Originally Posted by
Kim Taylor
The "fakes and frauds" of the martial arts world are no more dangerous than any other school of physical skill out there, like dance schools, yoga classes, or what have you. Anyone damaging or abusing kids will be sorted out long before we need to worry about it.
I wish, I really wish, that I could agree with you. Sadly, I've seen some "martial cults" before where the students were being abused psychologically, perhaps physically, by fraudulent instructors (Wayne Muromoto wrote a great article on the subject that can be found at his website). Some of these instructors are still out there teaching (even those with prison records). Some men are adept at preying on young, insecure people who need a place to belong, who feel like outsiders and want to be told that they are inheritors of an elite and secret warrior tradition. These young people fall easy prey to charlatans who spout pseudo-Oriental mystic nonsense and insist on being addressed as "master." Some of these groups might be harmless. Others aren't-- and there are arrest records to prove it.
Cases like this are the extreme example, I know-- most of the nuts we criticize on this site are only fooling themselves. But in those rare exceptions where they are doing something more destructive, I'm glad e-budo is around to expose them-- there are people who have gotten out of the lies because of what they read here.
Sorry for the rant-- it's just a subject that weighs on me a bit.
Best,
David Sims
"Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum." - Terry Pratchet
My opinion is, in all likelihood, worth exactly what you are paying for it.