Strange.... I allways concidered myself and my fellow aikido-practicioners fruit-loops. It's one of those things I really like about it
Anyway - on the matter of bad vs. good aikido, I agree with a lot of the statements above eg. that aikido should have a martial intent, the uke should attack with sincereity etc. However I believe that all styles of Aiki-whatever has qualities - otherwise it probably wouldn't exist anymore, and before putting it down, I would have to study it for a while. I haven't got the time for that, so currently I'm just happy to practice a form of Aikido that is great for me.
I recently read about the tai-chi style my mother practices, and they talked about how it enhanced balance, massaged the inner organs and created harmony. They didn't mention the martial aspect at all. For me that probably wouldn't be a good MA, but if somebody enjoys it, and benefits from the practice then it's not for me to state that it is a BAD martial art (except for the fact that the Aikido outfit is by far better looking than the oversized pajamas'es of tai chi
)
By the way. I don't know the tv-shows your referring to. Could we get back to talking Aikido please...
