This website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our website. By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies. For full details visit https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/legal-information
Intresting video, most of what is stated has a lot of relevance. All of this has been stated many time before here on this forum. Just thought it was intresting to see someone else state it.
One bit I find myself disagreeing with is the line:
“Self-defense focuses on dealing with aggression. The main objective is to survive.”
I feel that’s a poorly defined objective. If I end up strapped to life support or paralysed from the neck down then I “survived” i.e. I’m still alive, but is that the objective? I’d say not. What about if I end up in prison? I survived, right? Again, the definition of “survival” permits too many negative outcomes.
I would word it as, “Self-defence focusses on dealing with criminal activity. The objective is to avoid harm.”
That "avoidance of harm" is a better mission statement and would expand to include not just physical harm, but trauma, legal complications, etc.
If you don’t define the problem strictly enough then our solutions will be wide of the mark.
As I say, I fully agree with the central message – and the more people saying it the better – but I’d word things a little more carefully. He uses “survival” a lot in the video too. It’s not survival we want, but an avoidance of harm. They are not the same thing and getting the wording wrong can inadvertently instil faulty thinking in those listening. It’s like the old “self-defence” and “street fight” thing. While they may mean the same thing in the mind of those saying the phrase; it won’t automatically in the minds of those listening. We need to be tighter with our terminology.
His point about dogmatism in traditional martial arts is also valid. It should not be, because the past masters warned against it, but the “modern traditionalists” desire to retain “purity” is misguided and harmful.
These are vital distinctions that get very blurred throughout the martial arts a whole.
The linked article is also worth a read:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/effective-martial-arts/the-difference-between-mma-self-defense-martial-arts/960225584059134
One bit I find myself disagreeing with is the line:
I feel that’s a poorly defined objective. If I end up strapped to life support or paralysed from the neck down then I “survived” i.e. I’m still alive, but is that the objective? I’d say not. What about if I end up in prison? I survived, right? Again, the definition of “survival” permits too many negative outcomes.
I would word it as, “Self-defence focusses on dealing with criminal activity. The objective is to avoid harm.”
That "avoidance of harm" is a better mission statement and would expand to include not just physical harm, but trauma, legal complications, etc.
If you don’t define the problem strictly enough then our solutions will be wide of the mark.
As I say, I fully agree with the central message – and the more people saying it the better – but I’d word things a little more carefully. He uses “survival” a lot in the video too. It’s not survival we want, but an avoidance of harm. They are not the same thing and getting the wording wrong can inadvertently instil faulty thinking in those listening. It’s like the old “self-defence” and “street fight” thing. While they may mean the same thing in the mind of those saying the phrase; it won’t automatically in the minds of those listening. We need to be tighter with our terminology.
His point about dogmatism in traditional martial arts is also valid. It should not be, because the past masters warned against it, but the “modern traditionalists” desire to retain “purity” is misguided and harmful.
Some relevant links:
The Martial Map:
https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/content/martial-map-free-audio-book
On misplaced dogmatism in traditional martial arts:
https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/article/styles-are-they-killing-karate
TMA & MMA (point 3):
https://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/article/what-tma-can-learn-mma
All the best,
Iain