Bad Mouthing

Whats your views on different people, bad mouthing other styles, I dont mean picking on obvious twats who are springing up on youtube, this is good imo and should be done, I mean the constant rubbishing of arts that have endured over the centuries....I find it a bit tedious.

I think it is usually people who have little experience who do the bad mouthing. You know when a student finds a club and then that club just must be the best and everyone else is wasting their time.

They usually learn better as they grow and try different things, if indeed they do.

Theirs isn't to reason why but to become a keyboard warrior or die.

For the love of Jesus don't mention Wing Chun!!!!

Em..........why not

Apart from bad mouthing the obviously crap stuff that some people try to pass of as the "real deal", I would say it's insecure, narrow minded novices who denigrate established systems.

Personally, I found the whole process a waste of time because I pick up useful bits from almost every style and I find the various approaches interesting. I don't always agree with them and I think I have found "my way", as such, but you never stop learning in the MA'S.

I remember Mick Coup saying that making assumptions about how good someone is because of the style they do is like thinking that everyone from Glasgow is hard and everyone from the Home Counties is a wuss (not his exact words, but that was the sentiment...)

For example, I know someone who does tai chi and is a seriously scary person with tons of streetfighting experience. And I also know overweight office workers who brag about doing Muay Thai, but have yet to begin sparring.

Very true.... I try to keep out of such debates when they occur. Years of experience in different styles has taught me that a lot of people don't know enough about other styles to make the rather bold and critical statements about them. I've trained in two clubs where the instructors were both 100% sure (to listen to them speak) that their style was the only one worth doing.... there's really no need for it

A lot of time it depends on the person.

One of my brothers friends does TKD. MY brother said he gets into a few fights and generally tends to "kick his opponents heads in."

And I've sparred with people who've done Tang soo do, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, who couldn't lay a finger on me, even after I'd been out of training for several years.

So it just depends.

My view is it's better to do something than nothing.