munk said:
I watch the crop of new martial arts films coming out of Hong Kong; does that count?
Are you watching them for good or for evil?
Back on topic: besides the whole balancing act of time and money and such, a concern of mine is that a little knowledge can be worse than no knowledge at all. I think of the various holds and restraining techniques that I've seen over the years and it seems to me that the more effective they are versus a noncompliant individual, the more harm they can do if applied too forcefully or if the recipient simply does the wrong thing.
Some joint locks do not hurt much, if at all - until you've gone too far. They're perfectly safe in practice and competition because the guy on the other end knows what it feels like and what the end result will be if he doesn't tap. A violent drunk may not know that or may not care.
Snap. He'll live, and things certainly could've been worse, but the lawsuit that follows won't be fun.
There's far more to most styles than wrenching limbs, of course - like you said - but most of it involves hurting someone else. That's why it's a "martial" art. And I fully agree with you that a skillful stylist can reduce the risk of injury through expertise, but we're counting on some givens if we're not expecting anyone to get hurt. The level of skill necessary for this is IMO fairly high. We have to ask ourselves if it's practical to force this level of training on a given department and devote enough time to practicing it to keep it fresh.
I don't like telling war stories (sea stories are another matter, of course) but one stands out in my mind right now and makes for an interesting example of how things can end up:
The ship's in Guam and five hundred sailors hit the beach. A party was winding down and everyone was good and drunk. One guy had a bit too much and was wandering around causing trouble. As I was on the large side and (relatively) sober, I was tasked with bringing him back before the police were called.
I caught up to him and tried talking. That didn't work. I tried the Gaijin Smash. (Surprisingly effective against military personnel, who are conditioned for years to obey orders quickly and efficiently; it's sometimes fun to shout "HALT!" in a crowded place and watch everyone stop momentarily.) That didn't do the job either. After that he became violent. I placed a rear naked choke on him, held it until he was semiconscious, and carried him back on my shoulders. A corpsman who was present (drunk, but a corpsman nonetheless) gave him a clean bill of health, no harm was done, and the guy thanked me the next day for keeping him out of trouble.
Not surprisingly, only a little while later he began acting up again. Someone else choked him out that time. Again, it stopped the problem and no harm was done.
Did I do the right thing? Kind of. He didn't get in any trouble. (Not from the local authorities, anyway; his boss, who'd sent me after him in the first place, had some choice words for him the next day.) You know and I know (and the corpsman knew, evidently) that such a choke is safe if it's not held for too long and the neck isn't wrenched. It certainly did the job. But:
1. What if he'd flopped on his back? Or grabbed my package? Or stomped on my (bare) feet? None of these would've broken the hold but it would've made me mighty angry. I might very well have started wrenching him in response and subsequently injured him. Hell, I might have released him and commenced to flailing...much like what we saw in the now-infamous video.
2. What did others think? There was a small resteraunt nearby with outdoor seating and the patrons got quite a show that night. (In fact, someone there called the police.) They did not know how it began, who we were, or that I was actually helping the guy rather than hurting him; all they knew was one guy was choking another guy out in the rain. Others explained the situation to them afterwards. I don't know if they believed it or not.
3. If I'd been trained better, might I have handled it better? Possibly, but then again, choking drunks and carrying them around wasn't exactly my job.
And again, what would've happened if I'd lost my temper?
