in this information age it's silly to think people won't do any reseach into other martial arts or spend hours watching,listening to other martial arts/artists and then still be able to make an infromed decission and chose i style over all others.
Everything I could want from KSW at this early stage in my development I get. My instructor and the black belts that help him have created a friendly atmosphere built on respect and teamwork that inspires me and teachs me twice every week. I feel I am bettering myself physically and mentally and no matter how stressed I am with everyday life when I walk through those doors it all just melts away and I can become a different person. The teaching not only of techniques and forms but also of some Korean, the history and also the biology of how to keep yourself fit and rejuvinate yourself but also why this happens is also very important to me. Mats, pads, music to suit purpose, great instructors and friendly people to share the journey with as well as obvious things like toilets on site and fresh cold water sold at the desk. In a world that to me makes very little sense at all, I find KSW makes the most sense as there is or there is not, you do or you don't, you will be or you won't. Simple.
How do they research other arts Matt? How can they research other arts Matt, when they're forbidden by WKSA rules to cross-train? When I started to cross-train it was made quite clear to me that it was not allowed, and so I left. I wasn't about to be told what I could and couldn't do in my own country, by a bunch of Koreans living in America. And that's the bottom line. I decided that I no longer wanted to be part of a Moonie-like organisation. And looking at a few clips on YouTube, etc., doesn't come close to being in the same room, and on the same mat, as someone in real life either. If people want to live on a diet of bread and cheese, or Yorkshire Pud and three veg, for the rest of their lives that's entirely up to them. As for me, I'd rather taste the flavour of a wider variety of the flavours and spices of life available from around the world - not just from a two-bit nation like Korea.
Wait a minute! If we're talking about Korea, shouldn't the blasé meal referenced as an example be kimchee & rice? :banana:
Variety is the spice of life and you seem to have cooked up a bitter sweet post there. While I agree with your overall premise the disrespectful way which you enforce it is surely not needed? There must have been a time when you respected or at least enjoyed KSW and for that much you should be grateful and show more respect as far as I am concerned. Also you didn't seem to mind that "two bit nation" when you were training in THEIR art. I think your point would be better served with a more balanced and less hateful standpoint.
Two-bit = two-part Last time I heard, Korea was in two bits - the South, and the Communist North. As for showing any disrespect... I'll tell you where that comes from... Some years ago, a certain Grandmaster's eldest son was telling me how great Koreans are, and what a fantastic and important country Korea is. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help thinking, "So why are you living in America then?", but I didn't bother to interrupt his somewhat racist and nationalistic spiel. The part of his attempted indoctrinated speech that virtually took my breath away, however, was when he had more-or-less finished extolling the greatness of his country for coming up with such fantastic martial arts, he suddenly stopped, looked me squarely in the eyes and mockingly asked, "So tell me, what is Britain famous for, and what has your country ever achieved or invented?" Confronted with a display of ignorance on that scale, I couldn't even utter one solitary word. For the first time ever in my life, I was totally speechless. As far as I'm concerned, just like everything else in this world, respect is a two-way street.
Two wrongs don't make a right. After I thanked Confusionist, I read your reply. I totally agree with both of you. :thinking: I guess "two wrongs don't make a right"
[... he suddenly stopped, looked me squarely in the eyes and mockingly asked, "So tell me, what is Britain famous for, and what has your country ever achieved or invented?" [/QUOTE] Definitely the Suh boys (both) don’t have any idea about humility and respect towards others. I think GM IHS failed to teach them good manners and gratitude. I’m sure if they were in Korea, they would not be living the same way they do in America. In Korea they are just two citizens without further importance. They are just a pair of spoiled adults, and I know them very well.. They seem nice, but behind that facade they don't care less about anything but them and their interests... When WKSA falls apart, it would be their fault...
After a run-in I once had with an overly proud (yet ignorant) Korean, I think it needs to be shouted from the rooftops... RESPECT is a 2 way street !!!
