Well Hock mate, you and I disagree.
As I mentioned earlier you could say exactly the same thing about the Japanese and Karate when it came out. Everyone wanted to train with a Japanese master...guys were landing in Australia having done what we called the Japan Airline Grading i.e. they'd leave Japan a yellow belt, somewhere over the International Date Line they tested and became 3rd dans, they'd land, do a flying side kick on the tarmac and viola, instant following.
Where are they now? We kicked their arses in every single tournament and fight available and gradually people realized just because they were Asian didn't give them any secret access to anything special. They were nothing more than 5'4" versions of us, and, once we'd learned their stuff we beat them at them at their own game (hell, they've been doing that to us in the automobile industry for years...nice to see the slipper on the other foot for a change).
Ask the local kid who he wants to train with in the martial arts and it's the Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Benny Urquidez, Gene LeBell or the Brazilians. When's the last time you heard of a famous Japanese master since Oyama died?
In time the FMA will end up the same way. We'll learn their stuff and we'll be better at it than them because we'll inovate and we're bigger. A good big one will always beat a good little one, and there are those of us that know what happened on the set of "Enter The Dragon" between Bob Wall and an unamed oriental superstar that held up production for 3 days. (Extra indeed!!!???)
Re Mr Inosanto, I'll probably tread on some toes here but I am very unimpressed. Now, before everyone has a hissy fit let me tell you what I mean. The man is extremely good, incredibly knowlegable to the point of being encyclopedic but as a teacher - at least at seminars - I think he sucks....and I have been to a plethora of seminars.
I went to one in Atlanta. He did some great demonstrations but no explanations. NOT ONE TIME did he circulate amongst the attendees to give the personal touch or to ensure they had a grasp of the material. When I asked one of his assistants for some assistance the guy grudgingly came over and spent two seconds with us. The next time I asked - because no one had even split raw beginners from advanced students doh! - he actually rolled his eyes as he walked over. You have no idea how close I came to smashing him in the head as he walked over. He suffered from the delusion because he could twirl sticks and I couldn't that I couldn't fight or was incompetent. I wanted so bad for that clown to wake up with a group of people doing CPR on his chest it hurt thinking about it. I bit my tongue (must be calm in my old age) and left at lunch time in disgust.
Not brown nosing here for a bit but I have learned more about the FMA from you Hock than Mr Inosanto - he may know more than you - he may be a better teacher in his school for all I know - but from a seminar view point you shit all over him. You have the ability to impart the knowledge and from what I saw of him he didn't have a clue. I think he survives because of his relationship with Bruce Lee and not on his teaching ability. (And folks teaching ability and knowledge are different things. There's a lot of talented guys out there who've never groomed a successor because they can't teach anyone else to do what they do)
Wasn't just me who thought that about Dan either...I overheard several other disgruntled people in the dressing room at lunch time.
The only reason the Philipino mystique may linger longer than the Japanese stuff is because without competition we don't get to see that we can actually beat them at their own game like we have in Judo and Karate etc.
putting on my flame proof long johns as I type
