everything wrote:these days, at least in the usa, some lunatic just takes his automatic weapon and kills innocent bystanders. all this stupid talk of "deadly" wrt bare hand MA is nice, but what is the point? fun, sport, self-actualization, just being really, really good at something, confidence, etc. ----> I'm all for those. if you just want to defeat fedor in the fantasy match in your head, not sure how to help you. but once you realize those benefits are the benefits, there are a million other things you can do that might be more fulfilling. go fishing. play golf. make money. volunteer. whatever. maybe just rant on rsf.
Wanting to kill is not the same as being able to and not the same as doing it... Having the modifier 'I might have to kill with this some day to protect my family and livelihood' adds another drive for me...
I can do many other things that give me: self-actualization, fun, sport, confidence, getting really good at something... When broken down that way, it sounds like any other sport or hobby. Why, specifically, should I engage in a traditional martial art where the essence is left out? Personal fulfillment is very overrated nowadays IMO. How can you be fulfilled when there are so many others suffering so much worse than the small you is right now? What about finding fulfillment in fulfilling your duty?
If you practice you extrasensory situational awareness, maybe you could avoid the armed lunatic?
It's always nice to know when someone might be about to hurt you. Being able to intimidate is also nice, even if it's just your superiors at work.
We don't have to get into why people are fixated with 'fantasy matches'... Always an inferiority complex where one thinks you could elevate yourself above others by being threatening all the time... However, sometimes you might need those attributes and I'd say you're not complete as a human if you don't reflect upon this.
I'm fully aware that warfare has changed and you could spent 50 years of your life training just to be gunned down by a 14 year old hood boy. Or other such examples. Maybe being aware and not denying that killing is a part of life and essential to martial arts would have prevented you from walking blindly into such a situation, with dulled senses.
IMO we could use a bit more misery, poverty, killing in 1st world countries just so people wake the f*** up as to how good we have it here and finally focus on global problems instead of the 64th installment of social justice and who is more oppressed. People in the 1st world scream for more freedom when they are the most free people there have ever been... The simple solution would be to emphasize personal responsibility