Discovery Channels 10 greatest weapons ever... guess what's #1

[edward]

10. Katana (Traditional Samurai sword)
9. Walther PPK (James Bond hand gun)
8. Pike (Only in mass use. "For the individual combatant, better to drop the
pike and run.")
7. Arquebus (Original aimable rifle developed in 1525)
6. War boomerang (Really? Technologically advanced for 40,000 years ago)
5. The Thompson sub-machine gun (Original submachine gun developed in the
late 1910's.)
4. Barrett's M-82 .50 caliber sniper rifle (Can kill a man from 2 kilometers)
3. Longbow (Effective from 240 yards and can pierce medieval armor from that
distance)
2. Kalashnikov Soviet AK-47 (Can fire after being submerged in water, sand,
and run over 3 times by a Hummer)

And I kid you not as #1 on the greatest weapons ever...

1. Individual using Wing Chun (Interviewed Sifu Simon Lau )

They showed simon lau doing stuff, and then got 10 women to do what he was calling wing chun.. But he was actually showing pushing hands instead of sticky hands to the girls.... THen at the end of it, he got each of the women to break boards.... Bottom line though, its great that of all the martial arts they recognized wing chun.

[CFT]

And I kid you not as #1 on the greatest weapons ever...

1. Individual using Wing Chun (Interviewed Sifu Simon Lau )

They showed simon lau doing stuff, and then got 10 women to do what he was calling wing chun.. But he was actually showing pushing hands instead of sticky hands to the girls.... THen at the end of it, he got each of the women to break boards.... Bottom line though, its great that of all the martial arts they recognized wing chun.Well, if they interviewed Simon Lau then no wonder!

[ghostofwingchun]

I often wonder . . . whenever I see these lists . . . is criteria for inclusion . . . I am thinking that in deciding what weapon is greatest we should look at impact it had on warfare and history . . . longbow for example decided european history . . . invention of firearm change way people war . . . I do not see criteria in that list. In terms of empty hand fighting . . . wc has not had much impact . . . except for Bruce Lee who did have huge impact. I am thinking that greatest weapon is human mind . . . it create all these things.

Thanks,

Ghost

[Edmund]

The actual number one on the show was barehanded fighting not WC as far as I recall. WC just exemplified what they were talking about.

The criterea was along the lines of historical significance, ease of use, and effectiveness, I believe.

The longbow scored low because it's quite hard to draw.

[ghostofwingchun]

The actual number one on the show was barehanded fighting not WC as far as I recall. WC just exemplified what they were talking about.

The criterea was along the lines of historical significance, ease of use, and effectiveness, I believe.

The longbow scored low because it's quite hard to draw.

If you are right about criteria used . . . then empty hand fighting being number one does not make much sense to me . . . it has very little historical significance . . . for example no wars were won by it . . . lol . . . and is not easy . . . weapon is much more effective too . . . yes longbow was difficult weapon but had huge historical significance . . . and so did crossbow . . . but it is not mentioned . . . katana had huge significance in Japan but little worldwide . . . boomerang no real significance . . . and what about spear . . . and shield . . . not to mention modern weapons of mass destruction that change very world. This program seems very superficial to me.

Thanks,

Ghost

[Edmund]

Should have seen the motorcycle one then.
The number 1 was a Honda Cub scooter!

The weapons show was focused on personal weapons so no bombs or canons.
Spear was covered by pike somewhat. Crossbow is another difficult one to draw.

Boomerang was due to how innovative it was for a weapon dated back to prehistoric times.

[Frank Exchange]

The #1 weapon was not barehanded fighting, or wing chun in particular, but the human mind, which could be used to develop all the the weapon systems discussed, and many more. They explained this in the programme, but briefly.

Bit of a cop out in some ways, but a valid point nonetheless.

However, a casual viewer, not paying attention, might indeed come away with the impression that Wing Chun was the #1 weapon known to man, rather than the brain which allowed him to develop that system.

[bcbernam777]

I would actually agree that it is the human mind

[YungChun]

Since when is WCK an "empty hand" system? I recall reading that 'qualified' WCK folks from ages ago might be hired to guard valubles during transport or as body guards, etc. I would seriously doubt these WCK folks ever went "on duty" without their knives... I know I'd carry mine if they were legal.. :D

[ghostofwingchun]

Wing chun is empty hand style if you only have empty hand . . . lol . . . in reality wc seems to be what we make of it . . . so many conclusions about wc I am thinking are more reflections on us than anything else . . . our motives . . . our training . . . our goals . . . than anything else . . . we project them onto wc . . . and find our little niche and clique . . . and pat each other on the back about how clever we are to all think the same way . . . lol. Oh well . . .

Thanks,

Ghost

[sihing]

Wing chun is empty hand style if you only have empty hand . . . lol . . . in reality wc seems to be what we make of it . . . so many conclusions about wc I am thinking are more reflections on us than anything else . . . our motives . . . our training . . . our goals . . . than anything else . . . we project them onto wc . . . and find our little niche and clique . . . and pat each other on the back about how clever we are to all think the same way . . . lol. Oh well . . .

Thanks,

Ghost

Ghost,

Wing Chun is exactly what you the individual makes it...Some look at it as strickly a empty hands stand up striking system, but there are many applications that this system can be used for during combat, besides that IMO. Not everybody understands WC the same way, so therefore people see different things (this can be due to many factors, experience, time in, useage, interest in the art, what you are trying to get out of it). This is not to mean that you are wrong and I am right, as this means you or I are comparing one another and this is a mistake if you ask me. Just do WC, see what the others that are different from you are doing (have a open mind and explore) and if it interests you, go there and learn about that thing to make yourself better all around.

James

[Dai_Daddy]

Thats great. What WC do you study?