Internet boards are sort of a Catch 22 in that anytime you have a topic of interest at hand that people are discussing and learning from, someone comes on and begins shi***ting up the thread with garbage.
Case in point, I am a Kung Fu artist, I have trained in Pai Lum Kung Fu since 1994 and have trained other arts, but I still consider myself a Kung Fu practioner. This has been going on for years with several martial artists, that is, the mixture, study, and exposure of different arts. Why should we all jump on the band wagon and say we are MMA guys??
I'll tell you why people do, because it is the current thing in martial arts and brings people through the door. People only know what they know because of electronic knowledge. When they watch TV or look on the internet for martial arts, they find the UFC and MMA, so that is what they do.
I had a guy the other day come up to me at the gym I lift at. He said he wanted to come to my class but only wanted to grapple, no stand up. First off I told him if he wanted to attend my class, he would train in and do ALL things I teach in our Kung Fu system, not pick and choose what he wants to learn. He than told me he was not interested in those other things, to which I told him there are other schools/gyms around that may be able to give him what he wants.
This pi***ss poor attitude of "I'll learn what I want to learn" is exactly why the younger generation are a bunch of snot nosed grab ass*ess. I couldn't imagine walking into one of the old school kwoons or dojos I trained in and telling the instructor "I want to train but I will only do this and this, and not this".
The truth is, I blame MMA for this division. Yes, we as consumers have a right to train and study what we want, but the truth is many of these people have absolutely no base or experience to be telling a seasoned instructor what they want. It is arrogant and stupid, which in my opinion pretty much defines this generation to begin with. If you want to train and learn from someone who knows something that you don't, do it respectfully and all in or don't do it at all!!