Karate Is Stupid and Other Ignorant Comments

Karate is stupid. Kung Fu is a waste of time. Tae Kwon Do is a joke.

Insults like these are nothing new. Even before the rise of MMA, traditional martial arts were the punchlines to a thousand jokes.

Karate is only good for kids. Kung Fu is just dancing.

Tae Kwon Don’t. Shoto-can’t.

And let’s face it, my belt-wearing friends—hopping around in silk robes, making weird noises, and breaking flaming bricks with your head doesn’t exactly make a great first impression.

My father was an early critic. When I came home with a copy of the Tao of Jeet Kune Do and told him I wanted to sign up for martial arts classes, he scoffed—

“All the guys I ever met who took Judo or Karate were numbskulls and thugs.”

Yep. My dad thought martial arts were stupid. And he’s not alone…

The critics will tell you with a smile about the black belt who got his butt kicked on the street.

The critics will tell you how they took Karate for a while, but got bored practicing forms and quit.

The critics will tell you how all those fancy moves don’t work in the real world.

To be fair, the critics aren’t entirely wrong…

• I know black belts who got beat up in the real world, too.
• I’ve trained with black belts who don’t understand the moves they practice.
• I’ve watched Karate and Kung Fu teachers pass down unrealistic nonsense.

But let me be clear about something… something that critics seem to forget…

There’s a big difference between a Karate class and a BAD Karate class.

There’s a big difference between a Kung Fu teacher and a BAD Kung Fu teacher.

It’s no secret that I love martial arts. Believe it or not, my love actually makes me a harsher critic than my father ever was.

When I see a self-defense demonstration where a child takes down an adult with one finger, I think, stupid.

When I see someone teaching a technique based on mystical pseudo-science, I think, stupid.

When I see someone performing a kata that looks like a Cirque du Soleil show, I think, stupid.

The fact is there are many Karate and Kung Fu schools out there that I would never recommend…

But that doesn’t mean all traditional martial arts schools are a joke.

That would be like buying a beat up, used car and saying, “Cars are stupid. They just break down all the time. I’m walking.”

Hey, genius! Yes, beat up, used cars break down. But good cars will get you where you want to go. To criticize all cars just reveals how little you know about cars.

To be honest, seeing bad Karate and bad Kung Fu doesn’t just annoy me, it makes me angry. It makes me angry because it not only feeds the critics, it gives newcomers the impression that ALL Kung Fu and Karate is stupid.

And that’s the real problem!

People too often think that what they see is all there is to know. They think that trying something once makes them an expert.

It’s human nature, I’m afraid. And I’m just as guilty of it. Let me talk to you about chicken, for example…

I’ve eaten chicken all my life. I’ve eaten fried chicken, BBQ chicken, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, chicken wings… let’s just say I’m a chicken expert.

Now, if you had asked me at the age of 25 if I knew what chicken tasted like, I would have said, CLUCK YEAH!

But I didn’t!

You see, at the age of 25, my wife and I stopped at a butcher shop in L.A to buy some chicken. We took it home for dinner. I took a bite…

What… is… this?

The flavor was different. The texture was different. This chicken was so good that I didn’t even think it was chicken.

Why?

It was fresh.

Like the ending of an M. Night Shayamalan movie, I suddenly realized that all of the chicken I had ever eaten in my life had been frozen.

I called my mother to confirm the theory—it was true! She had never purchased fresh chicken from a butcher shop.

The difference between frozen and fresh chicken, just like fresh orange juice, fresh pasta, fresh herbs, fresh anything, was remarkable. It slapped me in the face and made me feel stupid.

And it wasn’t the last time…

• I thought coffee tasted flat until I bought a French press. Stupid.
• I thought mariachi music was awful until I heard it played live. Stupid.
• I thought Chinese food was gross until I ate in Chinatown. Stupid.
• I thought spinning jump kicks were flashy until someone clocked me in the mouth. Stupid.

Alas… we know so little and yet think we know so much.

Think of all the people who think MMA is just two skinheads slugging it out. Stupid.

Think of all the people who think opera is boring even though they can’t name one. Stupid.

Think of all the people who trash celebrities and public figures even though they’ve never met in person. Stupid.

Think of all the people who believe that NO style of martial arts is good! The ones who think training to fight in any form just breeds people to be more violent.

Stupid.

In his notebook, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee talked about the difference between real martial arts and popular, crowd-pleasing martial arts. He wrote—

A diluted wine is not a real wine, not a good wine, hardly the genuine article. … No one ever developed a taste for diluted wine.

Wrong! Sorry, Bruce, but people drink diluted wine all the time… and like it. They really don’t know the difference.

People enjoy bland food, poorly written books, and one-dimensional conversations.

People also form strong opinions with little knowledge, mistake first impressions as the truth, and—worst of all—adopt someone else’s first impression as the truth!

Think of all the damaging stereotypes we face in society based on race, gender, weight, age, or economic class. Think of all the band wagons that people jump on, all the witch hunts. Is there anything more terrifying than mob mentality?

I’m just as guilty of prejudice, by the way. Passing judgement, justified or not, seems to be in our DNA.

The question is why do we do it?

Why do we accept first impressions as fact? Why do we allow other people’s opinions to shape our own?

Why do we allow prejudice to color our decisions? Why do we stop asking questions?

I can’t solve the riddles of ignorance and arrogance in today’s rant, but I can sure as heck be on guard against them.

Before I open my mouth and call something stupid, I can reserve judgement.

Before I mock someone else’s opinion, I can ask questions.

Before I turn away from something new, I can give it a chance to reveal itself fully.

If we all speak less and listen more, there will be a lot less laughing and lot more learning.

So, if you still think Karate is stupid and traditional martial arts are a waste of time, I’m here to tell you that you’re absolutely right…

…and absolutely wrong. Yes, there is plenty of bad Karate and Kung Fu out there, but guess what?

There is plenty of bad everything out there.

Bad pizza, bad phone service, bad doctors, bad cars, bad teachers, bad movies, bad hotels. But you don’t stop eating pizza after getting a bad slice, do you? No way.

You don’t stop watching movies or seeing doctors, either. You just keep looking until you find a good one. One that works for you.

And that’s the good news, my friend! There is good everything out there. There is even great out there. You might even find amazing. And yes, that includes finding amazing Karate and Kung Fu, too.

How can you tell the difference?

Frozen Karate doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t test itself, and doesn’t allow students to make the art their own.

Fresh Karate experiments, examines, and encourages students to explore and express their individual personalities and capabilities.

If you’ve been raised on frozen Karate or frozen anything, today’s the day to try something new. Get out there and taste the difference.

Look deeper into martial arts. Look deeper into you. Look deeper into everything.

If you don’t, not only are you missing out on all that life has to offer…

…not only are you missing out on what you have to offer, but you’re missing one more thing…

While you’re pointing and laughing at me, I’m shaking my head at you.

This article is recorded as episode #30 of the Fight for a Happy Life podcast: Ignorance and Arrogance.