Why Do Martial Artists Hate on other Martial Arts?

Question

Whether it be style v. style, training method v. training method, ect. the Martial Art world is constantly bashing each other. I run into these comments everywhere:

"Tae Kwon Do is Useless"

"Aikido is Useless"

"X, Y, or Z is the Best!"

While Aikido is taught in police forces, Tae Kwon Do has been (and will continue to be) one of the most popular arts (if it was not useful, why is it so popular?), ect. Yes, the joint locks of Aikido are effective in real life. Aikido practitioners have successfully defended themselves against armed opponents, just like TKD practitioners. Those in arts X, Y, or Z have as well. However, people from all of the above arts have also failed. Then, how can one be better than another?

Meanwhile people say you need to train alive for anything to work. Static arts are bad. But then why do people from "static" arts defend/defeat trainers of alive arts, and visa versa? And please don't cite MMA to "prove" me wrong, MMA rules and the cage limit a lot of what an artist can do.

And "food for thought": many of the alive arts train and spar wearing gloves with wrist support. How is this not a hindrance to your training? You learn to strike hard and fast, but are not accustomed to taking this in your wrist and hand. Also, technique that applies in gloves does not always apply to bare hands. Sure, non-alive arts don't build power and speed as fast, but we focus on bare hand technique only. We are trained and reminded how to strike in the least damaging ways to ourselves but the most damaging to our opponent. If you don't go over this, your hands WILL break.

Then an alive artist claims you fight how you train. Okay, most alive arts train with specific rules. Therefore you will not be taking vital shots, like the static-artist will. Static arts have plenty of "dirty" moves.

Thus, if you have a good teacher, any art or training method will work. But I am sure many here will still try and dispute these claims of equality among arts.

Please not that I am not biased, but am rather taking my stance from a more defensive view, as you don't see a lot of static artists bashing alive artists and see more X Y Z artists bashing TMA. I know alive arts, when taught right, make up for what I mentioned. But also notice that static arts, when taught right, do as well.

Answer 1

Before answering I must admit that the wording many people use today mystifies me. I'm referring to the phrase "Hate on". That and people saying the phrase,"I train (insert style here)" are just bad English.



OK, I've said that, so here is my answer. I thing ego is a big one. Also ignorance. I know that for the first 10+ years of my training in the martial arts, I had two big errors in my thinking. I thought that some martial arts were superior to others. Also, I thought that I knew a lot about the martial arts. about 20 years of training had me at a point where I was not so sure that some arts were superior. around the same time I began to realize that i had just scratched the surface of martial arts training, knowledge, and understanding. Several times over the years I witnessed people doing martial arts styles that I had previously thought of as not very practical. but I changed my mind after seeing some incredible things done. In the early 1990's I attended a weekend of seminars in butler PA. There were masters of many arts giving seminars. i had to choose what seminars I would attend and which to skip. The first morning I was drinking coffee in the cafeteria when an Aikido master walked in. His name is Thomas Burdine, who was a police officer. At the time I had serious doubts about Aikido's effectiveness. Burdine came over to me and we talked a while. He then set a chair out on te floor and asked me to sit in it. He told me that no matter what not to get out of the chair. i was confident that he would have to pry me out of the chair. He stood beside me and touched the back of my neck with the tips of his thumb and first finger. He also used the index finger of his other hand to touch my nose and then pull away to the front. The next thing I know I was standing up and moving faster and faster to the front. It stunned me. I had no idea why or how he got me to get out of the chair. i sat back down and he did it again several times. The last time I grabbed the bottom of the chair on both sides, ignored what he was doing, and was confident that i would not get out of the chair. He got me out again with no force what so ever. I signed up for his seminar. After that i contacted my main instructor and asked him about this. Later he showed me much Aiki techniques that were in our style that i had never known where there. From that day on no one can convince me that any style is bad. There are only ignorant and stubborn people.



