most of those my way martial artists are stuck in a pattern a system. From which they work in. Like math, it improves but it is always from the old concepts that new ones are created. So in actuallity they are old still.
One thing I see you do say about simplicity, but people change and what they say changes. To speculate on what bruce said is to look at one part of history. It does not matter what he said, or what anyone including the me says. You dont know what he is really thinking or what he really thought before he died. I see what all of these people talk about real JKD. There is no such thing as JKD. It has become a style these days, merely a system. A collection of what was. Now martial artists study martial arts exactly the same way as they did before.
No way as way. Sorry to quote but he did say that. Which I can relate to. There are only so many things in martial arts you can do and a system is narrow. You can only kick so many ways, and punch so many ways. Throw so many ways, grapple so many ways. There are limits to the body. Two feet two legs. If there is more body parts than fighting will change, otherwise, there is nothing to change.
Each person took their own idea stuck to it and failed to see what more could be done. And what that person missed someone else took it and stuck to that. In actuality not fooling or lying to eachother, The art of defense is total, there is no system or method or way, that kind of thinking is silly. I also dont understand how Dan inosanto could carry on JKD when bruce lee said he never meant it to be a way, or style, but the name was used to identify. Just like MY name or your name is. How can you carry on something that is not?

Any way nice talking with you. Take care

[Demi Barbito]

"""Demi,
Since you have a group of instructors under you (an "organization" if you will) how do you yourself prevent the types of problems from arising that you point out often occur with such organizations?"""

I do not have any instructors under me. I do not continue to have relationships of any kind with many of the individuals who come to train, get certified and move on.

Is an EMT or a paramedic certified under the person who certified them?

If you become a doctor or a lawyer do you represent your medical or law school. Not usually. You represent yourself.

I do not have an organization I have a training facility. People come and they go. Just like I did when I trained with various individuals.

From my site:

No individual or entity may represent the CSPT. Any individual who has trained at the CSPT is free to change, integrate or adopt any material they trained into their own style, system or method. Truth is free and cannot be restrained. There is nothing unethical about teaching material you were taught at the CSPT, even if you’ve changed it to better suit specific needs (in your own opinion).


Demi