imagine that...

[captain]

...All martial arts in your city/town/village,has been outlawed.
and if you are caught teaching/studying martial arts,you can
recieve from 10 to life in prison.what would you do?quit?go
underground,if so,how?move?shorten your style to accomodate
a smaller practice area???

russell.

[kj]

Is this a theoretical question, or are you talking about New York State?

Regards,
- kj

[Stevo]

I'd move.

[Miles Teg]

Thats basically what happened in China wasnt it?
THe consequences for being caught were so severe that it probably wasnt even worth practicing secretly. Ive read articles about Tai Chi masters thought they were practicing very secretly but got caught anyway.

I guess you wouldnt be able to trust anyone and only train on your own in the basement or something.

[yuanfen]

Work on changing the government. With July 4th coming up-
Jefferson's thoughts are instructive- a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.
Government should be a servant rather than a master.

[old jong]

It makes me think about Capoera. A martial art disguised as a dance. Maybe,we could disguise Wing Chun in some form of Cha-Cha?...I wonder what they could disguise grappling in?...;)

[PaulH]

Go. Watch Matrix the movies. It will tell you the quick, safe and painless way to learn martial arts in that future. Be wired, my friend!

Regards,

[Stevo]

Originally posted by yuanfen
Work on changing the government. With July 4th coming up-
Jefferson's thoughts are instructive- a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.
Government should be a servant rather than a master.

Is this happening in America? (martial arts being banned)

[Miles Teg]

PaulH

I dont know if its safe and painless, you can get killed in the Matrix. But it would help you with the double back flip spin kick jet lee manouvers, which is cool enough.

[yuanfen]

Stev0- not yet. I did not have the USA in mind, though the issue comes up now and then-in NY for example.(licensing- not banning)

[Stevo]

Originally posted by yuanfen
Stev0- not yet. I did not have the USA in mind, though the issue comes up now and then-in NY for example.(licensing- not banning)

Thanks for clarifying that, Yuanfen.

I guess martial arts was banned in China in the past because it was linked to insurgency.

But I'm a bit surprised there haven't been any repercussions related to the fact that some of the September 11th hijackers attended a martial arts school in America while they were there learning how to fly (unless that's the reason they'e planning to license NY martial arts schools).

If somebody with martial arts training committed an act of terrorism in Australia or went berserk and killed a few people, I think they'd come down on martial arts like a tonne of bricks, because there have been two precedents related to gun control here in recent years:

All semi-automatic rifles and shotguns were banned after Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded 22 in Port Arthur, Tasmania in 1996.

After that guy went crazy in Monash University in Melbourne last year, killing two people and wounding five (where the killer was apprehended by a lecturer and a student with some Wing Chun training), new regulations regarding handguns were enacted, limiting them to a maximum calibre of .38, a maximum 10-shot magazine, and to barrel lengths of 120mm for semi-automatics and 100mm for revolvers and single-shot handguns.

[yuanfen]

Stevo-
the gun culture is quite extensive in the USA-per capita access
to guns is one of the highest- if not the highest in the world.

And, the gun lobby is one of the most powerful in politics.

Americans commonly dont like too many governmental regulations...but servility to corporations is a different matter and beyond the scope of elaboration and discussion in a ma list.

Guns have changed the face of self defense. Interestingly, in
Kurosawa's great movie- the seven samurai---one of the lessons was the end of the samurai era- with the introduction of guns.
Guns did in several of the top samurai in the movie....their swords were the grave markers.

Many factors related to gun related innury or death. Occasionally
can be self defense. But it can be road rage- a vehicle moving too slow or cuttinga person off (in perception any way). Sometimes- its husbands wives lovers ex lovers. Also in some places teenage rites of passage.

BTW- I do wing chun because I love it- I dont live in fear- have taken care of myself before wing chun, with wing chun and without wing chun. Promise.

Demography and location has a lot to do with the incidense of violence with or without guns. In my neighborhood there have been some petty burglaries without guns. There were two incidents with guns in the last fwe years.
One- the 15 year old who used to cut my grass was killed bya disturbed classmate when my late friend said---hey your mom sure seems to keepa cluttered home! I wrote a poem for Patrick which I shared with his parents.
Number two- a husband waited outside a home four doors from me till early morning- then killed his wife when she came out
of
her "friends" home after partying... the guy then drove off in his car and shot himself dead while driving and crashed into another car ona driveway down the street..lives of quiet desperation..

But on the whole I would rather not be in Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Liberia, Ulster, Gaza, Columbia or quite a few other places... and if something happens well- kismet -and I will catch up with things in the next round(and there will be one!! Karma)

In spite of the stupidity of some of its leaders- the USA is a great country to be in on July 4th. The best thing about it is the Jefferson and Madison inspired First Amendment- free sppech, religion. press and the separation of church and state. Too bad that the 4th amendment has been in decline.

The country wasnt too bad when the Indians ran it-maybe? <VBG> and Cheers on the 4th.

A Diffrent drummer- yuanfen

[PaulH]

The country wasnt too bad when the Indians ran it-maybe? <VBG> and Cheers on the 4th.

It is the 4th of July where Americans are celebrating their independence. But the Indians, I think, would call for interdependence or interconnectedness in a world that is rapidly spinned out of balance. I will quote these memorable lines of Chief Seattle in 1854 to an assembly of tribes who were preparing to sign a treaty with our forefathers.

"How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is wholly in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the Red man...

The ashes of our father are scared. Their graves are holy ground, and so these hills, these tree, this portion of earth is consecrated to us . We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his fathers' graves behind him, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children. He does not care. His fathers' graves and his children's birth right are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert...

This we know. The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself...

When the last red man has vanished from this earth, and the memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as the newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So if we sell you our land, love it as we've loved it. Care for it as we've cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart, preserve it for your children and love it."

Relational...Interconnectedness...Mutual cooperation. I do think the Indians know WC by hearts if not in forms.

Regards,

[fidon]

Well let's all hope that it shall never happen like it did in China all that time ago, if it did then all the masters would have to choose their students carefully to devote all their time and effort into to continue the art. I mean even these days there are restrictions on what types of weapons people can carry around on the streets, age restrictions for buying of certain weapons as well, a long time ago people in China used to be able to carry around weapons like swords and the like for self defence, but nowadays you'd be looked on as being crazy and a menace to society ifyou walked around like that.

But all in all i think it would be very unlikely that they ban martial arts practice due to modern day weapons like guns etc...

[captain]

did you know that in taiwan,the police are taught wck and
not mt,as their base self defence?
I bet given a few high profile cases,ma's study/teaching could
be sanctioned greatly.

[PaulH]

Hey Wujidude,

Thanks. Good catch! It's just too good to be true indeed, although the "extras" blend so perfectly into the Chief's original speech that it is truly irresistible! I enjoyed the poetic imageries of the speech though. It did give justice to the speech howbeit in a wrong way. I suppose for some diehard "Green" peace, the end always justifies the mean. Ha! Ha!

Regards,