Don’t Be A Crab
I recently read an article on Fatherly entitled “Everything You Need to Know About Martial Arts Before Signing Your Kid Up”. I came away in a very conflicted mindset after reading the article. Overall, I think the article itself is actually fairly decent. It relays some simple, but good, information to non-martial arts parents looking to potentially sign their children up for martial arts. So kudos there.
However, there was something that irritated me about the article. Admittedly, it took me a little while to crystallize what that was for me. Full disclosure, I’ve already written this article twice in different forms as I was trying to get my thoughts together for this. So let’s get into it.
You Had Me Up Until…
While I did feel like the article was written and put together by a non-martial artist, that is not what my problem is. The problem I am actually referring to is some of the quotes that appear in one particular section in the article entitled “Avoid Traditional Karate or Tae Kwon Do If You Want Them To Kick Ass”.
I’ll quickly address the title of that section. This was merely an “eye roll” though as many non-martial artists tend to focus on the ass-kickery. However, I don’t know many parents, martial artists or not, that want their kids to be putting foot-to-rear-end with reckless abandon. Now if a bully is forcing them into a physical confrontation? By all means kiddo, forcefully place that foot where the sun doesn’t shine. But I digress…
Were You Absent When They Went Over The “Respect” Thing?
Obviously, by the title of that section, you can tell that the contents will not be favorable to traditional Karate and Taekwondo. Admittedly, some of this may be earned as many karate and taekwondo schools tend to be focused more on competition which has its own separate merits. However, I’m not going to get into talking about the benefits of competition over self-defense, or vice versa.
What I am going to talk about is that some of these martial artists quoted in this article we’re so ready to casually trash other styles of martial arts. Maybe they know of a specific Taekwondo or karate school that doesn’t teach useful stuff. Fine. Many of us probably do as well. It is quite another thing to trash entire systems, spanning hundreds and maybe even thousands of schools, in one big sweeping statement. Do you really mean to tell me that every karateka and Taekwondo student in the world is just a chump?
This is outstandingly ignorant, plain and simple. Teaching “stranger danger” and the basics of punching/kicking/blocking to children is “garbage”? Since when? Are traditional Karate and Taekwondo styles THE most effective for “the street”? Probably not. But do they offer value to a young child or an adult who has never practiced martial arts before? Absolutely. Additionally, training in Karate and Taekwondo can lead a student to seek out other arts that offer different philosophies of training.
So, About That Crab-Mentality Thing
I’m sure if you do a search on crabbing you’ll probably find a video that will present this to you. Of course, if you watch any one of the reality fishing shows you might also see this as well. What I’m referring to is when you see a bucket or a large bin full of crabs, you’ll notice an interesting behavior.
At some point, at least one crab will eventually start to separate itself from the rest of the crabs in the bin and begin to crawl up towards the top of the bin to potentially get to freedom. Now rather than help that crab in its endeavors, because that is what we as humans would think might happen, the exact opposite actually happens. You will see other crabs actually reach up and pull that one crab close to freedom back down into the bucket or bin. There is no “let’s work together” mentality with crabs.
From The Crab Bucket To The Mat
I also find this behavior mimicked quite often in martial arts. I can’t even count how many times I’ve witnessed conversations, online or not, about how one system is trash and another system is the best. Anybody who has any level of sense knows that these conversations are worthless. The “greatest” practitioner of a perceived inferior art will consistently be better than a middling practitioner of a supposedly superior art. Of course, this conversation becomes even more ridiculous as more and more practitioners are multi-art practitioners.
Other times I’ve even seen this behavior within a single system. Sometimes with the passing of a leader of a system, you have a bunch of people who have been clearly directed to work together for the betterment and proliferation of the system. And yet, you find the exact opposite ends up happening. It is a mad scramble for each of them to try to find their way to the “top”, while the others desperately pull them back down.
This is not too much different than the casual “McDojo”-ing of other schools you perceive to be inferior, which whistlekick Martial Arts Radio covered here.
Style-Trashing Does Not Grow the Martial Arts
If you are quick to tell anybody who asks, or will listen, about how this style or that style is “garbage”, then it is really simple: You are the problem. You are not growing the martial arts. The vast majority of non-martial artists generally see us all as “the same”. They don’t care nearly as much as we do about which style is the “best”. When they see us trashing other styles, they see that as a blanket-negative representation of all martial artists. Quite frankly, this behavior makes us look petty and tribal.
When we bicker and squabble over styles and systems, we might as well be fighting over table scraps. Martial Arts as a whole is practiced by a very small percentage of the populace. This kind of behavior only serves to keeps us small and niche`. This keeps prospective students, young or adult, from coming through the door. I feel confident saying there are many schools of various styles that could definitely use some more students coming in the door. Growing the martial arts has a net-positive benefit for everyone.
Master Ken is Popular for a Reason
Master Ken’s videos and his “Enter The Dojo” show on Youtube are very successful for many reasons. One big reason for this is how he applies a satirical look at the dumb things we do as martial artists. Of course, many of these things are dialed up to 11 to enhance the comedic value. One of my favorite collections of videos he does is “________ is Bullshit!”. These are truly funny videos that poke fun at each style. Of course, he also points out how Ameridote is superior to whatever style he is picking on. However, there is one other thing he is doing with these videos. He is pointing out how ridiculous martial artists who trash other styles really are.
Be Careful of Your Choice of Words
The value inherent in careful word choice as a representative of the martial arts should be obvious, but I’ll spell it out just in case. Anytime you trash another school, system, or style, you are actually saying infinitely more about yourself than any other style or anybody else.
If you know that your school/style/system is the “best”, then why waste your time trashing the other schools or styles in the area? Are you not that confident? If you are, then just focus on making your school as good as it can be.
Heck, go one step further and host a regional competition, invite all of the other schools, and let the results speak loud and clear. Not only will you probably learn something about another school or style that you didn’t know, you just might come away from it with something unexpected: Respect.
- Martial Journal Is Growing and Expanding! - August 21, 2019
- The Grandmaster Movie Review - August 3, 2019
- “Big Brother” Movie Review - July 19, 2019
Great article, I had an English teacher in school who used to say “I want my opponent to be at his best when we compete, so when I defeat him, he knows im the best”, but the thing that caught me was the story about the crabs. the ancient masters watched cranes fight tigers praying mantis’s etc.. the crab is not without its combat skills. I go crabbing every year and can assure you they are as tough as they come, they stay low and fight backwards, they tend to circle from side to side like Musashi Miyamoto, they grab and clinch their opponents and bring them in (as you observed), and they can quickly retreat when necessary. They are fighters for sure, hard to catch and hard to handle once you have one. By the way, crabs are notoriously known for “punching above they’re weight”. They’ll take on anything.
For martial arts trash talkers, spend more time in nature, you might learn something.