TheLivingShadow
Location: Morocco
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martial arts
Survival Myth #47: The Best Martial Art is...
This YouTube vid by Scott made me think. I bothered to respond to it on YouTube but it really doesn't offer the space to do so properly. It's a big issue so i will here.
Jesus Christ (and others) said "Do not resist evil".
I don't quote Christ because self-defense is a religious matter or because i like to put myself out there as a 'Christian' or something (even if anyone should ever consider me such, in the first place).
It's just a very appropriate approach to violence.
I might as well quote Gandhi. He managed to get Britain kicked out of his country and they never came back. How? Peaceful resistance.
Some other things come to mind, like how the greatest masters of martial arts say that they basically never fight! So what's the point?
Children fight. People who just don't GET it. Immature people accept structural confrontation as a viable route.
As Asimov put it so eloquently in his Foundation Trilogy:
"Violence is the last resort of the incompetent".
Violence is a self-fullfilling prophecy. It's only an option because it is. Unless it isn't... If it is, it's the last option because it ends all other options. If it isn't, it NEVER at any point enters the equation.
The above inherently creates two sides to the issue and 2 groups: the ones who deal with violence AT ALL and the ones that never do. These 2 parties tend not to understand the viewpoint of the other party at all.
Even in a 'survival situation' people are still people. People find reasons to accept confrontation every day. Unless they don't. Survival situations don't really change anything about that. If you EVER find violence an acceptable option, you may find yourself confronted with MORE such options in a survival situation, but the point is that you were ALREADY primed to.
On the other hand, if you don't see violence as a viable option, survival situations won't change that.
One very practical note: someone filled to the brim with adrenaline will win the fight with someone who's just being a bully. That's about indignation, knowing what you're about, and other such mental matters. It's not possible to WILL adrenaline into your system. It's about attitude. And the attitude of accepting violence as an option doesn't bring on adrenaline!
Frustrating to the violence-worshippers but there you have it.
Most people, however, never experience massive adrenaline rush because they are violent without realizing it... There are many FORMS of violence but violence = violence. If you only bully little children but run away from bigger bullies, you're still caught in the violence paradigm. Actually, if you EVER bow down to bullies, the same applies. The violence paradigm is about bullies and victims. Victims are inherently violent. That may make a lot of people who understand nothing about the basics of life think, but there you have it.
Preparing for violence just sets you up for failure. Though violence is a self-fulfinning prophecy, it's also really a self-FAILING prophecy. You fight but you lose. Sooner or later, anyway. The winners are the Gandhis of the worlds, the Jesuses.
My own successful approach to the matter, both by avoiding frustration as well as violence from others, is by considering violence from others as the acts of hairless apes (as Howard the Duck would put it) 
What does one expect from barbarians but to have them seek violence? They push their way through crowds, they don't get out of the way, they seek trouble wherever they go; for me it's like getting out of the way of a cow; do you confront a cow for making trouble? That would be silly, wouldn't it? The same applies to most people.
You get out of the way of a stampede, or just of a small herd. It's just wisdom. It's not like you're going to get them to understand one intelligent word, is it?
Understanding about humanity makes all of this evident, especially Alice Miller's works. People with traumas that lead them to their reptilian brain and away from humanity and civilization. It's what causes ALL of the world's issues. So then we come full circle: if you understand nothing about the WORLD, then you also don't get the people right in front of you. The (on average) very violent people right in front of you. You will then fall for their disease, one might say contract it, because you were not prepared. Violence didn't get you; ignorance did.
Just as well: violence isn't the answer: knowledge and understanding are. Put into practice, that makes for wisdom.
Last edited by TheLivingShadow, 2/5/2012, 9:11 pm
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2/5/2012, 7:16 pm
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