Penn and Teller last night

Exactly.

The show itself is ********, not the material presented in the show. Okay I am sure some of the material presented in the show is ********, but the illogical conclusions, the elimination and/or distortion of facts, the ignoring of an entire aspect of something to present a conclusion that is based on false premise?

That's what is ********.

 

Good reason to not make fun of and stereotype things that you don't understand. And if you do, expect people to be mad, and for good reason.

There's a big difference between (1) friendly teasing with a friend, and (2) mocking millions of people you've never met. P&T did the latter, not the former.

 

Kudos!:hail:


But P&T didnt insult me

 

im going to admit that i did not real the whole thread.....however i did watch the show.....and unfortunatly it reveled alot of truths that i have felt all along........

fist im going to mdisregard the part showing the board breaking stuff its for another topic....plus they are putting on a tv show so they will try to find some rediclas people....

but here is my premise.....self defense is a joke...yes a joke.....

there are a few different types of encounter.
1. is the fight.....most of the time you can talk your way out of it...or never really get in it....the best way to avoid these are...dont go to barts and get piiy drunk...dont agure with guys who are obviously spoiling for a fight.

2. real crime....mugging, assult and stuff like that......well that real dangerous and unfortunatly the advantage goes to the attacker.....lest say you are a drug addict who needs a fix.....you are 6 foot 120lbs of sickly skin and bone....you proably haven run a lap around a track in 5 years.......well when you go to rob someone...you will make sure you can do it....ie bring knife, gun, bat.....attach in an area where you ahve advantage....them coming from the bright street....you in the dark building where your eyes are used to dark......and you will probalbe have a pal

3. there are other encounters but they are ussally avoidable to...and have at least some element of the others.....


on a further note understand this......as far aS MMA.....yes very valuable for knowing how to fight.but i have gotten into countless fights in my life.....but probable only gotten into 2 that were unavoidable.........

SO LETS SEE.....take 2 beating in 39 years or learn to FIGHT.....go to the gym every day and get beat and pounded on by guys who really know what they are doing on the off chance that i will get in an unavoidable streetfight so i can win????



i do train mma and compete.....however im not fooling myself by the self defense aspect......I LOVE TO FIGHT

 

Good for you for admitting that you love to fight.

I enjoyed it so I went out and got myself professions where it was part of the job AND the restrictions and limitations kept me from being a social menace, but rather a helpful part of society.

It's when people are involved in this stuff for reasons they don't admit to themselves that it gets REALLY weird

 

This thread is really interesting. It reminds me a story I heard from Charles C Goodin. I will paraphrase it, but the main idea is their:

A very skillful martial art teacher was living at the bottom of a big montain. We couldn't even see the top because it was hidden by the clouds.

On that shiny day of july, someone kocks at the door. He says to the teacher he want to learn karate. The teacher asks what is his goal behind that? The student answers: "I want to be the best karateka in the world!". The teacher said: "Climb that montain and you will become the best karateka in the world when you will reach the top". He never heard back from this student.

A second man knocked at the door of the teacher and also ask for being his student. When the teacher asked for his goal, he said: "I want to learn karate and get a black belt". The teacher said: "Climb that montain and you will have your black belt when you will reach the top". He never heard back from this student.

The third man did the same thing. When the teacher asked for his goals, he said: "My goal is to learn karate". The teacher said:"Come inside, I will teach you."

The moral of this story is do what you like to do and don't do it only for results.

 

Nice story, but at times, the results are the motivation, the goals set

Ther are those who wish to stay at the bottom, and those who have the desire to climb further

 

It's all about frame of mind, training in order to get a rank is a horrible way to motivate yourself becuase you end up in a situation where you have to suffer the training to get what you want.

If you motivate yourself with self improvement and learning in general, then you are directly motivated to train as you ENJOY THE TRAINING ITSELF, which is a much more powerful form of motivation.

 

If this isn't enough for you, maybe you're not at your place. Martial arts is not for everybody. Learning, reading and talking with other successful martial artists seem to be a great motivation form for me.

 

I have had good convos with other MAist, but I've always been a strong believer that MA is a physical discipline and I get very bored of talking about MA if I could always go outside with the other person and just train, that being said knowing what others are doing, and talking to someone about what your doing can certainly motivate you further.

 

Watched the Penn & Teller show - interesting - I loved the fact that the karate teacher didn't actually know the true history of belts in Karate - and I also loved the Chi Gung woman - was it whacky YES but it was also probably fairly harmless and reasonable light exercise for anyone who wants that sort of thing - indeed a lot of Chi Gung is simply light exercise...

The Self Defence guy was a typical 'kill em all and let god sort it out' Self Defence guy - the problem with that kind of instructor is that they don't think of their students (or their own) liability if the student goes outside of the law.

P & T did make a good point about paying the mugger rather than paying for classes - but obviously there is more to training than that and what if it's not just the money that an attacker wants - If only one student out of a thousand manages to use their training to either avoid trouble, talk their way out, be fit enough to run or fight then that's all good...

Having been involved with a couple of TV productions I do know how close to reality even documentaries are - and the answer is .... NOT CLOSE AT ALL - so the P & T show was good fun.

 

Which "self defence guy" you talking about?

I take it you mean "Craig" the "combatives" teacher?

 

Yes, not Marc (who has posted on this thread) but the guy with the dummy with the knife in the head - was that Craig?

 

The general frame of mind for most sudents in commercial schools is the rank. Take away the rank, and see how the attendance suffers

 

Were you a security guard? Bouncer, something like that?

 

1. Holy thread necro Batman.
2. Marc had published a ton of books and runs his own website

 

Give a little break. Some discussions never die

 

not to mention he was.....you know..... featured in the actual penn and teller episode that this thread is talking about. Why discuss a show you didnt watch?