Capitalizing on Sept 11th!
A day after the tragic events on Sept 11th, I began to think about how those events
might relate to martial arts training. I also began to think about several of, what
I like to term, "con artist video instructors". These are people, who
in my opinion, offer little value to the public, in terms of their training, while
misleading the public by grandiose claims about the benefits of "their secret
fighting system". I then had this horrible thought of "which video shyster"
would be the first to try and capitalize on the tragic events of Sept 11th. As strange
as that thought was, it wasn't any stranger than the events that transpired that
same day, nor a week later. A certain video instructor, who in my opinion teaches
garbage, had already begun taking action. He had contacted a couple of BIG name
national magazines, and had asked them to write an article about his secret system,
"to let the public know how his training could counteract terrorism".
Guess who these magazines contacted to get an unbiased opinion about the value of
their training? Now I'm all for ending terrorism, just like everyone else is, but
I have a real problem with someone who I believe teaches garbage, using those tragic
events to add extra zeros to their bank account (in essence…preying upon the fears
of the public for their own financial gain). Can you believe someone would stand
up and say "hey, over here, I can teach anyone, in a short period of time, how
to personally defend themselves against any terrorist threat"? This same person,
GUARANTEES in his video training, that just by watching his tapes, as little as one
time, you'll immediately have the skills and ability to "defeat anyone on the
planet". So why should anyone care about this guys claims, or others like him?
Because what if someone who doesn't know any better actually believes him, and puts
their lives and faith in his claims? And what if by doing so, they eventually face
a hostile situation, and they end up getting hurt, or losing their life? This has
long been a major concern of this website and it's staff for years. How do those
of us who are concerned legitimate martial artists, instructors, etc, warn the public
about these con artist-martial artists? Maybe articles like this one, our website,
other legitimate instructors speaking out, etc.
You can't in my opinion,
no matter how many videos you buy, learn to "defeat anyone on the planet"
by just watching a video once or twice. There are many components to becoming an
effective fighter. Some of them are: attitude, timing, proper use of distance, speed,
flow, proper application of a technique, and many others. You don't learn any of
these things by sitting on the couch! You have to get off the couch and practice
with a partner, over-and-over again, relentlessly….it's as simple as that! Watching
isn't doing….watching can NEVER, by itself, develop a person into becoming a complete
fighter. Watching, by itself, will never develop timing, a proper use of distance,
speed, flow, nor teach a person how to properly apply a technique. Nothing in my
opinion can replace all the various components one gains by "hands on"
physical training, and practicing with a partner. Folks, there is no magical video,
that by watching one time, will ever turn a person from "no ability to a complete
fighting machine". Meaning, no video will give a person timing, speed, flow,
a complete sense of using the proper distance, or how to correctly 100% of the time
apply every technique. All these important components come through hands-on practice
and repetition. Anyone who believes different ask yourself this. Can a person whose
never painted a picture in their life, watch a video of Bob Ross, or any master painter,
and immediately paint a picture as good as they can afterwards? Can a person whose
never played a guitar, watch a video of a world class guitarist, and immediately
play a guitar as good as they can? How about an instructional video of a drummer?
Do you think there's a world class drummer out there, who you can spend 1-2 hours
watching their video, and immediately, without ever playing the drums, play as good
as them? Could someone whose not a surgeon, watch a 1-2 hour video on brain or heart
surgery, and immediately afterwards be ready to operate. The list of examples, that
requires hands-on practice, goes on-and-on.
Are there any video shysters
out there, or martial artists interested in self defense, who think I'm wrong? Well
if there are, then try this. Take any self defense video, that makes these types
of grandiose claims, have your Mom, Sister, Grandmother, someone of the female persuasion,
whose never had any martial arts training, watch one of these videos one time. Then
take any really good black belt and see if they can defend themselves. Enough said?
Think what I'm proposing is unfair? Well if you do, just read the claims in the
ads some of these shysters put out. They don't specify age, gender, physical condition,
etc….a couple of them are saying ANYONE can watch their video one time, and then
defeat ANY THREAT, with any level of ability.
I guess what I'm trying to
say is this, be smart and don't believe the hype. There are no shortcuts to developing
the key components to becoming a complete fighter. And more important, there is
no "secret fighting system", that can transform every person on this planet,
who spends 1-2 hours watching a tape, from a person with no ability, to a person
who can defeat EVERYONE on the planet. How can I say this? Well as stupid as it
may sound, I've put several of these video shysters through my own experiment. I've
seen just about every single video, of shysters who make these DEFEAT ANYONE with
ANY ABILITY claims, and I've even had my girlfriend "try me out" after
watching most of them! Guess what? She was easily "countered", without
any injury or bruises! So here's a personal challenge to all you video shysters
out there….do you have any other videos you want to send me for her to watch?
* Note to our fans*
Please be aware that some information on each of our reviews may not currently
be accurate. I can assure you it was when each review was originally posted. So should
you be unable to locate a company through the physical address, website address,
phone number, or email address we show, or should their pricing on their tapes change,
please don't blame us. We have no control over the changes these companies make,
nor how often they make them. Should you be unable to find a company whose products
we've reviewed, please, don't contact us about that. I sometimes get 2-3 requests
about that per day. I do not have any kind of "handy reference" that provides
up-to-the-minute info for all 50+ companies we're dealing with. 99% of the time these
companies forget to contact me about their changes, and so when they do change, I
don't even have a way of reaching them. If you can't locate a company, my best suggestion
would be for you to go to a search engine and try finding them that way.
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