The internet is filled with “martial art X” vs “martial art Y” videos. They are littered across sites like Youtube and Vimeo. This is unfortunate because a majority of these videos are inaccurate and/or misleading, independent of whichever martial art “wins” in the video. Some of the videos are fun to watch and insightful. But the rest are plain dumb.

This rant was inspired by this Aikido vs. “Jiu Jitsu” video. This video angered me a great deal.

Aikido has rich traditions and has some interesting insights – but it is obvious to me that the opponent in this video – the “Jiu Jitsu” participant – does not now know any Jiu Jitsu or even Judo, with the exception of break falling. The only “Jiu Jitsu”-esque element in this video is the participant is wearing a gi. It seems obvious to me the person wearing a gi probably practices Aikido because he seems to tumble like an Aikidoka – which as I understand is a learned Aikido skill.

If we stop there and relabel the video, fine. No harm done.

Instead, the video is titled “aikido vs jiu jitsu”. Instead, we have another video of a bogus “martial art vs martial art” comparison floating around the Internet. This is misleading and unfair to practitioners of both martial arts. And this video already has more than 3 million views.

I ask if anyone wants to produce videos like this – great – but do practitioners of all martial arts a favor and label it appropriately and be honest.

pic credit(s): http://www.flickr.com/photos/chanchan222/3324057492/