The Hype: Part 2
Part 1 of this topic covered the
"whys". After I was done with it, I started thinking of the "whos"
and what was each ones basis for involvement.
So whose at fault regarding
all this? Well, in my opinion, this is really a 3-party problem that involves the
magazines, the video instructors, and us as consumers. I believe that all 3 parties
are guilty here, and changing things will first have to come from the the magazines,
or the problem will never go away. And here's why:
1. Magazines - They're
in business to make money. As consumers we hope that the information and stories
they provide are objective and unbiased. However, some of these magazines don't even
write their own stories. They allow "freelance authors", who could possibly
have biases to certain parties, contribute whatever story they want too, and they'll
even pay them for doing so. It seems BIG ADVERTISERS don't have a problem getting
articles published endorsing them, even though I'm constantly reading on the internet
that what many of these same video instructors teach is very controversial, and often
questioned by the masses. As I've said before in other writings, when was the last
time you saw a MA magazine do a real investigative article on someone, or EVER say
someone was a phoney? I've never seen it! In fact, they seem to look the other way
in regards to the outlandish claims some of their advertisers make. I've seen everything
from becoming a "Black Belt Ninja through a Home Course" to "Learn
how to kick butt by simply watching 2 hrs of my tapes". The magazines are a
big part of the problem, in my opinion. They embrace any advertiser with open arms
that spends big money with them, and they allow them to say almost anything they
want to in their ads. Why don't the magazines moderate these ads? Heck, they don't
have to say NO to these guys advertising dollars, but at least make sure they don't
run ads saying "I'll make you a REAL ninja black belt through the mail"
or "Buy my tapes and I guarantee you'll never lose another fight, ever!".
The responsibility for a life possibly lost someday, due to someone trusting these
ads, buying some tapes, and trying to use what was promised, is equally shared between
the magazines and video instructors (IMHO). And why's that? Because not only do the
magazines continue to run the ads without moderating them, but they further endorse
and add credibility to the claims these advertisers make by running articles that
support them. My solution: They don't have to stop the ads, but at least tone them
done a little, and moderate the claims they make.
2. Video Instructors
- This could be a whole separate article by itself. They too want money, and quite
often it seems lots of it. Many of the ads they run read like "get rich quick
schemes", and the wording used sounds like a professional writer, or people
who specifically write ads for direct mail pieces, did it for them. They use testimonials,
claims that often can't be verified, and promise so many things, that by the time
you're done reading it you feel stupid if you don't order their stuff. Why do they
do that? Because they're salesmen! And very good ones I might add. Many seem willing
to say almost anything if it will help them sell one more tape this month. My advice:
If a fighting system is REALLY good, you'll hear about in other places besides these
big ads. Why do they need to try so hard to cram down our throats what they offer,
spending $1000 per page each month on big ads that are more enticing than cable tv
infomercials. If what they teach is as good as they say it is, why isn't word of
mouth good enough! Don't be SOLD based on an ad, use the internet to get the opinions
of others, go to forums, newsgroups, chats, talk to friends, etc. Remember, 95% of
these guys offer NO UNCONDITIONAL REFUNDS. Several put conditions on their refunds
saying they want you to keep training journals that show you practiced the techniques
for 30-90 days, or they want you to write them detailed letters explaining what part
of their training did you feel "wouldn't work" (how many of you will actually
question a "master"?), others say I'll refund your money if you ever lose
a fight (yeah, but what good will a couple of bucks do your next of kin?). I think
many of them hope that if you don't like their tape, you won't go through the hassle
of providing them all that, and that helps keep their returns very low. I know I
wouldn't go through all that!
3. Consumers - I can understand consumers
wanting to try something new, or looking for something different, or easier, than
what they're doing now. But we as consumers need to wise up. Nothing will work 100%
of the time, nor can anything that comes close to being highly effective be learned
in 2 hrs, and effectively used everytime from then on. I compare many tapes I now
own to the garage full of exercises gadgets I have. I'm as guilty as anyone. I'll
watch an informercial for an exercise gadget, buy it, swear to my wife I'll use it,
get it, use it a couple of weeks, and out it goes in the garage collecting dust with
a huge pile of other exercise gadgets. Well guess what, I got a closet full of tapes
that I now feel the same way about. Like my tapes, buying those exercise gadgets
make me feel good at the time, because I'm making an effort to better myself. But
the funny thing is I do it with my wallet, not with physical effort, which is what
it really takes to make either work. And the sad thing is I keep hoping that the
next exercise gadget I buy will be easier, and make me want to stick with it longer,
than the previous one did. As I said before none of the exercise equipment that I've
bought has ever been used for more than a week or two. Why? That part I haven't figured
out. I know for me it's not a problem with working out. I've been a martial artist
for 20 yrs and working out isn't a problem. I suspect the problem is I get easily
bored with a gadget, it's newness wears off, the thrill goes away, it becomes mundane
work that I have to do by myself, and that's about when I put it away. Anyway, the
point I'm trying to make is that the purchase of some tapes isn't going to make you
a better martial artist or fighter, just like buying exercise equipment, by itself,
isn't going to make you any better physically. It takes applying what's taught, which
takes work, effort, and consistentcy. And with some of the tapes I've received, that's
even harder to pull off than it is with exercise equipment. Some tapes aren't very
well produced, are really slow, some just show you techniques, and no way of how
to practice them or get better at them. And if you don't have someone you can practice
them with, there's a very good chance many of those tapes might end up like my exercise
equipment, off somewhere collecting dust. The part I think we as consumers are guilty
of is we want an easy way to get things done, or an easier way than before, to learn
or get better at something. Well folks, out of 400 tapes, I haven't seen many that
accomplish that. In fact, there's only one that right now comes to mind and gets
close to accomlishing that. OK, so which one? If you want to buy just one tape, that
I personally feel is the quickest, easiest and best street fighting system I've ever
seen on ONE tape, go buy Paul Vunak's Street Safe 1 from TRS. Even though I don't
agree with some of the things said in Vunak's TRS ad, I still feel Vunak's tape will
provide a person one of the fastest learned self defense systems around. Now let
me add one disclaimer: I think Vunak's stuff is very effective, but not 100% effective.
His stuff may only be 80% street effective. If you're someone that strives for an
even higher percentage of effectiveness, you're going to have to really train with
someone, learn other techniques, or consider buying other tapes. OK, now I set myself
up again, which other tapes? I'd start next with Vee Jujitsu, without a doubt. So
why don't we list Street Safe ahead of Vee Jujitsu on our Top 10? Because the Vee
Tapes are much more thorough, and as a whole, they are a extremely comprehensive
fighting system. The Street Safe tapes have only 8 techniques total, a couple of
the techniques I have a problem with, but still, it's the best ONE tape I've seen.
And that's my personal opinion, not all of MAVR's. For some situations it very
likely might not be enough. However it does offer some really cool techniques that
many people, especially intermediate to advanced martial artists, can learn quickly,
and it should be very effective for them.
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