View Single Post
Old 03-24-2002, 10:11 AM   #8
Carl Simard
Location: Quebec City
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 96
Offline
Quote:
Originally posted by ca
As for his personal life:

a. I doubt many of us know him personally; we know only what we read or hear. I know I have been misquoted in print, and a video-taped interview edited not to my liking. And I am not even famous. I believe about a person what I personally know, from actual interaction and observation.
I agree with you. What we see in the movies is not the "real life". Well, if someone was ready to give me millions of $ to do some aikido in a film, I would gladly agree, even if the script doesn't really reflect what aikido is all about... We shouldn't think that Seagal's aikido is good or not basing on what we see on the movies. They are run by a script and commercial goal, not by MA spirit or some noble goal...

As many people posted, no matter if Seagal's aikido is good or not, he contribute largely to make aikido known to many peoples and made them show up at the dojo to try it. So, it think we should at least give it some respect for that: he made our martial art (particularly true in North America) known more than anybody else...

As for me, I don't think it's a exactly a "reputable" aikidoka. I would rather say that it's the most known one, which is a big difference... There is much more reputable and knowledgeable aikidoka in this world, but they are not the most known. Stop anybody on the street and ask if they know "Steven Seagal", you will have no problem finding someone knowing. Try the same thing with the name of a shihan, Tamura, Ueshiba, Yamada... Probaly none will know who they are... Popularity and reputation are two different things...

Last edited by Carl Simard : 03-24-2002 at 10:14 AM.
  Reply With Quote