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Old 08-22-2014, 07:32 AM   #76
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
United_States
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Re: Daily Applications of Aikido

Quote:
Joe Curran wrote: View Post
Soi if you were outside in a bar or somewhere else other than a dojo and somebody implied you were useless at Aikido would you see this criticism as a direct insult?Would you then go outside, put your dukes up and teach this upstart a sharp lesson?
Knowing Katherine as I think I do from this forum, I'd consider that extremely unlikely. Katherine has always struck me as an intelligent person with a sense of proportion and appropriate conduct. Someone like that surely understands the elementary fact of two radically different contexts, the dojo and "somewhere else other than a dojo", and the difference in what constitutes appropriate (and legal) conduct in the one vs. the other.

That is a long-winded way of saying that in the US, at least, getting into a fight in a bar is illegal, not to mention stupid, and Katherine isn't a stupid person.

Quote:
Joe Curran wrote: View Post
I have been thrown around by many a shihan in my day , but Ii have never been thrown around by any guy who tried to prove he/she was a big man.As I stated clearly its not the fact that the Nidan got tossed around.I am being critical and condemning the seniors behaviour and his motives for doing what he did.
Given the story as stated, I don't think it's unreasonable to criticize the extent of the reaction, or even the motives. I would not say that any reaction at all is unjustifiable. I think when you step out of your role and presume to instruct your practice partner, you'd better be pretty sure of your grounds for doing so, and very sure that what you're saying is correct (that they're actually doing something wrong and that the fault isn't just with your lack of understanding). And, if you should be wrong about any of that, you probably do have some kind of lesson coming.
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