'Suffrajitsu': How the suffragettes fought back using martial arts

There have been some studies showing that militant tactics in the civil rights era provoked conservative backlashes compared to geographic areas where militant tactics were not employed. We're not in the realm of pure hypothesis and supposition anymore.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/new-study-shows...

It's worth considering that the people in power who say the militants are hurting their cause may be speaking the truth. Rather than dismissing them out of hand because you find their motives suspect.

And any criticism of militants is always framed and dismissed as coming from "power" or "the establishment".

The reason why Martin Luther King is the person we as people in 2015 know about is because he was selected by the administrations of his time as the black rights leader they would and did endorse.

Likewise, the reason why people in the West know Gandhi and not Bhagat Singh is because the British Empire selected Gandhi as the entity they would transfer power to.

It seems extraordinarily questionable to claim that the reactions of existing power holders is the benchmark by which we should measure liberatory struggle.

It also seems likely that there were strategic and geopolitical reasons why the power holders selected those groups, rather than others, to legitimize and endorse. Certainly Johnson, the man that fabricated the Gulf of Tonkin incident in order to bring the nation to war, did not select Martin Luther King as the torchbearer for civil rights purely because he believed the man's cause to be just and his morals pure.

I wonder, what do people who oppose radical groups say to the continued efficacy of the Afghan people at expelling occupiers from their nation? Certainly, attacking Soviet tanks and American patrols can only increase the resolve of an occupier. If only they knew of the power of nonviolence! Then they could really achieve independence rather than remaining crushed under the boot of oppression for so long.

Historically, militants can and have provoked backlashes. These can harm the overall cause.

This isn't hypothesis. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/new-study-shows...

And do you approve of uncompromising extremists when they support causes you deplore, or only when they support causes you support?

Nothing like the immediacy of a potential punch to the face to make all other stress in your life melt away and become meaningless. The necessity of focus and putting everything else out of your mind is similar in motorcycling, FWIW.

Bikes are probably more likely to kill you though. But not as likely as horse riding - that's a seriously dangerous sport.

Breathing exercises are under appreciated by almost everyone. Breathing dictates everything that you do. Not learning how to control it is essentially crippling yourself through opportunity cost.

I started northern-style shaolin Kung Fu at 20 when I was in college. It was a great program. Very disciplined (scratch your nose without turning around first results in push-ups), very thorough. The warm ups and breathing exercises I learned are my gold standard for a full body workout that doesn't require any more equipment than the floor.

Nowadays the gym I go to specializes in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I haven't gotten into BJJ but I really enjoy Thai boxing.

Something us hackers can appreciate is that learning the difference in styles between Kung Fu and Muay Thai is like learning different programming languages: you learn to do more things, or learn how to accomplish the same but in different ways.

For example, every move in Kung Fu has a discrete set of states and is meant to be highly controlled. Your feet are almost always flat on the ground and you move by sliding them across the floor so you can always be sure you're on stable ground and your weight is appropriately centered.

Muay Thai, on the other hand, is always in a state of flow. You rock back and forth between your forward foot and the balls of your back foot so that you're lighter on your feet and more able to react to various attacks. If you ever watch boxers/Thai boxers warming up, you'll notice that jump ropes are a common sight.

Thanks for sharing! That video is worth watching in full, and I wish he had shown Rogen the video I shared above, as that's the best example of "serious Aikido" online that I'm aware of.

It's worth questioning for sure, but at the same time it's easy to misunderstand Aikido.

"opponents playing along" is half-accurate. In Aikido you spend most of your time practicing techniques with a partner, and they do not play the role of an uncooperative opponent for two specific reasons:

1. The goal of Aikido is to, through repetition, build muscle-memory of very specific techniques. These are very different types of techniques than what you'll find in say, karate, where it's basically kicking and punching. These techniques are designed to disable your opponent while minimizing harm. Aikido is also not about kicking and punching, it's about responding to kicks and punches (attacks).

There is simply no way to build that muscle memory other than by having repetition with a cooperative partner. To outsiders this may seem like opponents that merely "play along" with your attacks, but that is ultimately a misunderstanding of what's going on.

2. These techniques are painful if you don't cooperate. The reason the "opponent" seems to be "playing along" is because they have to do this over and over for the length of the class session. If you're a poor Uke (the opponent) and are uncooperative, you will end up missing most of your classes due to injuries. A good Uke will be uncooperative to the extent that it helps Nage (the person practicing the technique) learn the technique without seriously injuring themselves.

That's like questioning the practicality of C because it's an ineffective for web development.

Like programming languages, each martial art has strengths and weaknesses. One of Aikido's strengths is its ability to quickly neutralize a situation with minimal harm to all involved parties, just as one of C's strengths is its minimal memory usage compared to higher level languages. Aikido is not the "best" choice in all situations or for all users any more than C is the "best" choice for all programs or for all users.

Still, learning C is of great benefit to many programmers, even if they rarely code C itself, because the knowledge and skill spills over into other work. Likewise, learning Aikido is of great benefit to many martial artists, even if they don't rely on Aikido alone, because the knowledge and skill spills over into other work.

