The dragon is a powerful animal. Lots of times, dragons don't growl. They may even spend a lot of time sleeping. But remember: they can breathe fire when they have to.
But, we weren't put here to be animals, we were put here to become spiritual human beings.
Ask yourself this question: if you were a boxer and had a choice to be trained by Mike Tyson in his prime, or Cus D'Amato, in his old age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cus_D'Amato... who would you pick?
If you had a choice to learn from Bruce Lee, or Yip Man, who would you want to learn from?
If you say Yip who, or Cus what, you may be guilty of following the growling wolf.
To the point that they would mock and insult people in the street, not that many only a few, in relation with people that are not training at list. I met a few of those but that behavior doesn't last long. Generally most of people that I know have other types of training and experiences as well, and are not counting 100% in any of them. Every one has their ways of dealing with situations, most of them not in a conflict manner but how society would prefer.
Some people, mainly kids and teenagers, that are training have an arrogance, in the sense that they tend to put completely down in their discussions everything else, except their own ways. but those are mainly people with limited experiences and training. They are kids and teenagers from places that they don't have something else, just that and they tend to over-doing it due to a luck of a personal culture, to other kids that they believe the same about them. That is also to be found in some bodybuilders and some bouncers. Is not a matter of a martial art is a matter of them and their teacher. Confidence is good, arrogance is another thing. Arrogance can come from insecurity, confidence can come from security. When someone starts like that, other people laugh.
Cecil Ryu Martial Arts gave a very good answer in this. I liked the following part more...
"The dragon is a powerful animal. Lots of times, dragons don't growl. They may even spend a lot of time sleeping. But remember: they can breathe fire when they have to.
But, we weren't put here to be animals, we were put here to become spiritual human beings."
It is possible, especially if the teacher is of the same temperament. An arrogant teacher breeds arrogant students. In other cases, it's really the true nature of the person being exposed in that someone you thought to be mind mannered or humble was in fact only pretending to be so. You know that phrase - false modesty? In a good school where the teacher is truly interested in not only what he teaches, but also who he teaches he will not stand for such behaviors.
You see several examples here on Y!A in the questions or answers where some users brag and put down other arts.
Part of everyday life in martial arts im afraid.... you just have to read many of the peoples answers on here saying how one style is better than another to see it happening.
I think we have all been through it when we were younger and still learning the ropes. you get cocky and think what you learn is going to work everytime so nothing other styles throw at you will work. In reality though it is much different to this. So as years pass and maturity and knowledge kicks in you begin to respect and see what other styles have to teach you.
He is just at that immature level of martial arts which means he is close minded to other styles.
Yes it is quite possible and yes, I had to deal with this in the past and deal with such an issue right now. Since the two are not from the same school it is unimportant, let it go. You do not need to deal with someone arrogant and have the freedom to pick your friends. Friends should bring you up not try to tear you down, make the relationship a competition or add and other negative things to the relationship. Once negative things enter the friendship move on. You did the right thing.
In regards to your P.S....
Yes, I have personally had to deal with a couple of people in my time that had the arrogant attitude you describe. One difference was I wasn't able to simply disengage myself from them because in each circumstance they were co-workers. It finally boiled down to letting them know it wasn't about the style it was about the practitioner, and in the end it took a "friendly" match to teach them the humility and respect they lacked. We stayed friendly even afterwards and actually began a little "cross-training" a few days a week.
I don't necessarily recommend this course of action, but like I said, I wasn't able to avoid them.
Martial arts in general has nothing to do with encouraging arrogance. Arrogance begets arrogance. Humbleness and humility begets humbleness and humility. Unfortunately, although martial arts is supposed to be rooted in humbleness and humility, there are some people who ignore these traits and instead choose arrogance. And again unfortunately, some of these people are instructors. When students see an instructor who is arrogant and/or allows arrogance within their dojo, they are likely to also become arrogant. Instructors who act themselves as an example of humbleness and humility will have students who do the same.
I don't think that it's the martial arts themselves which breed arrogance, I think it just helps expose what is already inside the person. If they are humble than it will show that humility, if they are prideful, than that pride will show through. If they have a bad teacher or bad school, than sometimes they can be given a false sense of pride that will boost their ego and make them bigger jerks. I personally believe it comes down to the person and their maturity level with martial arts just acting as the conduit that shows their pride or humility.
Long story short, I train in Jiu Jitsu and have loved it these past 3 years, and I knew somebody who began training in Karate the same time I started Jitsu. He became extremely arrogant over the months when i met up with him, constantly bragging about how good Karate is and how good he is at it. Whenever I told him about the things I enjoyed in Jitsu, he would be quick to point out the flaws and how he'd be able to beat me. I no longer speak to him.
I respect other arts and feel need to brag about my abilities, but am happy to explain/show if someone's interested.
Is it possible that the "must get it right" training ethos in his dojo made him cocky and compelled him to believe his art is superior to others, to the point where he would mock and insult people?
P.S. Has anybody else had to deal with someone like this?
