Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Weakest Links

There's a picture circulating on the interwebs - The picture is divided into two, with one side titled 'Knowledge' and this is represented by a bunch of colored dots spread throughout the field. The other side is titled 'Experience' and on this side all the dots are still there, but this time interlinked.

It's been something I've been thinking about for a while and ties in well with the critique I have of so many poor martial arts videos on Youtube.

Often these videos, though ultimately garbage, are full of things that are in fact true, like - "Don't chase joint locks" or "Be careful where the edge of the blade is so you don't get your hand cut" .... but what makes them useless is that these bits of information then get put into a context that has absolutely no meaning.

Worse, sometimes the narrator extrapolates the small pieces of info into a story, and creates justifications for the choices that are made, that then turns all the small pieces of truth into a load of bollocks.

It's the chain that matters, not the points themselves. It's the links that make information useable or not ... And it's the links, the context, the logic, that are the easiest to break.

1 comment:

Mac said...

Context lies within; usefulness from the situation; result from identifying the link between the two. This philosophical trinity has meaning in the fight if you act from context, are aware of the links (here's where training and experience but also visualization and scenario-ization come in) and then 'stay out of the way' of the flow of action into result. The situation has the least to do with it except that it 'completes the circle' - without a need, without a situation, all is just academic and no flow is established, therefore no gain or loss (growth). I still won't let someone kick me in the balls, though. I don't mind losing, per se, but - sheesh!