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Hero Worship in Martial Arts

  • 09-07-2009 11:57AM
    #1
    Martin25
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 346 ✭✭


    Hi there
    Have any of you had experience of "Hero Worship" in martial arts?
    Is there still a lot of it about?
    Martin


Comments

  • #2
    mark.leonard
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,084 ✭✭✭mark.leonard


    Yes there is, loads of it. Personality cults are what keep some clubs strong IMO. Not the only way to make a club strong of course, but coming from a Trad background I have seen plenty of it, and see just as much in MMA clubs too.


  • #3
    Martin25
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 346 ✭✭Martin25


    Mark
    I like the idea of a positive role model but is hero worship just a waste of time? By the way I met you in Galway a few years ago.
    all the best
    Martin


  • #4
    mark.leonard
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,084 ✭✭✭mark.leonard


    I think it can be either positive or negatve, a lot depends on who the role model is and what he or she uses his status for.


  • #5
    Zen65
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Zen65


    If you read the threads on YouTube under any martial arts clip you'll see hero worship at play. It seems that everyone's Sensei can beat up everyone else's Sensei, and certainly can beat up whoever it is showing on the video clip. This is one of the root causes of so much division in the arts (money is the other).

    This thinking also leads to the hero-worshiping of a style over other styles, and the rejection of ideas from schools other than your own, which weakens the ability of the arts to grow.

    "That TKD/Silat/Karate style would not work against MMA/Kung-Fu/Muay Thai practitioner". We stop seeing fights as being between two people, but instead as battles between philosophies or schools or styles.

    The true purpose of martial arts training is lost in this mindless ocean of competitive nonsense. We train to be better than we are, not better than others.

    Regards,

    Zen65

    The ultimate aim of the art of karate lies
    Not in victory or defeat,
    But in the perfection of the character of the participant


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