Peacefully confronting SD
Originally Posted by
Syn7
Word on the video, but I doubt Sin The would take up his offer in person or on the phone. Besides, why argue with a proven liar? He has shown to be an unreliable source of information, regardless of what's true and what isn't. So what's the point? He is so committed to his bullshit now, it's a lost cause. Truth would hurt him more than continued lies at this point. And unless he's really stupid, he will be aware of that.
As Old Noob and Bruce and others have said, there are a large number of SD'ers, past and present, who value what they have learned and practice, but also have questions about what it is and where it came from. And as others have said, the internet will catch up to everyone sooner or later, so it will come to a head at some point. But making a phone call or the like would not only not get a documented or verifiable response (who would believe it if someone said, "Oh yeah, I called, so and so then told me such and such"?), but might also more likely be ignored, like any other unsolicited and uninvited caller.
But there is a Facebook page for the SDA. And Sin The's school site has a "contact us" which is bound to go to someone in authority. And they have a Twitter feed. Many individual schools also have their own sites and pages. May be kicking the hornet's nest, but if either spreading or finding out the truth is so important to outsiders, there is bound to be a way to do it. A current or former student, not really any reason to answer or respond, and that is very likely to burn a bridge, hurt feelings, and offend friends and past or present teachers, more than anything else. May be same for any one else. And of course the responses, if any (and there may be none, those in charge may feel no need to respond or not in their interests to do so) could be as easily posted and distributed as a deposition. EML did post something when the deposition was published.
Remember being in a meeting of black belts once, which SD did approximately annually back then. It was well known there were malcontents in the school and in the room. GMS invited any one who wasn't happy to stand up and say so, one did. He mouthed off something offensive about the system or something or other. GMS quietly told him he wasn't qualified to judge, as I recall. He started to approach GMS and 200 black belts stood up and demonstrated their displeasure, so to speak. The guy wisely left the building and wasn't seen in the school again.
And of course we've all seen the "hecklers" in audiences of shows and public events, and the way they are received when offensively disrupting the purpose of the event.
Just saying, might be a good way, and a bad way, if actual information is the goal. "I have a question: how is it SD claims such and such, but this book or site or whatever says this and that?" Might suggest an actual well-intentioned inquiry might be better received if not in all caps and full of vulgarity, but that's a different point, isn't it?
But if one wants to b*tch, don't b*tch out the students, or those who you might also call victims if what some say is true --- go to the source. No one here will ever have the answers, only speculation or at best reasoned hypotheses.
Just One Student
"I seek, not to know all the answers, but to understand the questions." --- Kwai Chang Caine
(I'd really like to know all the answers, too, but understanding the questions, like most of my martial arts practice, is a more realistically attainable goal)