A rant on Denigration of Europe.

**Syphilis** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 8:36am

Hanzo steel boooiiiii

Quenton Tarrantino Swords for life yooo!!!

**kenning** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 9:57am

Originally Posted by Rzero

I blame anime.

Sure, there is so much Katana hype spread by anime. Anime however tells three things - Katana can do badass things, Katana is japanese, Katana is forged in a special manner. Plenty of anime swords are hybrids derived from Katana, Jian and even european swords. Japs declare their swords as "special", which simply means they have a great artistic, historical and practical value.

But Western fanboys somehow have their own logic; if japanese swords are special, hand crafted deadly blades, it automatically means european blades have to be sh*t! Where the hell this idea comes from?? East = superior, West = dumb. Europe + Medieval = dumb, stink, ignorance. No anime or ninja movie ever told Western fanboys such things.

In a perfect world it should be like this...
/a big Sword Cutting Championchip/
- Hey, how are ya?
- Great thanks.
- What school do you represent? Ya look not like a JMA guy.
- I do Italian school longsword mate! I'm gonna cut some stuff at the Knight show, just after the Samurai show.
- Cool dude!
/Both are watching at Speed Tameshigiri Competition where JMA and WMA dudes perform stuff a la Isao Machii/

**kenning** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 10:09am

Folks, what I mean is the apparent lack of respect; Europe can be insulted and denigrated (no matter if insults are based on historical facts or not), but if you try otherwise - "you dumbass, ur racist, you insult japanese culture and people, your a moronic f*ckhead..."

But everyone feels free to talk bullshit about Europe, no one cares if white Europeans are insulted. I'm white. I'm German. And I have the right to get insulted if some ignorants put my culture down undeservingly. I dont wanna hear stupid myths, I dont wanna be regarded as a "barbarian" and I have the right to practise the swordsmanship of my choice!! That's it.

**MikeRC** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 10:20am

I remember a hundred years or so ago, back when ARMA was HACA, a few of those boys went to a mat cutting contest in Florida and using their European flavored swords, smoked the competition.

Maybe some of the HEMA old timers with better memory will chime in with additional info. I heard the story originally back at the first European martial arts gathering in Chicago with the CSG, so that should give a bit of a timeline.

-Mike

**Bluto Blutarsky** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 2:16pm

Originally Posted by Rzero

I blame anime.

IMO- anime is a large contributor to the problem.

its largely i think because the movie portrays anything as "foriegn and mysterious" as somehow "better" and anime reinforced that notion.

and also i think in large part for cultural concerns, samurai flicks often strived for a certain level of respect towards japanese swordsmanship whereas hollywood couldn't give two shits about how the swordsmanship was so long as they got erroyl flynn in tights. hollywood basically perpetrated or at least largely supported the myth that european sword was just a bunch of dumb barbarians swinging a peice of blunt steel in hopes it kills the other guy.

**Bluto Blutarsky** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 2:35pm

Originally Posted by kenning

Folks, what I mean is the apparent lack of respect; Europe can be insulted and denigrated (no matter if insults are based on historical facts or not), but if you try otherwise - "you dumbass, ur racist, you insult japanese culture and people, your a moronic f*ckhead..."

But everyone feels free to talk bullshit about Europe, no one cares if white Europeans are insulted. I'm white. I'm German. And I have the right to get insulted if some ignorants put my culture down undeservingly. I dont wanna hear stupid myths, I dont wanna be regarded as a "barbarian" and I have the right to practise the swordsmanship of my choice!! That's it.

im a new yorker
- you are all barbarians to me.:Hehehe:

**kenning** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 2:56pm

Originally Posted by Bluto Blutarsky

hollywood basically perpetrated or at least largely supported the myth that european sword was just a bunch of dumb barbarians swinging a peice of blunt steel in hopes it kills the other guy.

I'm still getting mad if I see or hear about "13th Warrior". I don't know what Crichton exactly wrote but McTiernan's interpretation is the worst I ever seen - he really shows Vikings living in mud & sh*t, not washing, not combing their hair, carrying giant two handed pseudoswords and fighting like retards. Hell, this horsecrap isn't historically accurate in any way! The recent medEIval movie "Ironclad" is not better at all, they really announced "a historically accurate medieval siege" - but what we got is not historical authenticity but fantasy crap.

If I were the president of an (fictious) Organisation For Preserving European Heritage And History - I'd sue all the Hollywood asses!! 1. spreading pseudohistory 2. announcing pseudohistory as "historically accurate" 3. Insulting european national feelings. If you tell people "that's how it was" - make sure it's accurate! If not, you're a bullshitter!!! It's that simple.

**Jall** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 4:01pm

You must've seen this OP, if not:

WATCH IT!!!!

**Bneterasedmynam** · Posted On: 11/14/2011 4:26pm

Originally Posted by kenning

I'm still getting mad if I see or hear about "13th Warrior". I don't know what Crichton exactly wrote but McTiernan's interpretation is the worst I ever seen - he really shows Vikings living in mud & sh*t, not washing, not combing their hair, carrying giant two handed pseudoswords and fighting like retards. Hell, this horsecrap isn't historically accurate in any way! The recent medEIval movie "Ironclad" is not better at all, they really announced "a historically accurate medieval siege" - but what we got is not historical authenticity but fantasy crap.

If I were the president of an (fictious) Organisation For Preserving European Heritage And History - I'd sue all the Hollywood asses!! 1. spreading pseudohistory 2. announcing pseudohistory as "historically accurate" 3. Insulting european national feelings. If you tell people "that's how it was" - make sure it's accurate! If not, you're a bullshitter!!! It's that simple.

Dude seriously it was just a movie, I think your taking this whole medieval thing a little to strict. Not everyone is out to pick on you. I understand the point your trying to make but you need to realize just because a few people are asses does not make them all asses. In fact when I started iado everyone there was respectful of the fact I had previous sword training and no one even hinted at it being barbaric or not a martial art. Hell not even all anime is against it. And dude seriously any movie that makes it's choreography realistic is going to be boring as ****.