06/30/2018
The word martial means warlike... martial arts were created and designed for combat situations. To maim or kill your opponent WAS THE INTENT. Over the years martial arts have become watered down for MAINSTREAM MEDIA sports and the arena. To do that IT WAS NECESSARY to take the martial OUT from the arts IN ORDER TO CREATE A MORE MEDIA FRIENDLY AND POLITICALLY CORRECT ENVIRONMENT. So IN EFFECT THEY HAVE taken a self defense art and made it a PASSIVE FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT art.
Tae Kwon Do used to have only six belts, white, yellow, green, blue, brown, and black. RECENTLY they have added gold orange, purple, black with red, and red. MY QUESTION IS WHY? IS IT To get more money from STUDENTS IN THE LONG RUN for THIS NEW VERSION OF A watered down art? It should take at least 5 years to become a black belt now they're doing it in 2. That's just using one art as an example HOWEVER SADLY all of them have BECOME commercialized. Very few schools still teach the true MARTIAL art. people TODAY ARE REFERRING TO a lot of MARTIAL ARTS schools McDojos WHICH IS JUST really sad. No one is researching any school anymore before taking up an art.
Dojos and Kwoons are houses of discipline, WITH EACH DESERVING respect. Now people are in CLASS talking to each other, talking on their cell phones, students walking around in their gi's and uniforms in public. No respect whatsoever EXISTS FOR THE MARTIAL ARTS. In my day WE folded OUR gi with OUR belt holding it together and throwING over OUR shoulder. WE didn't tell the world that WE trained in an art. IT WAS A VERY PERSONAL AND PRIVATE STUDY OF AN ANCIENT TRADITION IN WHICH WE TOOK GREAT PRIDE. WE WERE NOT LOOKING FOR PUBLICITY OR OUTSIDE APPROVAL FROM ANYONE. THIS TRADITION SHOULD BE RESPECTED AND FOLLOWED TODAY. This is just my opinion... Dan Gligorovic
