Good job calling this cartoonishness out, and great callout to judo! Kano's brilliance was to see that you could actually practice judo if the terribly dangerous stuff was taken out, and paradoxically this made it much, much more effective.
Our gyms certainly attempt to keep the safety from the one while keeping high-level and realistic training for those who want it as well. Over time, it has evolved more toward the safety side, but with the skill level of our instructors increasing, they keep getting more and more clever about how they present the material safely, so the "real world" aspect continues, even as we get safer.
It's not really a one-for-one tradeoff or a zero sum game.
You certainly offer sage advice about those stab-proof vests. I just started watching the Netflix drama series Supacell. There certainly seems to be a lot of knife violence in London. What's the deal with that?
It's a complex cocktail. Obviously in the UK guns are not a thing. Gangs and the gang mentality does exist. These are supported in part by the subversive cultures that are fed into by toxic anti establishment music styles that exist in an environment where young people feel disenfranchised. The current generation are going through a tough time and the answer isn't nihilism. To tear everything down is not the solution. The gang members are territorial and see enemies everywhere hence the need to go 'tooled up', some of them are status hungry (whatever warped status it gives them) so are inclined to just take a dislike to other young people of their own age or ethnicity. Everyone wants to climb the tree of some hierarchy to gain status, have money, drive a flash car, some just climb the tree that ultimately leads to their own destruction. The root cause is poverty.
There's the thing; at my age I am virtually invisible; I am on nobody's radar. I have walked through situations in the UK where, in my 20's, I would be definitely be on SOMEBODY'S hit list, but not now... I am a nobody, this means I can 'observe'. It's a very interesting zone to live in.
Good job calling this cartoonishness out, and great callout to judo! Kano's brilliance was to see that you could actually practice judo if the terribly dangerous stuff was taken out, and paradoxically this made it much, much more effective.
Our gyms certainly attempt to keep the safety from the one while keeping high-level and realistic training for those who want it as well. Over time, it has evolved more toward the safety side, but with the skill level of our instructors increasing, they keep getting more and more clever about how they present the material safely, so the "real world" aspect continues, even as we get safer.
It's not really a one-for-one tradeoff or a zero sum game.
Thank you Andrew. I have a BJJ related piece coming up soon.
Awesome! Feel free to give me a shout if you need a hand at any point.
Just feel free to add to the discussion.
You certainly offer sage advice about those stab-proof vests. I just started watching the Netflix drama series Supacell. There certainly seems to be a lot of knife violence in London. What's the deal with that?
It's a complex cocktail. Obviously in the UK guns are not a thing. Gangs and the gang mentality does exist. These are supported in part by the subversive cultures that are fed into by toxic anti establishment music styles that exist in an environment where young people feel disenfranchised. The current generation are going through a tough time and the answer isn't nihilism. To tear everything down is not the solution. The gang members are territorial and see enemies everywhere hence the need to go 'tooled up', some of them are status hungry (whatever warped status it gives them) so are inclined to just take a dislike to other young people of their own age or ethnicity. Everyone wants to climb the tree of some hierarchy to gain status, have money, drive a flash car, some just climb the tree that ultimately leads to their own destruction. The root cause is poverty.
Thanks for sharing that perspective. It sounds like the polar opposite of your current home.
My current home is in the UK, so this tends to be a real thing in my circles.
Oh! Well, you had better get one of those vests and be careful!
There's the thing; at my age I am virtually invisible; I am on nobody's radar. I have walked through situations in the UK where, in my 20's, I would be definitely be on SOMEBODY'S hit list, but not now... I am a nobody, this means I can 'observe'. It's a very interesting zone to live in.