My KUNG-FU is Better Than Your KUNG-FU!
By Carl Cestari
I imagine it first started many, many moons ago when some unknown combat aficionado first posed the question: “which is BETTER, pugilism or wrasslin’ ?”
Since that time comparisons of combat skills and methods have become legion. Boxing vs. Wrestling. Jujutsu vs. Boxing OR Wrestling. Karate vs. Judo. Karate vs. Boxing. Striking vs. Grappling. Swahili Toe Fighting vs. Peruvian Nostril Boxing……………..ad infinitum. AD NAUSEUM!
The latest “Battle of BS” centers around……………..”COMBATIVES” versus _________________________(you can fill in the blank).
UTTER NONSENSE! Actually the entire “debate” over what is BETTER than whatever is TOTAL NONSENSE and a real waste of time, especially for those who consider time a precious commodity. However, arguing the merits of so-called Combatives in regards to comparison fighting skills is absolutely BASELESS and denotes a true lack of understanding in what Combatives is really all about (and maybe life in general as well).
Personally I don’t LIKE the term COMBATIVES. But I also fully realize that it is the undeniable STAMP of human nature to LABEL things. Without LABELS who would we HATE, who would we KILL, how could we stereotype, what basis would there be for religious, ethnic or racial BIGOTRY. So in order for the world to work as it does, LABELS are a foregone conclusion. When labels become a tool or device for divisiveness and enmity we really fall into a trap that should be avoided at all costs. The root problem here is the very same fundamental problem that is the wellspring for most, if not all of mankind’s ills. The EGO. The absolute need for self-validation at all cost. ANYONE who engenders all or most of their feelings of self-worth and validation from their TRAINING ALONE(or even in major part) needs to immediately CANCEL their registration at all forthcoming seminars on the latest evolution of NHB holds from the mount or the latest innovations in submission “whatever” imported directly from the planet Venus (or perhaps more accurately Uranus) AND SEEK PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING! And do it QUICKLY!
Let’s try this simple experiment: Go into your kitchen draw and find the BEST steak knife. Sharpest, keenest edge. Now place it on the counter or breakfast table. NOW…………….find the BEST fork with the SHARPEST POINTIEST tines and lay that right next to the steak knife. Okay?
Step back and WATCH the FUN begin! We’ll SETTLE once and for all time the universal query of which is BETTER…………….THE steak knife or THE pointy fork! HOT DAMN this going to be exciting! A real BLOOD BATH so to speak.
Hhhhmmmmmmmmmm…………………………………..seems nothing is really happening here does it? Well, that’s the EXACT problem with debating “technique”, or “system”, or “method” or “style”. It is all an exercise in FUTILITY without the all important factor of the PERSONS INVOLVED. It is NOT the “TECHNIQUE”………………………IT’S THE MAN(or woman-PC ALERT)! Until human hands pick up the knife and the fork NOTHING will EVER HAPPEN! The method DOESN’T work for the MAN. IT IS THE MAN who MAKES the METHOD WORK!
It’s NEVER the merits of “just” Boxing vs. Wrestling or Muay Thai vs. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It IS the individual MERITS of the men involved and those merits are RARELY if EVER “equal”. Since we are all HUMAN and NOT machines, those “merits” actually fluctuate on an almost daily BASIS! Even for those possessed of seemingly superhuman qualities, Father Time, Uncle Murphy and Mr. G. Reaper will WITHOUT QUESTION sooner or later destroy that.
Further still, this mindless need to debate ONLY applies in terms of SPORTING COMPETITIONS! Sporting competitions by their VERY nature are STRUCTURED EVENTS. They are planned for, they are TRAINED for, and they encompass well defined rules and regulations. So good natured speculation on the merits of one participant or team pitted against another certainly has some substance. Even extending to the COMPETITIVE merits of one combat sport against another there is some basis in logic. But extending these diatribes into the realm of real world violence and individual survival is POINTLESS! NHB means “No holds Barred”. The real world is NFB. NOTHING F@#$%ING BARRED!
If we MUST use the term “COMBATIVES” then it is ONLY proper that we define EXACTLY what we mean by the use of that terminology.
TO BE CONTINUED…………………………………………………..
(This is part of an ongoing series of articles addressing a variety of misconceptions concerning the field of personal survival against real world violence)
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