Alex Johnstone MSP, myself & Councillor Jim Millar had the press taking some pics for a press release about our efforts today. Ralph from the Courier asked a question that I thought was a good one; he asked me if I thought that the things I taught in my martial arts studio (& the things on the walls etc) glorified violence. Ralph is a good bloke, & a good (fair) reporter (unlike some I've met) & usually comes up with good questions that can sometimes warrant a fairly deep answer. His question got me thinking that there is a good possibility that many people (& many of those people could well be in government or be staff of those people) don't understand what we teach. Unfortunately if you look throughout history there are many examples of very large 'oopsies' happening because someone didn't understand someone else.
So do we glorify violence? I can put my hand on my heart & say no, I truly believe that we don't. I can't speak for all martial arts instructors, some of the guys teaching MMA & suchlike can be a bit 'Neanderthal' in their outlook for my liking- but I specialise in two very different areas; & glorify violence in neither.
It’s quite funny that I specialise in two areas that are almost at opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. On one hand I am very well known for running fantastic young children’s martial arts programmes- I even get children who have behavioural problems referred to me by teachers & social workers. On the other hand I'm known internationally for my adults Reality Based Martial Arts instruction, & I'm an instructor with UK Special Forces. So let’s look at my adults classes first; one thing that any of my senior students will tell you is that pretty quickly in my classes you learn just what a terrible thing violence is. You learn just how vicious & nasty the predators of society can be, & that prevention is better than cure as anytime you are in combat there is always the chance that you could get hurt or worse. You learn the flip side of the same coin, that the human body can be a remarkably frail thing, & that it is frighteningly easy to truly hurt someone very badly. We don't glorify violence; we educate people in how ugly & terrible it is. We emphasise the need for self control, & our students gain that through hard training which makes them look deep inside themselves & dig in deep to keep going. We emphasis courtesy & mutual respect in every class. As well as teaching people to stay safe we're building a better person.
One area that most people don't understand is weapons training in the martial arts. Most politicians would probably be very shocked to know that there are martial arts out there that have knifework at their core- but the South East Asian martial arts do. Kali, Escrima, Pekiti Tirsia, Silat; they all have knifework as a core study. Does this mean we all carry machete’s or knives? Of course not! I'm an instructor of several different arts that are 'knife arts'- does this mean that I carry a Rambo knife everywhere I go & think that its ok for kids to carry knives? Get real! Do the practitioners of Japanese sword arts (Kenjutsu, Iaijutsu, Batto jutsu) think that they should be allowed to walk around with samurai swords? Do practioners of English Quarterstaff fighting think they should be allowed to wander around with a dirty great big staff? Do practitioners of sword fencing wander around with basket hilt swords? I think not! In the arts I teach weapons are practiced mainly because the drills involved in their practice develop co-ordination to a very fine level like nothing else! They turbo-charge your 'normal' martial arts skills. Also, to truly be able to defend against a weapon, you need to understand how that weapon is used. There is nothing dark or scary about it, its just a good method of skill building. Are we glorifying violence? No. One thing you learn quickly from martial arts weapons training is just how terrible that environment is.
So, glorifying violence is the furthest thing from what we do. We are all about building good people. The sort of people who make great members of society. The sort of people who end up as the protectors in society. We take kids who could turn into real problems & turn them around. We give adults new found confidence & self esteem. We teach them to enjoy life, not live it in fear. We're the good guys, honest.
Mark
