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Old 08-30-2009, 09:56 AM   #23
David Orange
Dojo: Aozora Dojo
Location: Birmingham, AL
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,511
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Re: Aggressive Posting

Quote:
John Longford wrote: View Post
I have just been reading through the posts on the latest Seagal Seagal thread. This is not the first time that I have been appalled by the extremely nasty personal attacks on fellow members. Are some of you really Aikidoka?
John, I have to admit that I, myself, got a bit carried away with some of my remarks on that thread but I made a real effort to limit my critique to Seagal's movies and not his character as a person. I did not always succeed in that. For one thing, I didn't notice that the title was "Steven Seagal seems like a jerk teacher".

Anyway, my main point was that Seagal had seriously abused aikido and the general public by presenting our art backward and portraying it as just another way to express hateful personal superiority over all. It stinks to me and I wanted to express that, and I did, to some displeasure from some other people.

The truth is, there have been many "greats" in aikido, including some of the head teachers in the main line of aikikai, who were known as brutal jerks who liked to hurt people but even those people would never have dreamed of presenting aikido on a large public scale in the way Seagal has done, for personal profit, so I felt obliged to point out that difference in clear terms.

Quote:
John Longford wrote: View Post
Over the time there have been a lot of replies that I do not agree with and some do annoy me but unless I have something constructive to say or can question the opinion of the writer politely I refrain from answering.
Perhaps I am wrong what do you think?
You seem like a pretty reasonable fellow, I think. However, some situations call for a bit of unreasonableness and part of my intent was to elicit some of the very kinds of responses I got from people who had trained directly with Seagal so that we could see some of the contents of their minds and ponder what part Steven Seagal's transmission had played in developing such minds and attitudes. I got pretty much what I wanted and expected to see and it's now out there for all to see.

Quote:
John Longford wrote: View Post
"It is better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and confirm it"
You're right. Of course, when making movies that will last for decades, if not centuries, I think even more discretion is called for.

Best to you.

David

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu

"Eternity forever!"

www.esotericorange.com
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