Absolutely right. Pugil you have much to say about the bad side of KSW and yet you stayed within the organisation for many years..were you not one of only 2 or 3, 3rd dahns when you left? So you must have stayed for maybe 11 or 12 years I guess. I totally agree with you on the cross training issue and if I had had the same experience regards to your conversation about GB vs Korea then I too would have been upset. But I think I would have got over by now! Surely there must have been more good than bad for a long time. So why do we hear so much about your negative experiences, with phrases like "money making cult" and "moonie like organisation" being bandied about all over the place, and so very little about the good things? Are you running a one man campaign to persuade everyone in the UK to leave the WKSA maybe? Doesn't seem to be working!:evil:
I have been around WKSA long enough to see that they do, indeed, have favorites. So everyone connected to the organization doesn't end up with the same experience as others who may or may not be on their "favorite list." I felt it was only fair to point this out, seeing as how you (Renegade2) seemed to think that Pugil was being unfair with his assertions (or should I appease you and call Pugil's assertions "attacks" instead?). As with everything in life, there is good as well as bad and WKSA is no exception. But let's compare it to political office to put things in perspective, shall we? If your PM or my President were to disgrace the office they hold, it wouldn't matter how much GOOD they had done, would it? In my way of thinking, it's the same for a huge MA association. A few bad things is all it takes to outweigh all the good it has accomplished. The real problem IMO is that too many people are willing to "look the other way" WRT transgressions made by WKSA. FWIW
Yup, you can do 1000 things right, and only one thing wrong, and your branded for life as a bad guy. And IMO people aren't willing to look at the big picture of what WKSA could become. And how little effect a simple francise would have regaurding the overall future of this MA.
Maybe I'm a bit thick, Obewan, but are you saying that accepting the franchise could bring WKSA to new heights? Or are you saying that simply franchising the organization will have little effect on its ability to grow & prosper? The way you worded your last sentence has me a bit confused, so which is it? :dunno:
You think I haven't got anything else better to do with my life? You must be joking, of course? Do you think that I really give a rat's **** what happens to the WKSA? If you do, then you are mistaking me for someone else, or else someone who gives a damn! Yes I was one of only three UK-based WKSA 3rd degree black belts in 1989. In fact, I was the first English person in the world to get a black belt in Kuk Sool under the WKSA - unless someone can tell me different? I was directly under Master Mok Yang Kim from 1973 - 1986 and was directly under WKSA (and apart from Master Kim) from 1986 - 1989. A period of maybe two-and-a-half to three years max. That means I spent a total of 16 years in Korean Martial Arts, maybe a couple of years in Judo before that, and the last 20 years doing other things. I have a several good memories from my time with Master Kim, and one or two from being with the WKSA. But as for your suggestion that I might be carrying out some kind of campaign in order to somehow "...persuade everyone in the UK to leave the WKSA..." that's ludicrous on at least two points: 1) Not everyone in the UK is in WKSA anyway! & 2) Why the hell would I wait 20 years to launch some sort of campaign?
AFAIK I did not use either of those terms. Interesting that you did though Un known! Didn't seem to do Bill "It depends on what your definition of 'sex' is" Clinton much harm! ROFL And Tony managed to survive taking us into a war based on phoney assertions about an unreal threat and non existent weapons too! How is it the same? One is a democratically elected leader, the other is the founder of an organisation which we CHOSE to join. And whether it is right to "look the other way" depends on your own experiences. Which as you so rightly say are all different. And assuming that you are not looking the other way, when can we expect you to announce your departure from the WKSA Unknown?
Of course I was joking! You need to lighten up a bit Pugil. For someone who says he doesn't give a rats **** about the WKSA's future you sure have a lot of BAD stuff to say about them! And for someone who spent such a short time IN the organisation (somewhat less than the time than it currently takes to get to 1st dahn) SO LONG AGO you have managed to form some inordinately strong opinions about how things are now, and what member of the org should do about it, some 20 years later!!! You may have a lot of experience in MA generally, but by your own reckoning many of the contributor on here have 5, 10, 20 or 30 times the experience of the WKSA that you have! So what give YOU the right to describe TODAYS WKSA in the way that you do. Why would you wait 20 years? I have no real idea. But my guess is that you really have NO idea of what the org is really like apart from what you read on here. And that reading some of the stuff has opened up old wounds. Remember.... "Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt!"
