In the East, martial arts seemingly originated from the need to advance military tactics, fight oppression and deal with the everyday criminal life in, at times, a very primitive class structure. My European ancestors came to America attempting to escape religious and political persecution. Class structure was very much in place in Europe, as it has always been in the East.Unlike my European ancestors who escaped from Europe, Asians had no easy place to run and hide. Many were forced to use primitive farm tools as weapons, and these became the foundation on which many martial arts techniques and styles are based.
My attempt to answer this question, therefore, is purely hypothetical. My first thought on this subject would be to ask, “What historical circumstances in the U.S. would have given rise for the need of martial arts?”
When the Europeans settled in America, the colonists had guns, which proved to be quite different from farm tools. Ethnic gangs became a part of America’s cities during the early 1800s. Gang members relied heavily on the use of clubs, knives and guns. Boxing, wrestling, fencing, knife throwing and archery are Western arts, each more than 300 years old. These would have been some of the earlier dominant “styles.” The need to begin something like martial arts would have perhaps developed from the necessity for gang members to fill a sense of belonging and maintain control of a certain turf.
The American attitude today, as it was then, is such that the world must fit into a scientific paradigm. Americans are not amused by the mystic side of martial arts, such as the practice of levitation and flying. Sometimes, we witness phony breaking demonstrations or the so-called nerve attacks, using “chi power.”
Americans live in a world of physics. We laugh when an Eastern martial artist does something that defies Newton’s Law of Gravity or Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. When we let this type of nonsense control us, we cannot express ourselves freely.
A free choice, non-traditional system gives people more responsibility for their actions. Their techniques, tactics, teaching methods and training routines are tested openly. They are not confined to testing only against a prescribed style, with the absence of any unpredictable elements. Testing also openly eliminates the current outdated notion that traditional practices and skills cannot be improved.
Eastern traditionalists conform without question to established practices and styles passed through generations. They teach old, outdated maneuvers and techniques and require beginners to accept them. In the East, you are taught that the system controls you. You do not create your own system. In other words, the state, government or philosophy is more important than the individual.
In the end, all the great ideas and concepts to come from the martial arts were a result of long, hard physical work, never from magic or related supernatural phenomena. In the East, martial arts arose as a military survival tool and for fitness purposes.
In America, martial arts became a form of entertainment. The televised Mixed Martial Arts events are the pinnacle of visibility for the martial arts today because Americans have always taken things a step further. When the Brazilians showed us a new grappling sport, in no time at all, we’d turn around and beat them. When the Asians showed us secret martial arts movements, we made multi-million-dollar films from those secrets.