There will always be many more bad martial artists than good ones in every style. Never let the bad ones The bad examples should never poison your beliefs.



I believe that many of the "style bashers" are insecure in their own abilities.





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Answer 2

You don't. He is entitled to his opinion of mm just like you are entitle to your opinion of mma. Some martial artist are entertained by the sport of mma. Others are disgusted by it. Everyone have their own reasons for this. One of the most common one is because it is not teaching martial arts(self defense) . It uses techniques taken from martial arts without the same intent. Many tms have grown tired of the lies spread are parroted by some in the mma community and their fan boys. You dad is right that mma in that a lot of what is seen in mma contest lack good technique, but this also applies to karate, tkd, etc one point sparring contests. That is not saying that they don't use any techniques. But much is missing that should be used by a martial artist. Edit: I have never heard a five swords kenpo, which doesn't mean much. There are hundreds of styles that unaware of. However, I looked this one up. There is no five swords kenpo. Five swords kenpo are techniques within kenpo the are required for orange belt.

Answer 3

My response t this question is is mainly because of ignorance. Ego can play a part, but the major thing is ignorance.



I would also like to add martial arts that are called static are not static. Yes techniques are taught from a static standpoint in the beginning. But as you progress you move away from static.



Edit:



Most experienced martial artist that I have come into contact with do not believe one art is superior to another. Most of us that have been around 20 years have come to a realization that no art is equal and that no art is superior. It really boils down to the effectiveness of the user not the art. The art is only good in the hands of the person using it.



Very few of us have been told one art is better or superior. That is a message that we have learned from watching some old kung fu movies. Chinese kung fu is better than Japanese karate. My snake style is better than monkey style. You must dragon style to defeat tiger's claw. These types of things have been ingrained into us from our early youth. But it is just a movie myth and stereotype. Tai chi is much more than a bunch of senior citizens moving slow in the park exercising. It is very graceful and yet very powerful as a martial art when it is being taught as such.



Now with the spread of sports combat and reality based training they market themselves to the public that doesn't have much knowledge saying that they are superior or more suited for self defense. They are just selling their product by putting down others. The biggest problem here is that a select few believe the hype and that the fan boys and want to be fighters believe that garbage too.

Answer 4

One of the things that training in martial arts and fighting arts does is that it instills self-confidence, and sometimes an even aggressive view towards things and a way of action. Some martial artists and fighters don't know how or when to turn that off I think and often then it gets verbalized in some way by them. Sometimes they don't even realize they are doing it is what I have observed. At other times they are just ignorant and act this way in part because of that. Occasionally they will sometimes realize it and see that it limits them in some ways from learning something new and expanding their knowledge and skill base but some also never do which are the truly ignorant ones in my opinion.

Answer 5

You make some great points.



I think the hate stems from 3 things.



Misunderstanding: Many people that have this attitude base their point of view on limited information. They believe what they see or hear (usually from other uninformed people) and continue to relay it without thought. Even many who study an art for a few years and then quit because "It wasn't practical" never have the opportunity to learn the intricacies and/or see the benefits of it in the long run. To hate what you don't fully understand, really is silly.



Pride: Unfortunately many schools these days base so much emphasis on combat effectiveness that they don't devote enough time to teaching students to be humble. Students go inside, they show respect to their classmates and instructor..they train..and then they leave. There is no time set aside to teach the benefits of non-ego and social etiquette.



Refusal to think "Outside the box": When speaking of evolution in martial arts, i do not necessarily mean cross training. I mean to always keep an open mind in regards to practicality, training and philosophy. Many students are told to hold steadfast to what they are taught, be it in MMA, TMA or "Reality" based arts, there are always those that refuse to open their minds to other possibilities. These such students give reasons like "It's not practical in real life" or "It doesn't work in the octagon" etc. It is not these comments in themselves that are the problem, it is that we refuse to take them into account and instead become insulted and snap at each other. It is entirely possible to improve ourselves as martial artists through inter-system dialogue and yet still remain true to our roots and practices. It is those that refuse to "Think outside the box" that hold themselves or their students back.



