>"Mary Malmros" <malmros@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote;
>> Sean <sean@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in news:f4jtpe$68b$1
>> @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>> gltgqywrskhu@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>>>
>>>> 90% of what you learn...
>>>
>>> 88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot
IMO, this is probably the most im****tant statement in this thread!
Flipping a coin and getting 50 percent heads and 50 percent tails
is a fine statistic, but it really does not predict what the next coin
toss will be. That is why the casino's make the big money.
Everyone has in their mind a stereotypical "real attack on the
street ". But it doesn't exist, only perhaps as a statistic.
You can't predict what a real life confrontation will be
in advance, or else I, for one, would not be there in the first
place.
Will weapons be involved?, how many attackers? lighting? what
is at stake? $20? your life? Do you have an alternative to
fighting? Is/Are your opponent(s) martial arts trained ?
Are they high on pain numbing and strength enhancing
drugs that will fool your attempts at being appropriately
reactive when you needed to use much higher levels of
force to survive?
Everything you learn in martial arts could be useful, or not.
Again, you can't predict a fight in advance where there are
no rules. The Pride, WCL, UFC all have rules (in spite of the
advertising for some related s****ts events).
If I were in an Aikido dojo, and someone just went crazy
for some reason and started attacking people, I doubt I
would use Aikido to subdue him/her. I have other more "real
life" defenses I can use, as most of us do.
If I could use
Aikido, because of its likelyhood of doing as little damage
to the attacker as is required, I probably would use it if the
op****tunity allowed. The attacker is probably just sick or
having some sort of mental breakdown, I wouldn't want to do
more damage than necessary, while protecting myself as well.
The same is true of getting drunken Uncle Henry quietly
away from the punch bowl at a wedding. Just a quiet wrist
lock to force him to follow me somewhere else.
The basis of Aikido is similar (as we know) to Jujitsu and Judo
that the relevant defenses from at least those two disciplines
could be used in a wider set of conditions without
meeting the necessary situations required for
a good Aikido response, and if used right, just as
non-destructive.
In a "street" unpredictable confrontation, the conditions
are less likely to allow Aikido to be used effectively, IMO,
and that is just a statistical guess on my part.
Always use your best tools. Therefore it is best to have multiple
types of tools.
>But I do believe there actually IS a reason you won't see Aikido
techniques
>successfully applied in any genuinely competitive matches like those you
>see
>in Pride, WCL, UFC or any other genuine martial competitions......and
it's
>not merely because Aikido eschews that sort of thing.
>Are such events representative of a "street fight"....I don't really
>know......but it's assured that they more closely approximate the sort of
>agression and resistance one is likely to encounter in a real world
>physical
>confrontation than most Aikido practice methods.
The street is unpredictable, and we seldom practice any MA's
with 2x4's and baseball bats (although some do).
>Is this a bad thing? Only if you mistakenly believe that Aikido
techniques
>are supposed to be efficacious in that sort of encounter. But once you
>realize what Aikido is - and what it is not - it's lack of efficacy in a
>street fight becomes less of a concern.
Exactly! Aikido, and especially Ki Aikido, were developed to
prevent fighting. If physical contact with the attacker is
unavoidable, then the idea is to prevent a fight by reacting
faster than the attacker and more effectively, much like the old
western movies, where the bad guy draws first, but the good guy
wins the gun fight.
>It's a bit like arguing over whether or not Tennis is good for street
>fighting I think. I don't worry about whether or not my tennis lessons
>make
>me a better street fighter because I don't study tennis to become a
better
>street fighter and don't imagine or pretend that they will have that
>result.
>So it is with Aikido. It's wonderful for what it is.......the problems
>arise when folks pretend or mistake it for what it is not.
Again, well put! Of course a tennis racket is a fair weapon
in a street fight and a good overhead.... well I digress!
An old question by a student of Aikido during
its formation was about just this, self defense. The answer
by the sensei, and this was a long time ago, was "If you want
self defense, go buy a gun. I teach Aikido".
None of what I have said is meant to imply that
Aikido is ineffective. But just as a tennis racket could be
used in a street fight, it was not designed for that.
The goal of Aikido training is much more life enhancing
than worrying about street fights (that is, of course,
unless you get killed in one!)
RedCrow
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