Making His Mark

Mark "Animal" Young, so he tells us, learned his craft on the streets. (Many thanks Dasa Man, for the informative link :-)). Mark also tells us that criminals and streetfighters are full of tricks. So, it would seem is Mark, with a few sneaky tricks of his own.

Firstly, he begins with a quote from Freakonomics talking about how in a competitive marketplace for ideas, people have to overstate their own wares, theories, ideas, books, courses, to sell them. It happens in every field, dieting, physics, exercise (think Matt Furey), you name it.

An idea can be exaggurrated but still be a mother lode of insight. You just have to take a step back and think. We'd do well to do the same with Marky-Mark.

He takes savage swings at teachers of reality self-defense: But he also teaches reality self-defense himself- for money. (in the form of his books). He takes swipes at those who take swipes (ie trash other systems to promote themselves): but then turns around and does the same.

Sneaky, Mark.

But at the same time, his site a goldmine of useful stuff, which we'll probably use extensively. Beware becoming an internet warrior, loading up on useless theories and ideas. Criminals will use nasty tricks, weapons, knives -- they don't want what many people think of as a fight. 'Streetfighting' is a dangerous, dangerous thing to do.

Thanks, Mark.

A final thought: the situations Marky-Mark and Charles Perkins (Attack Proof) are talking about are violent, potentially deadly encounters.

Perhaps much more common are situations where you just need to defuse and restrain, rather than maim or cripple. Dear Reader -- I put it to you that most of us are more likely to face a drunken scuffle at a nightclub, the driver of a car you've crashed into, or a crazy person than a homicidal criminal. Perhaps its the 'gentle' arts fo Judo, Aikido, Ju Jitsu, Dumog etc, that are most useful in these situations.

Once a mentally disturbed old man blocked my way in a park late one night, threatening me with a walking-stick and telling me to 'wear a helmet'. The most dissed - and gentle - martial art of all came in very handy - Aikido. In the life-threatening situations I've been in, I turned to the Indonesian version of the world's oldest martial art: Langkah Seribu.

Sumo Semar.