> I seriously question the practicality of Aikido

Actually, I seriously question the practicality of any martial arts. I practiced judo and thai boxing for 20 years (both sports are considered practical), and I certainly don't see myself in a street fight. Actually, I was mugged once in NYC and "fighting" was the last thing in my mind! I'm not saying that fighting can't have a practical value, but it's so unlikely that it can help, that it doesn't have to be a criteria when choosing a martial art. I'd recommend people to choose a sport that they like, rather than something that they think can be practical.

There are endless discussions about which martial art is the most practical for "self defense", but if people are so concerned about their safety, I'm sure it's much more cost effective to invest in a better diet, drive more safely and so on rather than practicing boxing 3/4 times a week for years Also, fighting sports can actually hurt your body in the long run.

I just found this video, helped me to understand aikido a little better:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fy_a7xLzL6w

Having trained in Aikido, Ju-Jitsu, and Wing Tsun... I agree.

Aikido isn't bad but it's not what I'd recommend to someone as a fighting style. Wing Tsun's Lat Sao drills sometimes get derided (by people who don't know any better) as "play fighting" but Aikido is pretty much always trained in that sort of form.

Also the minimizing harm to the opponent is the exact opposite you want to end a confrontation.

I'm into Tai Chi, and Aikido is pretty close to the flavors I've learnt. In my experience it has proved eminently practical in real world situations. One reason it suits me is that for a man, I'm quite small physically (about 5'7", 120 lbs) so I've usually been at a significant weight/strength disadvantage when I've been a target of assault. Being able to redirect an aggressor's strength against them is beneficial in terms of both interrupting the physical attack and regaining the strategic advantage through surprise and confusion; people who make a habit of throwing their weight around tend not to be very sophisticated.

Edit: you shouldn't treat this as advice, of course. I come from an abusive background and got bullied a lot growing up, so while I avoid starting fights under any circumstances I'm not beset by fear or panic on the rare occasions where someone tries to make trouble. Petty criminals rely on others' being fearful and usually don't have an alternate strategy.

Let me start by saying, arguing about martial arts on the internet is beyond cliche, so I'm a touch embarrassed to write this. But I'm a dan ranked aikidoka who has also spent a fair bit of time on jujitsu mats and in boxing rings (though I've never fought competitively) so maybe I can add some context.

You are absolutely right to question the practicality of Aikido, especially as judged by "effectiveness by any of the standard mma rulesets that have evolved in the last 20 years". Quite simply for an aikidoka to be competitive in that sort of violent conflict they must learn the standard techniques of what has evolved into a new martial art. Things like sprawling (and other take down defense), guard/ground work, thai kicks, etc are the most effective form of fighting for non-weapon, similarly sized, time limited 2 person combat sporting events.

Aikido will add nothing to your chance of winning that event, and could potentially increase your chances of losing. This is unsurprising as all of the martial arts have had to adapt in the face of this modern art (including things like thai boxing and bjj). The Aikido community has been particularly bad at taking these lessons to heart and in conjunction with an already high level of ambient mysticism you get a combination that makes a style of practice that is closer to dancing meditation than to a martial practice.

So why do I continue to train in Aikido (in conjunction with other martial arts)? Because violence is a wide subject. To be quit honest, when it comes to violent encounters between 2 largely similarly skilled opponents, the one that is stronger and faster and more willing to commit violence will "win" the encounter more often than not. No amount of nerd wishing that technique can make up for physique will change that and I'm unlikely to actually need to engage in that sort of violence. But multiple attacker scenarios or scenarios where it would be bad for me to inflict physical injury on an attacker are much more likely for my own risk assessment. Good aikido dojo have practice that allows for this sort of training (but many do not).

Finally, I'll say that you can learn most of what you need to know about self defense (assuming its not a part of your profession) in a weekend seminar (IMPACT! for women I highly recommend). But I train in boxing and aikido both regularly because of the physical benefits. I like the dance meditation, just like I like taking a well placed punch. But I'll be training in aikido long after I've had to give up the boxing.

Regular aikido student here--yeah, I'd agree. Better off learning to rabbit punch a throat or kick someone in the groin. But there are lots of reasons to train a martial art. I like aikido because it's mentally / kinesthetically taxing.

I've also trained in judo and danzan ryu jujitsu. DZR probably had the most immediately practical self defense (beyond groin / throat strikes). Judo is also a fantastic choice for self defense in that it shares aikido' removal of lethal / maming techniques, but unlike aikido has "shiai" or full intensity competitive fights. I'm not a very competition oriented person, but traditionally taught judo is, in my opinion, something of a local optima between traditional martial art, practical self defense, and solid fitness. That said, I get less banged up in aikido, which is nice in my mid-thirties :-)

Edit: I should also add that martial arts are a last resort option for self defense. If running or screaming or handing over your wallet could work, those are all better options. People get hurt in fights, especially if someone is armed.

Aikido and judo both aren't really martial arts: they do provide an advantage in fights but in both case if your opponent knows that you do this sport, he can easily find a way to nullify your advantage. This is much less the case for real martial arts such as ju-jitsu, krav-maga..