Thank you for allowing us to share and for sharing your thoughts. All the best in your studies.



Amituofo.

Answer 6

Marketing turned belief turned ego.



Marketing will say, ‘We are the best burger place in town!’. No marketing will say, ‘We are just as good as the other restaurants in town, but some of our chiefs might be better.’



Customers will go in and taste that it is a good burger. Combined with the marketing that states that the restaurant have been rated as the best by M company, they’ll believe that the restaurant is the best burger place in town.



The customer will spread the news of the great burger place. When questioned or challenged on that claim now it is matter of ego. If the restaurant is not the best burger place they have been eating the second rate and spreading lies. They become less than best and liars. But they know they are not liars and the burgers are good, so the other person must be liars trying to challenge your character. And etc. and etc.

Answer 7

All the other people got fab points. I'd like to add something else. MA today and not just today but throughout pretty much quite a lot of the history after immediate conflict are businesses. Ancient China had mcdojos just as the same situation now. There were also quite a lot of scams.



KsSnake is a bit confused on history. When Japan invaded Nanking. They did not do it in a ring sport way. They accepted no challenges. It was very blitzikrieg like. They bombed all the defenses and went in effortlessly. They rounded up all surviving soldiers or anyone able bodied that could pose as a threat and executed them instantly with machine guns. There were no romantic MA fights. It was all ugly and done with modern tools of misery. The women were quickly raped and killed. Most Chinese did not dare to stand and challenge a fight but rather deployed guerilla tactics instead. Because standing up and fight is not only stupid but it further increases Japanese hostility.



I believe what he was referring to was Fearless film. An entire fiction and romantised version of history. It was true that Huo of Mizongyi defeated a Russian wreslter but that was because the wreslter brutally maimed several fellow artist that Huo personally knew. He didn't want people to get hurt, not his art to get insulted. He immediately reconciled with the wreslter once he knew the wrestler was hungry stomached and simply forced into beating the Chinese to live.



YuanJiao Huo actually was great friend to his Japanese doctor who frequently cared for him and gave him medicine for his lung complications. It's implied that the doctor was a judo man and invited Chin Woo Kung fu school to a judo match. Ending with a complicated result that's disputed into a brawl ending with the judo people's hands suffering fractures. Although there was no winner. All Huo wanted was to make Chinese themselves realize that they need to make love not war among themselves plus increasing the strength against foreign exploitation from within. He did not want to prove his Chinese system as better than everyone else's.



The Chinese master's demise by 'poisoning' is as much a debate as Jigoro Kano's poisoning by Imperial government. The doctor eventually gave what he thought would cure Huo, not kill him. But do bear in mind that Chinese terrorists of the time like Peaceful Nation wanted the perfect excuse to claim genocide against non-Hanka. So Japanese haters at the time may have misused the evidence to make the claim that Huo was murdered and not died of a natural method. It's a big debate that is further increased by politics. Overall there were little international hatred on MA. But there were quite a few between schools of the same nations. E.g. one clan of silat in conflict with another clan of silat. One kung fu school in conflict with another kung fu school. Koryu Jujutsu in conflict with judo.



Back to the question. I believe today's MA use 'fear based' marketing. Unlike most misconceptions, beginners simply misunderstood what they are doing, they don't have an ego but sometimes are driven by fear. Fear that what they were learning is both a waste of time and money, resources that modern people can't lose. Bad schools that want to make themselves more money prey on these people's insecurities and create the ego for them.

Answer 8

Insulation.

Ego has always been a big part of it but it's more common these days because martial artists just aren't meeting each other to instill that bit of respect, you can get all the way up to a high grade in many martial arts without ever facing another fighter from outside your own school.

Answer 9

Ignorance and ego mostly.

