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Hey, I've actually been on this forum for alittle while but I am usually soft spoken unless I have something to say. I didn't know which section to post this in so I figured this one is as good as any. I would like to talk about a disturbing trend I see going on within the martial arts community. Now, this may be alittle controversial but when you think about it, it's neccessary to bring up within the community.
To start with, any true martial artist understands that any martial art is made up of a set of predefined movements, philosophies, strategies, etc., which acts as that particular martial art's DNA. So anybody claiming to teach "Native American Kenpo" or "Brazilian Ju Jutsu", or whatever, they are frauds. Just because someone takes an Asian style and changes a few slight, barely noticeable aspects and claims it as their own doesn't make it original. It is culture identity theft! Brazilian Ju Jutsu doesn't differ that wildly from Japanese Ju Jutsu, it's popular because of this trend about studying non-Asian martial arts (though the Gracies are awesome fighters, but still bjj is a fraud nonetheless). And I think that it's good for people to aspire to get the word out that MA aren't purely an asian thing, and that all cultures have martial arts. Bring all cultures forward like Bruce Lee did with Asia.
But that doesn't make it ok for people to steal a martial art and call it their own... Chief Adrian Roman is a fraud and it's already gotten out of the bag. In fact if I'm not mistaken he's not even Native American! Anything ending in Jutsu, Do, or Ryu is Asian. Anything that is a style of "karate" or "kenpo" (which is a style of karate itself), or "ju jutsu", or whatever, reguardless if they put "Norwegian" or "Somolian" or "Canadian" in front of it, IT'S ASIAN! Ju Jutsu is Ju Jutsu, Karate is karate, period. It originated from Japan.
The only exception here I can think of is wrestling, as styles of wrestling differ from one style to the next enough to make a clear distinction. Maybe because wrestling is a general martial art, probably the oldest general form alive. There are different forms within kung-fu and silat, but they also all share some common principals that define them as kung fu or silat. The same goes for karate to a lesser extent.
Real non-Asian martial arts are like capoeira, krav maga, arte del abbracciare, lua, savate, nubian wrestling, laganza (Native American, Apache to be more specific). Those are examples, they are home grown, they were built from the ground up without stealing to take a short cut. But this is just my input. If someone wants to learn a foreign style, great, no problem,but don't claim it as their own!
Snake
To start with, any true martial artist understands that any martial art is made up of a set of predefined movements, philosophies, strategies, etc., which acts as that particular martial art's DNA. So anybody claiming to teach "Native American Kenpo" or "Brazilian Ju Jutsu", or whatever, they are frauds. Just because someone takes an Asian style and changes a few slight, barely noticeable aspects and claims it as their own doesn't make it original. It is culture identity theft! Brazilian Ju Jutsu doesn't differ that wildly from Japanese Ju Jutsu, it's popular because of this trend about studying non-Asian martial arts (though the Gracies are awesome fighters, but still bjj is a fraud nonetheless). And I think that it's good for people to aspire to get the word out that MA aren't purely an asian thing, and that all cultures have martial arts. Bring all cultures forward like Bruce Lee did with Asia.
But that doesn't make it ok for people to steal a martial art and call it their own... Chief Adrian Roman is a fraud and it's already gotten out of the bag. In fact if I'm not mistaken he's not even Native American! Anything ending in Jutsu, Do, or Ryu is Asian. Anything that is a style of "karate" or "kenpo" (which is a style of karate itself), or "ju jutsu", or whatever, reguardless if they put "Norwegian" or "Somolian" or "Canadian" in front of it, IT'S ASIAN! Ju Jutsu is Ju Jutsu, Karate is karate, period. It originated from Japan.
The only exception here I can think of is wrestling, as styles of wrestling differ from one style to the next enough to make a clear distinction. Maybe because wrestling is a general martial art, probably the oldest general form alive. There are different forms within kung-fu and silat, but they also all share some common principals that define them as kung fu or silat. The same goes for karate to a lesser extent.
Real non-Asian martial arts are like capoeira, krav maga, arte del abbracciare, lua, savate, nubian wrestling, laganza (Native American, Apache to be more specific). Those are examples, they are home grown, they were built from the ground up without stealing to take a short cut. But this is just my input. If someone wants to learn a foreign style, great, no problem,but don't claim it as their own!
Snake
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