The Internet Warrior
Continued from page 1
The personal approach is best, as the Sifu can gauge the inquirer's true intent,
answer appropriately and be somewhat comfortable that such communications
will not be made public on a forum message board. Bad "Sifu" are the antithesis.
These charlatans peruse the net to pass time as they wait for checks to roll
in the door, talk a lot of talk but never walk the walk.
These "Sifu's" are easily distinguished by larger bodies than the more fit currently
training Sifu's. One other characteristic is a foul attitude and a holier-than-
thou mindset. Many times we find that massive intake of Babylonian foods
and lack of training tend to create these "Sifus". Also these types tend to
be bitter as they feel they have an incomplete system or seniors that question
their ability to teach at all. Try to avoid these types at all costs or it may cost you $$$.
Then you have the Trolls (Internet devil) that takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, simply
by picking out the essence of your transmissions and then challenging and
insulting you directly. Trolls come from all age groups and they are easy
to spot. They are personal cipher disrupters, leeches of energy good and bad.
Trolls are all no good in any way.
Even though they might be able to engage the reader for a time, the nastiness
oozes out eventually. Most forum moderators now look out for this type of
person. Trolls are the worst, as they are all bad, along with them you also
have loudmouth internet warriors, that actually go to class, and train or
even teach authentic traditional or more modern arts.
These loudmouths can be of some help as they know the scene and have real lineage.
However the characteristic personality flaw with loudmouths is that they lose
perception of reality when online. They feel a false sense of security justified
to them by the fact they cannot see the person they are talking online to
and their experience has led them to be dogmatic, sour or just plain ignorant.
These types talk a lot of talk and never seem to walk the walk. It has been a trend
for specific instructors to get into Internet battles but then, when approached,
they literally run away, or hide behind lineage or their own students! Consider
this…would you want to learn a FIGHTING art from a person that talks big and
NEVER backs their stuff up?
Combat in general is not a good idea; however, if you claim high skill level
and then are nasty and always challenging individuals, you can expect to be approached.
Many of these internet warriors lack a basic concept of self due to insufficient
introspection and meditation upon ones self.
This tends to resonate throughout the net negatively when one such person is put
into a position where they feel the necessity to defend their system or own
set of dogmatic beliefs. There is a trend in the internet realm whereby feuds
and large "beefs" develop. Sifus and students incessantly bickering over lineage
and history or which move comes after which, etc.
These arguments continue for weeks at a time and the end result is after a
fortnight of bickering - no solution occurs and Schools and Sifus end up looking
foolish and unprofessional with regard to their own training. Hence losing
potential students and further bringing a veil of shame upon them and their
lineage. Their are a handful of persons on the net that classify as knowledgeable
and free flowing with information.
I would limit this to 5% or less. These friends know their stuff and are more
than happy to send you information and application ad-nauseum. These gems
are what keep the net from collapsing altogether due to the high amount of
internet warriors. Usually they put their personal e-mail address as a signature
to all posts, as they value what they write and demand feedback from persons
capable of advancing knowledge.
Find these helpful guides, learn from them and give back to the global net community
once you gain something of substance and are able to articulate such information.
In close, enjoy searching and learning about martial arts on the Internet,
be alert and research all answers thoroughly to ensure that you have factual
information and that you are able to make choices appropriately and personally
further the knowledge of the arts globally.
Always keep the Tao real
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