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Old 12-04-2011, 04:45 PM   #89
Chris Li
 
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Dojo: Aikido Sangenkai
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Join Date: Dec 2000
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Re: Saotome Sensei's Training History

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
But you take a particular teacher and get into his "story" and not only decide to de-bunk it, but questions his veracity or motivations for telling that story, well no... I generally can't go there.
I never got into motivations. As for veracity, I said before, I'm fine with the way memory changes, but why not keep the dates correct if we can? Especially since the one in question is a pretty minor difference.

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
The public or private nature of things like this is crucial for the implications. You say something to me in private, I can tell you I think you are wrong, we can debate it, even agree to disagree. But when it goes on the internet, is blasted all over the English speaking world, once said, it can't be taken back.
The thing is, it's already all over the world. It can't be a situation of whoever gets their version of the "truth" out first has a monopoly because otherwise their feelings get hurt. I think that we should all be big enough to get over that.

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
It's like family... You could say something you didn't like about my wife to me directly and I'd simply tell you whether I thought you were correct or not. But you bad mouth my wife in public or to her face, you are going down. Same in the Aikido world... if you want to have any kind of relationship with me, then you have to be respectful of my other relationships. This isn't "whispering around corners", it's how complex social interactions are maintained.
I think that there's a big difference when were talking about public figures, or people who are already pushing out information about themselves publicly. If someone is pushing this information out on their own than it ought to expected that this information will be commented upon.

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
Why do we have the forums and why do we have private messages? Because some discussions should only take place privately. They can't and shouldn't be held out in public. The folks who don't get this are usually people who burned most of their bridges a long time ago and now don't care. But I don't think most of us are in the position of not caring about the consequences. And there are definitely consequences.I'd just as soon take the path that doesn't close off other paths for me. Not all paths do that.
Personally, I'd like to proceed in a nice manner, but honestly. I don't think that, historically, sacrificing personal honesty has served us very well in the Aikido community.

Best,

Chris