Before being too sure which arts are no good, you should read this:



Believe me when I tell you, you will be very surprised by the arts you suspect of being less. I was young and had that very thing figured out, just like you. Then a young (I was still young then too) judo brown-belt beat the tar out of the parking lot with me! Smart-arsed karate guy couldn't get close to that guy without hitting the ground, and I thought judo was girlish and soft! I saw some tai-chi demos that left my jaw hanging from the POWER of their art, and I do shotokan. I saw a TKD guy simply chop down a muay thai guy with fearsome kicks the MT guy could not fathom. every time I disrespected some different art, it hurt when I found out the hard way. Your martial art is yours alone, when it comes time to use it, and you will make of it what it becomes, and you alone, no matter the art, you the practitioner must make it work. I can teach you enough karate in 15 minutes to beat Chuck Norris silly.

YOU have to practice for 50 years until you are good enough at it to do that. Chuck"ll be too old to care.

Answer 10

Hating on martial arts goes all the way back to before the martial arts left Asia. The Chinese have had an intense rivalry with Japanese martial artists ever since the Japanese invaded Shanghai and Nanking in 1937. The Chinese proved the superiority of their "wushu" over the Japanese martial arts in many tournaments.



The movies 'Fearless' (Jet Li) and 'The Chinese Connection' (Bruce Lee) are based on the true story of Chinese wushu master Huo Yuanjia who defeated the occupying Japanese fighters who were always humiliating the local Chinese people who they had conquered and stolen land from. Jet Li portrayed Huo Yuanjia in 'Fearless', while this character was later poisoned at the beginning of the Bruce Lee film 'The Chinese Connection' in retaliation for beating the Japanese. Bruce Lee's character Chen Zhen was a student of Master Huo Yuanjia and he got revenge on the Japanese martial artists who had murdered his teacher.

Answer 11

Some people simply have to hate something or even someone and can't leave it alone. If it isn't martial arts it will be something else. Others simply have to be right all the time and can't admit that they didn't know it all and learned. To them admitting that they have learned something they did not know before is like admitting they have been wrong and their ego forbids that.

I think it is a matter of maturity and it seems like with every generation we lose some.

Answer 12

Those who train correctly, who are the only ones who can truly be called a martial artist, do not disrespect other martial art styles.



Generally, hate is passed on from one person to another. It's more common for one person to inherit an attitude from someone else rather than develop one on their own. They're like a parrot; they repeat what they hear without understanding at all the reasons why.

Answer 13

Like Jim R said, it is due to ignorance and ego. People usually bash other arts/methods/etc. because they have no knowledge of that art/method/etc. Bashing like that shows that the person is most likely uneducated about that topic and immature.



There is no such thing as a bad style, technique, or method. Every single style, technique, and method works as long as the person using it makes it work.

Answer 14

Capitalism is the bane of martial arts and that's where the animosity is brought about.



Many martial arts schools have become money driven businesses offering an optional service rather than places of complusary attendance like they were in past days such as the medival era, feudal eras and whatever China's version of the middle ages were. If you wanted to teach martial arts you had to become a master at arms to a lord or landowner and to do that you had to PROVE YOURSELF not only capable you had to PROVE YOURSELF to be the best available - Funnily enough you did that in one of two ways, through competition or through war, you had to make it known that you were the guy that people wanted to learn from and once you got that position you weren't safe, people could challenge you to take your position. But if you held that position two things were consistent, money and students, it didn't matter how many students you were teaching you'd be payed the same, the only way to improve that income was to do a better job of teaching and provide the lord with better soldiers who made him richer by winning raids or wars.



