Penn & Teller accuses martial arts of being bullshit on their TV show “Bullshit”. As a life long practicing martial artist and avid fan of kung fu and other fighting sports I’m compelled to take offence. Furthermore, I’m the protégé of The Amazing Randi and big fan of Penn & Teller. I’ve toured with Randi throughout Europe and appeared as his opening act in support of his lectures. I’ve also lived and studied with Randi. I have never been confronted regarding my practice of martial arts in the years I’ve known him.
The reason I bring Randi into this is because the shows namesake comes from Randi’s lectures where he typically ends a winded intellectual rant on metaphysics with the superlative… “bullshit”.
Let’s set the record straight. The people represented on the show as martial artists firmly deserve their bullshit status. Anyone in the industry that overstates their claim is guilty of such. Randi was on TV’s That’s Incredible show exposing martial arts fakir James Hydrick. I began my study with Randi during this time. I’m also well aware of the high level of bullshit that exists in the world of martial arts. I was looking forward to the airing of this episode in hopes of P&T setting the record straight. However since I didn’t get a call I expected the worst.
The message I got from P&T's show is that ALL martial arts is bullshit. If this is not what was meant then I suggest another martial arts episode for clarification (I'm available). Even to imply that all martial arts is bullshit makes no sense. The practice of martial arts is vast and includes many European disciplines including; fencing, wrestling and boxing. Martial Arts has a rich and sorted history with roots embedded deep in almost every culture. It’s been around long enough for religion and many other myths to infiltrate their origins.
Again I want to back pedal a bit. Martial Arts needs a good douching. Martial Arts is big business and the face of it is like a never ending rerun of Karate Kid. The UFC is perhaps the most popular form of contemporary martial arts. An argument can be made against the validity of mixed martial arts but the fact remains that a skill is being developed and the origin of that skill set comes from martial arts training.
Perhaps P&T were referring to the politics of martial arts. But the politics of anything that’s popular and been around for a long time are bound to get tainted by bullshit. Is juggling bullshit? Is prestidigitation bullshit? Is theatre bullshit? The answer is no. There is however a great number of people out there with wildly differing ideas as to what a legitimate martial art practice entails. As with all areas in our life basic common sense needs to be exercised to determine what is real and what is fake. The stuff we see in the movies is for all intensive purposes fake. Knowing how to escape from a violent choke hold is a real skill.
I’m a short guy. I met Penn in the early 90’s in Los Angeles. He is a huge man. Big hair, big hands, big pinky finger painted black. The guy is fucking huge. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would ever attack Penn. He’s also a tricky fuck. You never know what that huge tricky asshole (said affectionately) is going to pull. He might shoot you in the mouth with a .357 handgun or something. Many people are just not as physically endowed as Penn Gillette. The rest of us non giants have to devise ways of surviving being trampled and guns are overkill in the grocery line. Communication is optimal but not always practical. Moving in a martial manner (efficiently and responsibly) saves the day.
The examples of what P&T gave as sound martial arts advice is actually the same initial advice given by martial arts schools worldwide. “When you see trouble go the opposite direction. Run“. But in reality you don’t always have the option to turn and run. The 911 attacks are a great example of this. Learning how to fight or defend yourself with your bare hands is a skill that should be appreciated and not marginalized by overnight Kung Fu Masters and Las Vegas magicians. Rape prevention, confidence building, self defense, and sport pugilism are all legitimate aspects of martial arts training.
Why not call martial arts “exercise”? Simple, the human origins of exercise are rooted in martial arts. Mans method of fighting had to evolve over time. The same could be asked of the term “exercise”. Why not just call it “martial arts”? The reason is that the words have different implications. And the costumes worn are completely different. Why not buy a gun? Simple, guns are of little use as a tool for defense. Guns are predominantly a tool for assault. Bullets have no degree of sensitivity.
No doubt about it. There is a ton of martial art bullshit out there. I’d like to have my own tv show to sort through them all and separate the men from the fairies. I’ve asked myself if its worth being involved with a practice with so much misconception surrounding it. But the benefits are so overwhelmingly obvious and quantifiable that sound reasoning dictates my convictions.
This is Penn & Tellers 8th season. I am delightfully amazed at the success of the show. Out of all the episodes I’ve only disagreed with the “Second Hand Smoke” and the “Martial Arts” issues. That’s a fucking great track record. I’m giving it to you now… Attahboy P&T! But this season (so far) is falling short in the research department and you can’t make up for that with big tits alone. No… you can not! Making a blanket statement that “Martial Arts Is Bullshit” does at least one of two things; it disgraces me as a martial artist and it disgraces what is otherwise an important show. P&T had the opportunity to clear the field of bullshit that plagues martial arts but instead added more bullshit by not offering a fair perspective on a practice that is socially invaluable and in deep need of clarification.
To learn more about my secular martial art approach go to my webpage or visit me in Hawaii for a free introductory lesson.
Sifu Z
1 comments:
I have also been a huge fan of Penn and Teller. The work that they have done on their television program "Bullshit" has been invaluable in helping to expose the lack of intelligence prevalent in todays culture.
That said - I think that care must be exercised when "calling out" a particular group of people. Unfortunately bullshit can be found everywhere nowadays. The most benign of subjects will have at least one asshole who messes it up for everyone else. Does this mean the entire group as a whole is full of shit? Certainly not.
Like SifuZ I feel the key is detailed research. If your going to call bullshit on a group of people - then not only do you have to find the worst of the group, but you must find the best as well. In this instance I feel that P7T have fallen short. Their program did not include the best of the martial arts... only the worst. Of course this makes it easy to call bullshit, however, it is at best an inaccurate portrayal.
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