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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  1508 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Bizarre World of Fake Martial Arts

Shu is on point from what I know: if two fighters of differing practices are at an expert level, then you want the fighter that draws from a wealth of arts to form their style than stuck playing the rules of one. I've been taking my time at a Ving Tsun school (known as Wing Chun in this video), and students come from different backgrounds. When it comes to our forms of sparring, the Sifu encourages you to use your background to your advantage - to blend it into your Ving Tsun teachings to make your kung fu your own (sorta a paradox if you think about it hard). Now, I just go to that school for good cardio, and tips in case my shitty boxing/judo doesn't do the trick in the slim chance I have to defend myself.

The progression of the video seems to state: Fake Martial Arts << Real Martial Arts < MMA. The 'masters' challenging Shu are probably great in their respective fields (benefit of the doubt). That story could have been better supported in highlighting the cult-like propaganda of martial arts in China back to American cult stories. Under the context of the title, I don't think sliding the concrete forms of martial arts under the same lens as 'fake' was enough to make the transition to Shu's story.

Otherwise, using his platform to give more exposure to Shu's message/story is a circledot in my book.





user-inactivated  ·  1508 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think the other thing is, he's talking a lot about "fake" as in charlatans and parlor tricks and people with a huge following who started thinking they're bigger than they are. The second part, was more like an "also, this" kind of point. Honestly, it could have been two separate videos.

user-inactivated  ·  1507 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Honestly, it could have been two separate videos.

Agreed. It could have worked if the cult point was massaged more into the Chinese nationalist POV in my opinion.