Alaric The Barbarian Profile picture
Sep 1, 2022 19 tweets 6 min read Read on X
American culture created bullshido martial arts.

THREAD 1/
There's thousands of videos like this online - some esoteric, defensive martial artist being absolutely pummeled by a fit, offensive kickboxer.

And there are hundreds of studios in the US alone dedicated to teaching these reactive, complex arts.

All this snake oil - why?
In the 70s, Eastern martial arts had an explosion of popularity in the US, mostly due to Hollywood movies starring Bruce Lee. Later, we had The Karate Kid.

They introduced Americans to the exotic and flashy world of Kung Fu and Karate.

Dojos popped up in every major city. ImageImage
Karate became a fixture in the Western imagination. With it, a 135 lb. Bruce Lee-type could kick a strongman across a room.

A teenager could block a flurry of punches from a trained assassin, dropping him with a well-placed chop. Image
Despite this fanciful image, 70s karate training was still very combative. Full-contact was the norm, and "sparring gear" was yet to enter the equation.

Kids and adults were fighting bare-knuckle, without foam-dipped helmets or gloves.

Kyokushin was a global sporting event. Image
Training was still very physical-fitness oriented. Karate training was something that could legitimately make someone more dangerous.

Many studios functioned like gangs, and dojoyaburi was still practiced.

But all of this changed as the consumer market got bigger. Image
Sometime in the 80s, the fantasy of karate and kung fu overtook reality. Instructors wanted to "make it big", and lowered standards to appeal to the masses.

They sold a fantastical version of karate, in which *anyone* could learn a few techniques and win a fight by skill alone.
Techniques which were once expert level - advanced parries, joint manipulation, fancy kicks - became standard.

But these just don't work without a baseline of physical fitness, aggression, and a strong grounding in basic offensive fighting. Image
This notion of *offensive fighting* is the key element.

The lowering of fitness standards shouldn't be overlooked, but the biggest change was from offensive to defensive fighting.
This is where American culture intersected to create snake oil.

1. Mass-market consumerism required making things "softer" and more palatable - no aggression, just reaction.

2. Litigiousness & aversion to violence required that instructors emphasize ***self-defense only*** Image
Of course, anyone who's been in a fight knows that whoever throws the first punch wins 90% of the time. Aggression is *mandatory*.

But weak "martial artists" and money-hungry instructors rejected this. They created a cargo cult of actual fighting, based on defensive techniques.
The "generational cycle" of martial arts is very short - maybe 10 years.

So, four generations after this shift, almost everyone involved in Karate or Kung Fu learned from this idiotic school of thought.
Of course, these notions are disproved by actual fighting.

So, the competition rules were changed. More protective equipment, less contact, fewer takedowns.

Some arts literally stopped sparring. Image
Think of the WKF - those fights are absolute jokes, compared to something like the UFC.

But these organizations don't care. They ignore the elephant in the room and collect their snake oil paychecks from gullible students.

Then they give 9-year-olds black belts.
Today, it is controversial in the karate community to teach offensive fighting. To teach aggression. To teach the practiced application of violence.

But is that not the core ethos of martial arts? Image
Every historical martial art was once intended for extreme, life-or-death violence. If they were unsuccessful, they didn't survive.

It's ultra-recent perversions that neutered them, producing fat neckbeards that think they're dangerous. Image
Karate, aikido, kung fu, and more have been infected by this virus.

And so, they just keep producing fighters further and further divorced from the reality of combat.

The same thing has been happening in BJJ for years, even though there are holdouts.

Muay Thai is next.
I look forward to a revival of martial arts, with a focus on the martial element.

The UFC has done wonders for this, but most places teaching "fighting" are still soy beyond comprehension. Image
But I hope that people can once again recognize the original purpose of martial arts, and revive their warrior ethos.

Don't let Safetyism and consumerism continue to destroy martial arts.

Dojos must become exclusive. Physically rigorous. Aggressive. Violent.

This is the way. Image

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More from @0xAlaric

Sep 17
I’ve said it before but true “traditionalism” is a return to vitality, rather than mere laws or social customs.

Revival happens when the old rules are needed to restrain vitality, violence of action, desire, etc… you can’t summon it by aping old social constructs.

1/
In terms of sexuality — we’re somehow more prudish *and* more lustful than historical cultures.

It’s a loss of desire, of actual eroticism. They’ve been replaced with a lifeless, sterile fetishism of sorts. More perverted, yet anti-sexual.

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The actual issue is just a loss of energy. On the individual & civilizational scale.

The alienation from actual desire, the constant discourse about sex, the strange brand of pornification in popular media — all of these are symptoms.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 13
Every once in a while it’s worth it to go over to “mainstream” content and see the state of things. This is the discourse thousands of people passionately engage with.

Jangling keys for 14 year olds to litigate over and over; these are the “culture war” trenches.


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Whenever you think “this corner of X is so dumb” just be thankful that you’ve grown past bacterial intelligence and the arguments here are at least about real things
Tumblr is an emergent, rather than historical, phenomenon
Read 4 tweets
Sep 12
123k likes on “you should really hear Bin Laden out”

I’m reminded of when his manifesto went viral after October 7th. Besides the obvious point that these people are anti-American, it’s interesting how libs process information (1/6)
I don’t think they’re really capable of “critical reading,” at least the bulk of them.

This is a big part of the censorship obsession. If something is, for example, in a book… they just absorb it. No filter, no capacity to disagree. Zero discernment.
Thus there’s a big concern about making sure “fascist books” are banned, and attacking anyone who “spreads hate” by publishing them.

If their “media diet” isn’t completely progressive, they’re terrified that they’ll turn into Nazis.
Read 8 tweets
Sep 8
Most immigrant groups get marketing campaigns. “Authentic Mexican food,” “sexy latinas,” productive yet laconic and funny Nigerians, kawaii/boba tea/ramen Asians. Etc.

But Haitians are a detestable people. There’s nothing to market, except “you’re going to deal with it.”
I sat next to a Haitian guy on a plane recently. Claimed to be a lawyer in his home country, an important guy. However, after 10 minutes of conversation it was obvious that he was about as smart as the average guy huffing nitrous outside of a gas station. It’s all like this.
Indians are the same way in Canada, since they’re rapidly importing low-caste useless people. The US is too, but we had a history of taking more skilled individuals at first, or at least inoffensive ones. Apu from the Simpsons, etc.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 6
Once you see enough “discourse,” you realize that everything is just biological. There is a vanishingly thin slice of the population which is viable but can be saved by “arguments” or “discourse.” The only thing that matters is invigorating the people who are naturally right.
There are people with the genetic fitness to “make it,” and then there’s the rest.
Can you “get” Alcibiades? Do you have enough of a disgust response to reject the left on aesthetics alone? Can you “think” in the way that was considered baseline until 50-100 years ago?
Read 4 tweets
Aug 31
This is a really common misconception: that the Spanish in the New World won totally by virtue of technology.

Yes, they did have guns and armor and cannons and whatnot. But over half of the time, these were useless!

1/
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Especially in the conquest of Mexico, the Spanish didn’t just steamroll the natives with firearms, or fight invincibly due to horses and armor.

These things certainly helped. But usually the powder was wet, and the weather and terrain were too nasty for armor or cavalry charges. Image
From their landing to the siege of Tenochtitlan, the average battle was a frantic, hand-to-hand struggle with comparable arms and armor.

The Spanish had crossbowmen; the natives had archers/slingers. The Spanish had rapiers and rotellos; the natives had macuahuitls and shields. Image
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Read 10 tweets

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