We don't live in a time like that anymore, we live in a time of option and capitalism. Martial learnings are considered optional to most people these days, a hobby or a sport and not only are the martial trainings themselves optional people have the option of which school they want to learn at, martial schools don't have to prove anything to open up in a town, even if there is already a school there, even if there are already several schools there. If both teachers are just teaching to pass on their knowledge then the schools can co-habitate peacefully, even co-operatively, but if one teacher is teaching for the money then this is where capitalism is a detriment to martial arts. Teachers these days can make more money by having more students, some teachers do this by being a damn good teacher and deserving every dollar his or her skill bring them, others...well...not so much. Rather than building a reputation based on proven ability or producing top quality students they offer an easier path than their 'competitors' these schools have been tagged as McDojos and Belt Factories and they survive because there is no standard - the standard in the past was 'The Challenge' you could rock up to somebody's dojo and challenge the teacher, if the teacher didn't want to come out and play you made it public that you thought they were a wimp and a fraud and reputation within that small community demanded they meet that challenge. This is where I believe tradition is a major shield for rubbish schools. Teachers claim that their moves and techniques have worked for thousands of years and have nothing left to prove, or they've trained for over fourty years and by that right alone understand more than you do, what people tend to miss is that the techniques are rarely what is being questioned. I have no doubt that most of Aikido's techniques work and work well but that leaves three variables the skill of the practitioner, which to a large degree is governed by the skill of the teacher and the skill of the enemy or opposition. Believe it or not martial techniques have a skill rating much the same as techniques in diving or gymnastics and the abillity of the user determines what is and isn't available to them. Basic strikes of an offensive nature sit right down the bottom of that skill-list, even the worst trained users can throw these at a skilled opponent and hope to land them (the phenomenon known as 'Puncher's Luck') high kicks and other more risky moves require you to at least be as good and as fast as your opponent, counter-strikes and throws of a defensive nature are much harder to pull off and require a much greater skill difference, greater speed and minutely perfect timing. Faulty traditional teachers hide behind the shield of these techniques working for thousands of years, but those techniques were working for people trained in a very different way to what they're offering. Police trained in Aikido have not been trained in any remote similarity to what most Aikidoka experience, they know from experience when they're dealing with somebody that these high skill moves can be used on, they've done it many times and paid in bruises when they got it wrong. To put this simply - no touch KOs aside a good Karate school is 99% identical to a bad one on a technical level, the same is true of TKD and Jujitsu and any other martial art you care to mention.

Answer 15

im not even reading the comments on this one. since martial arts began it was like this. everyone wants to be the best, in any sport. period. any one whos part of a group or style sees them in a higher light. when martial arts began as a true art in japan for example, which was at the aftermath of sekigahara, warriors simply wanted prestige for their schools of the various forms of martial arts. (Major, Minor, and Collateral Armed and Unarmed arts.) it wouldn't be uncommon for one man to show up at a school and beat every man in the school. back then men dreamed of being the best and getting a job offer believe it or not. you have to consider they lived life only as warriors. they didn't have any other trade, job etc. present day its just an unrealistic sportsmanship issue. and any test of the issue is fraudulent considering the fact that what we are considering is a form of warfare. and I don't see the bodies piling up. no one man of any one style of any one size of any one race can guarantee he can best all his opponents and claim to be the best. this question is almost like saying is baseball better than soccer or is one team better than another. in reality its a constant changing variable.

Answer 16

Ego. Even the old masters would consider their art better. People like to feel bigger and better then those around them.

Answer 17

Ego and just the plain simple fact that everyone wants their art to be the best, that they are top dog, etc.

Answer 18

Not all martial artist hate others nor do we hate other styles.

Answer 19

No one knows why you care they just don't want you to be with the opposite sex or have all the material things you dreamed of sorry in my idea,I rather be gang "La " instead of being manu(manipulated by a female) family.

Answer 20

rabble rabble mma rabble rabble tma's are useless. yes people dislike other arts and have there opinions whether they are backed up or not. we don't have to go over it all the time.

Answer 21

not all arts are equal though im not living in a fantasy land.

Answer 22

Dear god, have we beaten this topic to death or what?

Answer 23

Good question ... i think they are jeolous... They all ways think there sport is better because they do it.. ignorance is bliss

Answer 24

Maybe it's because they're stupid. What else do you reckon.