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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Making the Distinction between Martial Arts and Pseudo-Martial Arts

Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this blog assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

It has come to me that there is a distinction in martial arts that makes a difference in that martial art, the distinction is about the combative/self-defense aspects of a martial art. In order to achieve validity in a martial art meant to be utilized as a means of self-defense you must make one very big distinction, that of reality.

Now, that brings up the question of “What reality?” Reality that brings the martial art from the pseudo-martial level up to the actual martial level necessary for, in a civil environment, self-defense. I use civil since the majority of self-defense is applied in a civil type environment. When it comes to hand-to-hand combat be it military or civil authorities like police, security professionals, EMT’s, correctional professionals, etc., then those tend to have different realities in application. 

Reality in a civil sense of self-defense involves a certain type of Reality Simulation based adrenal flooding experience system or community that exposes a practitioner to all those emotional, psychological, physical, chemical things that are the missing link between pseudo-martial arts and Reality Simulation based civil self-defense martial arts. 

This distinction is difficult to achieve in martial arts training and practice today. We are so caught up in the sport aspects and a lack of real-life experience in conflict and violence that the sport many times cannot translate to self-defense even when it actually works. When it actually works it more often than not, if you are lucky, takes you way out of the self-defense circle. When it actually works it is more often than not involved in a social situation. When it actually fails it will most likely be in those asocial predatory process/resource situations involving aggressive, sudden, fast, hard, surprising, close and explosive attacks. It should be noted that this simplistic example and explanation barely begins to cover the vastness of the subject. 

We spend a great effort telling ourselves and others about our martial arts that leaves most assuming our meaning is the same as what their minds perceptions of martial arts means driving the misconceptions that permeate almost all martial arts disciplines. In “reality” we all mostly study, train and practice a pseudo-martial art and if we truly want to achieve self-defense we have to consciously take that leap toward true reality martial arts by accepting and embracing that additional training, practice, application and experience through the Reality Simulation based no bullshit training. 

Here is a good start (note: most of these authors provide in their bibliography places that specialize in Reality Simulation based adrenal flood inducing types of training and practice as well as provide you clues on how you can test your ability in ways that simulate such training.):

Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:
Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.
Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.
Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014. 
Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012
Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.
Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995
Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.
Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.
Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000
Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.
and more … see blog bibliography.

My Blog Bibliography
Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/
Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org
Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com
Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com

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