RobP3 wrote:origami_itto wrote:RobP3 wrote:Thanks for the comments, guys. If a teacher is deceiving you in order to get you through the door, what does that say about the rest of his/her stuff?
Who is to say it's deceit? Maybe it's his honest understanding?
At the end of the day he's got everybody in the Taijiquan world talking about him and he's making money hand over fist. The finer points of how he explains it is immaterial.
Am I to believe that allegedly more legitimate instruction cannot be structured, marketed, and delivered as successfully?
What I'm saying here is that any of us could replicate his success and spread our own understanding of whatever art we're pushing.
Like, for example, with this film, instead of just going around trying to prove how smart and skilled you are by tearing it down and further entrenching the battle lines, why not embrace it as a way to inspire more interest.
I mean it may have no more resemblance to legitimate Taijiquan than 50 Shades of Grey has to safe, sane, and consensual BDSM, but it's got people looking.
And you can directly oppose it, put your energy into convicing people it's wrong and that they're stupid for being conned, or maybe you can be like, "hey, yes, Mr potential new student. Taijiquan is an amazing and powerful art and studying it will definitely make your life better. This material looks good but it's really better to have in person instruction. My classes are at Pompous Ass Studios downtown every night at 7 come on down and I'll show you a thing or two"
It gets so tiring ask the kvetching and whining about internal and external and who's training sucks because it isn't like mine, Jesus people is that the reward?
You can punch the waves or surf them, your choice, just saying one of those strategies seems a little more familiar than the other.
Yes, it is possible to make money in all sorts of ways, some scrupulous, some not. That's between each person and their conscience.
I'm not trying to prove how smart or skilled I am at all, simply showing how some "chi power" parlour tricks work. That's not what I would use to promote my "skills" personally.
You are saying I should embrace cheap tricks? No thanks.
So if there's a hustler fleecing people with a "find the lady" card trick or something, I guess we can admire his skill handling cards, does that mean we wouldn't warn people
about laying down their coin?
His training is like mine, that's the point. I started Yang family TC 40 years ago. And this is the first video I ever put on this channel responding to what someone else does. All my other content is instructional. You seem a bit upset about this, I don't know why. Maybe put your own clip up or something? It's a free world. In the meantime, I'll express my opinions however I see fit, thanks.
I'm not upset, I'm not mad at all man, that is not my bag, baby. Even Formosa is more amusing than anything.
I'm not even talking about you in particular, just the general vibe around Mizner and this film. I liked your video and I agree, it's all just biology. Hell I bought at least one of your books.
And again, I DON'T care about his success or failure or the reputation of his school, I've gotten what i can get from him, but I wish him the best.
What I'm saying is that spending time and effort debunking his stuff is great for us experienced enthusiasts who enjoy the nuance, and maybe that's all you're interested in reaching. You're reacting to the attention to the film by trying to work against it, so anybody new watching your video is being forced to make a choice which world view they want to proceed with before they go any further. You're basically forcing a decision on something they don't have enough information about by giving them even more information that they don't necessarily understand. If they have seen something and have been drawn to find out more there is a bit of emotional investment in the ideas already and attacking them can feel to a person, particularly a new person, like an attack on them and their intelligence and judgment.
What I'm saying is let's Bobby Fischer this shit. What is the move to checkmate? How is checkmate defined?
If we're making educational videos spreading the truth about quality martial arts, is it to make people feel stupid? Is it to discourage new seekers from getting invested and carrying on the next generation of the art? How are we jointly and separately best served and serving as would-be stewards of these arts?
"Oh, you saw the power of Chi with Morgan Freeman? Yeah, that's pretty cool. I've been studying this stuff for 30 years, come on down to the class and I'll show you something"
Then if you can't blow their minds in person with a demonstration of your skills and convince them you've got something worth studying, what are you even offering?
Because there are a lot of people riding the wave of the publicity to greater enrollment, just suggesting a strategy for maybe being one of them. Conceal the faults of others and just make your own options more compelling without resorting to negativity.