Gene Ching, what do you think?

[NoBull]

Mr. Ching,

What did you think when you read, in the latest issue of KungFuQigong in the letters section, how in some opinions that KungFuQigong is going in a different direction as it used to? I think the reader was a little too harsh towards the magazine, but I would like to see some more applications. But I would like to say that you do a great job every month making the magazine and the free videos every month are fantastic.


Thanks,

NoBull

[GeneChing]

Of course, we're going in a different direction. We always push the edge of the envelope with our magazine and that mandates going in a different direction.

As for that letter in particular, there were a lot of things going on - and I admired the author's honesty about admitting it was a rant in the beginning. But the criticisms were going in many different directions - anti-wushu, anti-shaolin, anti-wudang, anti-commericialism, anti-iron crotch - all worthy of voicing so we ran it.

BTW, I'm moving this thread down to our KungFuMagazine forum at the bottom - it's more appropriate there.

[ShaolinTiger00]

We always push the edge of the envelope with our magazine

Translation:

We have very little integrity, even less credibility and will continue on this course until we've ridden this Shaolin kungfu myth into the dirt.

[MasterKiller]

We have very little integrity, even less credibility and will continue on this course until we've ridden this Shaolin kungfu myth into the dirt.

That's a little unfair, ST00. Gene and KF/TC magazine are the only ones who print different sides of the Shaolin issue. Just look at the controversy from the last two e-zine articles.

None of the other popular martial arts magazines would ever put their heads on the block like that for fear of ostracizing their readership who delude themselves with Shaolin mystique or for fear of angering the monks who contribute the stories that keep these magazines from rotting on the shelf.

You think Black Belt would let Steve "Shaolin" DeMasco openly criticize Shaolin? Hell no. They might not meet their quota on 5-Animal Shaolin Kempo videos that month. And Inside Kung Fu can never find the room to print anything decent in between their Profiles section and the latest article about American Combato.

Kudos to Gene for having the balls to tell it like it is, even when his readership doesn't necessarily want to know the truth.

[GeneChing]

Thanks for the compliment on my balls.

As for integrity, we try out best to maintain some shred of integrity here. Given the pompousness of some of our community, it's always a challenge, but we do the best that we can.