Friday, April 17, 2015

Misconceptions about Martial Arts and Self Defense

First, let me start off with this; What does the term 'Martial Arts' mean?
For those who aren't familiar, 'Martial' means 'War', the term 'Martial Art' means the 'Art of War'.
Martial Arts at one time, were meant to be used for violence, for combat, for wars, not for entertainment or enjoyment or hobbies. But with the invention of new weapons like firearms and other advanced weapons, Martial Arts have become obsolete as far as wars are concerned. Most of the soldiers in combat never even get into situations that require them to use H2H methods. But still many Martial Art schools promote their style/s as a "military method".

This particular subject is filled with so much confusion and twists, it's like a tangled up rubber-band ball stuck together with superglue.
With movies making people think that they can do impossible things and with mcdojo's and money hungry instructors capitalizing on the guilibility of the masses and selling "effective street programs", there is not much left that can be called Martial Arts. From "children's self defense" to "fitness for martial arts" and other recreational programs, there's not much of the "Martial" part left in Martial Arts today.

Now as far as self-defense is concerned, there's a whole mess of things that need to be addressed. One of them being that Street Fighting and Self Defense are not one and the same thing; Here's why.

Start questioning these things, research more on these subjects, then you'll see for yourself how you've been manipulated into believing the reality that doesn't exist.

Terms

In my past posts, I've used many terms to describe violence, and I've used them in a not so correct manner, but as time goes and i educate myself more, i tend to improve myself and my mistakes.

So, here's an article that clears up some things on proper 'terms'.

First, Violence is violence no matter what you call it.
It's the various situations that the violence is used in that differs from each other.

Usually, i don't like to have a big fuss over terms, but in this case (training for violence), terms can help determine how you will train and what you will train for, rather than just blindly training to punch and kick, you would learn and understand the dynamics of violence and be able to apply the principles as required.

Alright, here's a list of terms that clear up somethings as far as training for different types of violent situations is concerned;

Street Fighting and Fights; Street fighting is nothing more than what you see in those youtube videos, two people going at it, dancing around and punching each other while their friends cheer on. I'm sure many of you are familiar with 'worldstar'. That's what fighting is. It's not an attack on someone, all involved in a 'fight' are equally willing to hurt each other for fun or their status among peers.

Self Defense; It's a legal term used if you're able to prove that the force used by you on another person was the result of an unavoidable assault or attack on you by that person. Self-Defense is not something you "do", it's what you did when your life was in danger and were you justified in doing so, that's self-defense. It is also a part of a much larger area of study of violence called Conflict Management.

Self Protection or Personal Protection and Safety ; These terms are used as a synonym for self-defense by many, but actually they're just used to describe the measures taken by an individual or a group to protect themselves from threats before they occur. Avoidance, having situational and environmental awareness, being alert of suspicious individuals around you, trusting your intuition and instincts are all a part of self-protection measures. It is a bigger part of Conflict Management than self-defense.

Attack and Assault; An attack is the the use of aggression and violence (physical and/or verbal) on another individual, usually to get something from them or for self-gratification.
An assault is a legal term that has different meanings in different countries, so you would have to look up as to what constitutes as an assault in your own country. In common law, it's defined as; "The act of creating apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact with a person".

Violence; This is an 'umbrella term' for the many different violent situations that take place. From asocial violence such as; muggings, home invasions, rapes, mob attacks, assaults, etc. to anti-social and social violence such as; ambush attacks by groups for their fun, street fights, bar fights, etc. There are various sub-categories of violence. (I'll also post on that subject soon).
Violence is used in self-defense situations, and it's used in sport fighting, it's used at home, it's used in the offices and even in nature, it exists everywhere in some form or the other and there are many different ways to describe violence, but that doesn't mean it changes what violence is, and that's; Violence; The act of using physical force - lethal or non-lethal - intended to bring bodily harm on it's victim. It has many forms, but the goal is always the same, to put it simply; Put your target down.



That's it. Thanks for reading.