Thread: My Rope Theory
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Old 01-24-2011, 08:41 AM   #80
jonreading
 
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Dojo: Aikido South
Location: Johnson City, TN
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: My Rope Theory

While getting a little off subject... Respect is a great topic and one that I believe is central to the cultural differences between East and West.

We use the words and wear the pajamas, but I think the Western concept of dojo respect in the US is screwed up. I hope some of our Eastern friends join in on this but my observation here is that much of Eastern respect is set about establishing boundaries of class, culture and interaction. One of the Eastern uses of respect helps set boundaries for class interaction; i.e. the hierarchy of social order. Instances Like what Ledyard describe happen far too often in aikido. Very simply, we have an abuse of social order in aikido and our Western "civility" allows for that abuse, possibly because the abuser's parents did not love him enough, or too much, or in the wrong way.

What's worse, the current level of skill in aikido precludes the establishment of an "enforcer group" to keep these abusers in check. It is not appropriate for our shihan and leaders to embroil themselves in these lowly power plays. What George sensei really needed was a couple of ninja to drop from the sky and take care of business. Once upon a time, dai sempai took care of most of these individual matters before the students became accomplished martial artists; this was a trait ideally left at the door when you entered a dojo or beaten out of you soon after. Nowadays we have far too few 2, 3 and even 4 dans who cannot actually take care of business for sensei. We are also far too polite in allowing this behavior to persevere.

As that comment relates to the rope... Well these are the people making the rope bigger. I do not believe aikido needs these individuals and no, we cannot all get along. These people do not deserve respect because they do not care about respect outside of the confines of the tool used to insulate their actions. I don't want these people in my rope, do you?
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