On YouTube there are hundreds of videos featuring martial style A versus martial style B, and the comments beneath them range are incredibly partisan. On the forums as well, people argue over which style is the ultimate, best style – often coming to virtual blows. Why?
You might as well argue oranges versus apples or pears. Yes, they’re all fruit, but beyond that it’s pretty impossible to make any sensible comparisons. They’re different fruit. If you have a cold, eat the orange; if you need fibre, go for the apple.
I am a martial arts student, and yet I barely feel qualified to make judgements about the kung fu style I’m learning, much less any others. And what everyone forgets (or possibly doesn’t know) is that in a real fight, it’s not about style or grace. It’s about what works.
On the street, anything goes, anything’s a weapon and the only rule is: Don’t Lose. In a dojo or a boxing ring, one style may win against another: wing chun may defeat taekwondo, and in turn be defeated by hapkido – but when the stakes are more than pride, and the surface is harder than mats, the winner is the one who’s left standing at the end, not the one whose style is pure or graceful.
Nobody knows how they’ll react to real attack until it happens. I specify “real” because macho posturing to establish social order isn’t the same thing as someone actively trying to kill you. When it does happen (and it would be foolish to believe we’re not just as vulnerable as the next statistic), that’s when you find out how good a fighter you really are – when it’s not about any one style, but the whole fruit salad of whatever will stop him hitting you.
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