There has always been ignorance and misunderstanding about the martial arts. That comes not only from those that are not martial artists, but often from those that are. today we have more martial arts schools and students than ever before. Many people see that as it being good for the martial arts. I strongly disagree with that belief. Today the ignorance about what the martial arts are and how they should be practiced is at an all time high. In the 1960's children were not involved in the martial arts in most schools. Today they make up more than 85% of all martial arts students. In the 1960's, the martial arts were taught to adults. I saw for myself many adults start their training often boasting about how good they were going to become. Only a short time later these guys were no where to be found. Training at many martial arts schools was brutal. But then you can't learn to swim without getting in the water. Martial arts were about life protection skills. So it only stands to reason that to learn those skills would mean that the training is sometimes brutal. What is sad to me is that so many people don;t get it that what is taught in 99% of the martial arts schools is made to be kid friendly or family friendly. There is no way that what is taught in those schools is even a shadow of what the martial arts were in times past. Even so there will always be a few of us that will teach the real arts as we were taught them.

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I tend to agree with you. I think it may have a lot to do with the prevalence of MMA in popular culture. Most MMA practitioners don't say, "I study martial arts." Instead, when asked they are more apt to say, "I do MMA." This subtlety speaks volumes to how MMA is perceived by the masses and works to separate it from traditional martial arts and thereby traditional martial artists. So, to the plebeian on the street MMA represents a practical application of what martial arts should be and traditional martial arts are seen as weak or inferior somehow and worthy of ridicule. That's my take anyways. I'm sure many of you will completely disagree, but it seems to me that the shift in attitudes towards traditional martial arts didn't occur until after the rise of MMA into the public forum.

All the sheep run to MMA, "It's the trend of this decade", thinking it's something new and improved but in reality it's just a sport with a mix of watered down garbage with no root or core principles. People forget what real martial arts were developed for.

I'm going to bust the trend here and say that I have not noticed any real change in attitudes. There are as much misconceptions about all martial arts today as in the 1960's. I suspect if you were to travel back in time 100 or 500 years ago, it would be the same. The main reason for this is that human beings are not really good at pasting on what they learned and each generation thinks everything it thinks off or discovers must be unique and no one before them ever thought of it - it is a case of each generation re-inventing the wheel where in this case the wheel is understanding what martial art really is.

A lot of people want to put TMA in the same category of Ballet or Classical Music. Or, relagate it as something that is only for kids. Keep in mind, I don't think the Ballet or Classical Music equivalency is that bad, because Ballet and Classical Music are good things. But this whole TMA/kids MMA/adults thing is ridiculous.

Or perhaps it is this: TMA/Fake, MMA/Real. In reality, either one can be real or fake.

I don't have a problem with the martial arts being family and kid friendly in theory because I feel that those are the people who are in need of most help and protection. Therefor, I want them to learn to defend themselves.

However, the problem comes in practice.. In practice, you may be forced to lower what you are doing to fit what kids want, rather than making Snookums tow the line into the rigors of a martial arts class. That's especially true if you have financial pressure for your martial arts school. This may mean at times that training is BORING. Yes, BORING. When I was a kid, when I complained that training was either boring or painful, my mother told me shut up, you want to learn karate, get back in there and do it. She felt no sorrow over minor injuries either. Now at the same time, when there was a club that sprang up in the area that was crazy even by 1980's standards (so bad that it got closed down because they actually were flat out wrong) she made sure I didn't attend it. I think that too many people today want things to be 24/7 fun. Fun brings in $$$$$.

In practice, I can tell you that I lose a lot of girls and women the first time they actually get hit or the first time they actually get thrown. Those of you know what I mean by "actually". It is usually an accident, but, it is an expected one. It does not matter that nothing is busted, bleeding, or broken, once a real pain is felt, it is over. I tend to lose the boys and men once they think they can fight, or, once they get to green belt, in either Taekwondo or Judo. Due to the advent of MMA, they think they "know" the style at green belt, so they move on to get their next style or "base", so they can "mix". I have NOTHING against cross-training. But, you are mistaken if you think you know a style at green belt.

Despite my critiques, I know honestly that if I were a teen today, I would want to do MMA professionally. I would think that it was better and safer than Boxing (which I could have gone into, but chose to continue with my education) I am glad that I am old enough to know better. The MMA long term data damage is not available yet. Give it another 20 years and we will know for sure.

But the good thing MMA did was remind a lot of people of the need to cross-train. The bad thing is the fans who disrespect all arts who came before, who do not realize that TMA is where MMA comes from, and that just because something is "new" it is not always "better".

As a practicing martial artist for most of my life, I've noticed a trend of people who mock it more than before. I don't know if this is because this has always been the mind set (and people were just blowing smoke because of my age), or if perceptions have really changed.

To give an example. Before if I said that I practiced any form of ma before people would say things like; Really, what style? Or I've always wanted to study blah blah blah. Or Oh yeah when I was a kid I did blah blah blah.

But now its like; Oh karate masa. Or Whattaa yatata kai!! Or something ridiculous.

What are your thoughts?