articles on knife lies

[guro_abon]

Hi Guys ,

I Just wanna ask your opinion about the knife lies articles of Marc Animal Macyoung. As an FMA practitioners and definitely trains with knife i wanna know your opinion. Although I agree with some of his points but some are not I won’t point it out here just click on this to find out if you didn’t read it yet.
http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/knifefighting.html

I Respect this guy’s research and experience and have been reading all his articles but this one make not agreed 100%.

Gumagalang,

Isagani
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[Sochin]

Marc is writing to disuade those caught up in the "knife fighting fad" from being naieve about their "skills."

He is trying to open ydfc wannabe knife masters about knife reality outside the training yard, on the broader perspective than the immediate training.

I'm delighted that his voice of reason, based on personal history and not what someone told him, will be discussed here, without any expectation that everyone should agree with it all.

Life is too complicated for one essay to cover evey nuance..the "but my buddy did it that way and he's fine " arguments are shortsighted and miss the point.

[Sapphire]

Marc is right. There's a little saying that I've heard from some people:

"Pactice makes perfect, but experience makes perfection."

A few friends of mine have been in real knife fights on the street and what they do is very different than what is taught in most Martial Arts. They are also very fast with a knife. They even know how to throw a knife and kill their target at mid range. In fact, I would run if they attacked me with a knife.

I'm also going reiterate on what Marc said on the self defense techniques. Most of our self defense against knives taught in the martial arts world will get you killed in a big fact hurry on the real streets. And if you pull a stick, knife, or weapon of your own, the experience knife fighters will just simply throw the knife at you or counter your attacks. One of my friends that has been in a real knife fight even showed me some common counter against several strikes with a stick similiar to the esrcima.

Unless you're an experienced knife fighter, I would run from a knife fight if I were you.

[Sapphire]

One more thing, sign every post with your first and last names please.

[TogaAssassin]

While I really do appreciate his point of view I think that articles like that can be REALLY dangerous. I mean he basically goes through the whole article saying that the techniques we learn are ineffective and often considered "green" techniques. I made it all the way through that article and agreed with many of the things said. But when I got to the end and saw tapes for sale it invalidated a lot of what was said in my mind.

When I looked at it from that perspective it sounds like someone saying "what you know isn't good enough now pay me and I'll show you what is". Just my thought though.

There is a lot of truth in what is said in those articles. I think that far to many people think far to lightly of knife fighting. I know it someone pulled a knife on me my first thought would be to get the hell out of there (self preservation). However I think that an article like that can be dangerous because it seems like it's trying to discourage people from training all together. I don't care if he thinks the methods work or not, the bottom line is training something is better then training nothing. The overall tone of the article is very negative (which I can understand people should NOT want to knife fight) however my worry is that it might be discouraging to martial artists out there to the point where it would cause them to neglect their training, and IMO this is far more dangerous then training what he would consider "an invalid knife fighting system".

There is something else he seems to not understand. Defanging the snake does not necassarily imply hitting the hand or even the arm. In fact most of my sparring defangs have come from strong blows to the trunk (center of body) or weapon blows to the shoulder area causing the hand to spasm. IMO hitting the trunk or point of origin of the snake are effective ways to defang while not having to chase a flying arm (although defanging on the arm is totally possible even at full speed, I'm sure other Kali practicioners here would agree with me that this is NOT a green maneuver). Just my 2 cents. I appreciate his view and I admire his goal (bladed combat is no game) but at the same time I question his motives.

[Sochin]

What is wrong with capitalism? Of course he wants to make money - he has a family and a house full of pets to feed.

So he uses his analytical skills to critique the various deficiencies of ma styles and then works up a way to mitigate those deficiencies...and you want him to take all that work and give it away?

When you put that much time and effort into a project and give it away, supposedly taking the loss of production and shipping, I'll have more respect for your pov.

Most FMA are dueling styles and not strictly applicable to the murder / assassination style of American knifings.

[Kevin]

I think the objection is that if you criticize something as ineffectual, and in the same sentence/paragraph/page try to sell a fix, it calls into question the motive. Lots of bullshido type sokes are going around saying everything is ineffectual but their stuff. If you write an expose, fine. If you want to sell videos, fine. But writing an expose and then selling an improved version of what you just criticized everyone else's products/services for seems like it would call into question the validity of the criticism, which is unfortunate. Marc Macyoung seems very knowledgeable and when I first stumbled across his site I started reading and didn't read anything else until I read everything on it (except their discussion boards).

[TogaAssassin]

I think the objection is that if you criticize something as ineffectual, and in the same sentence/paragraph/page try to sell a fix, it calls into question the motive. Lots of bullshido type sokes are going around saying everything is ineffectual but their stuff. If you write an expose, fine. If you want to sell videos, fine. But writing an expose and then selling an improved version of what you just criticized everyone else's products/services for seems like it would call into question the validity of the criticism, which is unfortunate. Marc Macyoung seems very knowledgeable and when I first stumbled across his site I started reading and didn't read anything else until I read everything on it (except their discussion boards).

That's exactly what I was trying to say. The article itself is very well written and the practicioner behind it appears to be very knowledgeable. That's simply the first thing that came to mind when I saw the videos (the mines the best buy buy buy mentality). I understand what you're saying about how he should not give away that knowledge. I have seen plenty of bullshido scams that claim similar things as stated above. I just wanted to make that particular analysis, I still do maintain the upmost respect for anyone who can defend themselves against a knife attack (as the author of that article has done).

[Raul Marquez]

Marc MacYoung shoud be a must-read to all knifefighter wannabes.

[James O'Neill]

Indeed. He makes allot of valid points & there is much useful information to be had from "Mr. Animal".

However, like anything else, you need to take some things with a grain of salt. They are a good starting point & I have enjoyed several of his books & much of his website. But I don't agree 100% with everything he says (I doubt from reading some of his books he would have it any other way actually). And I think his works need a sort of counterbalance. I usually suggest The Gift of Fear By DeBecker first for newbies. And then Living the Martial Way by Forrest Morgan next. Than Mr. Animal...

[DragonMind]

Indeed. He makes allot of valid points & there is much useful information to be had from "Mr. Animal".

However, like anything else, you need to take some things with a grain of salt. They are a good starting point & I have enjoyed several of his books & much of his website. But I don't agree 100% with everything he says (I doubt from reading some of his books he would have it any other way actually). And I think his works need a sort of counterbalance. I usually suggest The Gift of Fear By DeBecker first for newbies. And then Living the Martial Way by Forrest Morgan next. Than Mr. Animal...
Out of curiosity, James, what do you disagree with? Not trying to pick a fight, I'm just interested in open dialogue.

[Kevin]

Living the Martial Way is an excellent book, but how does it counterbalance The Animal's books?