why are CMA people generally dorks?

[CaliG]

Yeah, CMA guys are generally dorks but we're not as bad as ninjitsu and aikido people.

I remember telling some Aikido guy this funny story about how I was walking into Berkeley's food court and a hot Asian chick was giving me a dirty look and I could have sworn she wanted to kick me in the head (yes even though it's me this doesn't happen everyday) and then come to find out they were having an annual gathering of the Hapikido club.

Then the Aikidora gets all excited and serious then says, "Don't mess with Hapikido people they know TaeKwonDo!"

All I could think is," You're a dork."

Meanwhile next door they was a ninjitsu class going on and the whole time whether they were stretching, doing rolls or applications I never heard a sound. I asked a guy who goes to that class why that was and he said in the class you keep silent like a ninja.

Needless to say this was Silicon Valley and these guys were tekkies, a double wammie!

[Doc Stier]

Doc

[Interloper]

Then the Aikidora gets all excited and serious then says, "Don't mess with Hapikido people they know TaeKwonDo!"

All I could think is," You're a dork."

[johnwang]

"Don't mess with Hapikido people they know TaeKwonDo!"

An Aikido guy visited me and we went to spar in a local Karate tournament. A week later that Aikido guy was kicked out of his Aikido Association.

[TrainingDummy]

Yeah, CMA guys are generally dorks but we're not as bad as ninjitsu and aikido people.

Hey! Easy on the ninja hate!

Don't make me get out my rubber shuriken...

[Doc Stier]

I use Ninja Collection Agency, Inc. for my delinquent client accounts. A seldom seen, but highly effective organization.










Doc

[Chowfarn]

I'm sorry but I have a Ninja story ......................

I few years ago I was training Kumdo/Kendo at a school in Chatswood on Friday evenings.
Before our class was a Ninja group.

On night at the cross over of classes a young Ninja commented on how impractical it was to learn Kendo & how could you ever use it.

The reply from one of my fellow students was "its been good enough to find your secret Ninja training hall".

[klonk]

I think the problem is Asian martial arts can be anything you want them to be, including wellness exercises or, sometimes, fantasy role playing. The over-intellectualization of the arts over many centuries makes anything thinkable, whether you can do it or not.

So someone can tell himself he is doing kung fooooo even if all he does is stretching exercises or half-heartedly slapping around a few friends.

It's mostly a problem when the theoretical side meets Westerners who do not know to take it all with a grain of salt, and with perfect seriousness cultivate their conductivity between heaven and earth.

[GrahamB]

What was that about dorks and ninjas?

[GrahamB]

I'm sorry but I have a Ninja story ......................

I few years ago I was training Kumdo/Kendo at a school in Chatswood on Friday evenings.
Before our class was a Ninja group.

On night at the cross over of classes a young Ninja commented on how impractical it was to learn Kendo & how could you ever use it.

The reply from one of my fellow students was "its been good enough to find your secret Ninja training hall".

Ha ha - very good!

[everything]

Sorry, didn't read the entire thread after the beginning but it got me thinking. A lot of the problem is CMA attracts a disproportionate amount of ineffectual intellectuals (thinkers not doers - not to deride good thinking in other areas), probably due in part to all the "theory" and "literature" in CMA, and flowery-seeming language that Western intellectuals have to initially process via over intellectualization. Other arts have theory but in CMA no one seems to want to follow Einstein's advice to keep everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. We seem to want to overcomplicate it.

But why is it that people like to blather on about wuwei or something like that? Daoist concepts are not really intellectual but us dorky dorks just enjoy blathering I guess (disclaimer: yes I am the pot calling the kettle black).

[Chris Fleming]

As for ninjas, I had a run in with some back in the day. Two guys came into my old school and the sum of the conversation was that they wanted to run a seminar on ninja swordsmanship out of our school for our students, "nothing too high level though". They were perfect gentlemen but they were clearly coming from the angle that they had secret techniques that would not be shared. We gave them the "we'll get back to you on that" answer. Talking with them was interesting in the one was saying in order to advance past a certain part in their system, you more or less are mainly evaluated on your ability to grow a school. So, all of this was to get more students. Even with the ninja, it's all about the C.R.E.A.M.

[zenshiite]

I use Ninja Collection Agency, Inc. for my delinquent client accounts. A seldom seen, but highly effective organization.










Doc

I can't imagine getting delinquent accounts settled without Ryu Hayabusa and Hattori Hanzo...

[Simon]

What was that about dorks and ninjas?

Man I just watched those videos they where great!!!! Does that consign me to the dork pile?

I cant wait for there next one!