Everyone is more or less at risk of experiencing violence during their life. This is especially true for minorities, and as leftists in today’s political climate. The risk of violence will undoubtedly increase as political climates change, so we must be ready to defend ourselves, our comrades, our family and friends, and our communities.
I practise Krav Maga (I know) and have a limited background in wrestling, Karate, and Judo. It would be great to hear everyone’s thoughts on strategies and tactics for self-defence so we can help each other become more prepared to face violent situations.
If there’s enough interest in the topic I think it would be a good idea to start a community for self-defence.
Loving what you’re saying, and it’s so cool to me to have a Shaolin blackbelt in here. Obviously no disagreement here, just wanna bring your attention back to the beginning of your post where you defined karate (I am thinking you meant to say Japanese?) Though I think the original meaning of karate was “the Chinese hand,” or something like that, as much of it was derived from Kung Fu!
And to Muad’Dibber, as thetables said, yeah, tons of styles! I hear really great things about Kyokoshin. Most places have a few shotokon places, and those can range from incredible to McDojo. A karate dojo is definitely worth checking out first, if that interests you. However, it’s worth saying, my bias is toward traditional arts, like karate and Kung Fu, because it’s what I’m into. Many on the internet are leaning toward MMA, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, wrestling, boxing, judo and BJJ, because UFC generally presents those as the most effective. A trip to the main martial arts sub on Reddit will show how popular this opinion is now. I won’t try to sway you either way, except to say, check out what interests you and find out if it’s good. People online can’t know what specific schools actually offer, and they make broad generalizations. Even I did it just above with the Kyokoshin mention.
Edit: See thetablesareorange’s response below. Looks like my first paragraph was off. Leaving it for context.
its more of a mistranslation, karate is actually from the tiny Ryukyuan islands, it was their own version kung fu literally called “the hand”. then “the chinese hand”, then when japan invaded in the 1800’s they forced them to change the name to “the empty hand”. Then American soldiers stationed on the islands from WW2 onward began taking martial arts classes or “karate” classes from the locals. This soon became a generic term for all east asian martial arts, although technically rooted in china, loosely based on fujian white crane style kung fu
Well color me newly educated! Thanks!