Closer Topic: Are the new traditional Martial Arts just that Arts and do the new views on traditional ones corrupt and leave them meaningless?
Debaters:
Me and Copperknickers II
My stance is on the side of the Traditional martial arts and traditional views on them and that the today's views on them have completely corrupted the original ideas and philosophies that where behind them.
For this argument I won't of course go through every single martial art and explain how was it ruined today by most but I will take one rather extreme of one that is ruined beyond repair at this point by decades of corruption by the new views on martial arts. I speak of course of shotokan karate.
Now when someone and anyone say they are training karate, you can be 80% sure that it is shotokan karate. And it is IMHO no longer a martial art or deserves to be called so, shotokan karate has been turned in to a pure sport. There is practically no real guard, after a punch they start going backwards with a kiai which serves no real purpose and looks ridiculous, titles(belts) are handed to people like candy (a black belt in shotokan has no real understanding of any kind of fighting outside his fellow sportists at least not any I met and I have met many), not to mention it has NO practical use. Now anyone that has been in martial arts will tell you the same except shotokan karatists. And this is not the only one, this "sport" way of looking at Martial Arts has already a huge grip on Aikido and Judo, and has seeds in all todays martial arts that hold competitions outside Asia and that is almost ALL of them.
Now I also believe that the new martial arts hold not greater meaning or philosophy as the old ones do. Do not get me wrong I believe that most of them are very good self defence techniques but non of them is a Martial Art. For this argument I will take the new Israeli martial art Krav Maga.
Now again I believe that Krav Maga is an extremely effective self defence technique but in no case is it a Martial Art. I have been on a few trainings in Krav Maga and spoke to many people that practice it. While it has borrowed moves from godjuryu and a few more martial arts it has moves like "Get a brick and knock his teeth out!" or "Wear Martin boots and jump on his nether region", I you not these are some official Krav Maga moves and I for one can not call this a martial ART!
I leave the word to my respected opponent.