Thornton Redoes Iceland - Why We Train

**Zendetta** · Posted On: 5/17/2006 8:08pm

I recognize Benny Hinn and ****-fer-Brians, but whos is the third guy?

**Olorin** · Posted On: 5/17/2006 8:19pm

Congratulations, Phil Elmore edit my posts because you could argue. Department of Homeland Security call it.

# 6

He is the Socratic Method of the Aliveness, fascinating.

evolution needs to go, not every male takes art to assert his genetic others. He is flirting with Darwin. President Bush was unnecessary and could alienate people to message. Ditto on the Catholic Church, “just kidding” is way to say that you really believe slip it. If you shake Gracie, more Catholic would fall. Religion are related to Arts.

In conclusion, while I agree with 5 percent of object sitting to under his dead. what is that? It is Gi! The Gi is kept the tradition. If he serious about dead , he would speak out against do.

# 15

I am sure that can take i criticism.

Originally Posted by BoardHitBack

Only stupid people would be alienated to his martial arts oriented message of Aliveness because they held a differing religious or political belief to him.

He needs stick sidetrack controversial unrelated topic. The goal to create target.

Originally Posted by douubleouch

Matt doesn't require Gi…

I brought it, as using a counter message away useless. I am trying to restart the old.

[/QUOTE]

Respond? I had two. Lets stay wearing a Gi as he defines it. Someone is their heroes! Sir Thornton your can run all about blasphemy.

# 18

--SCENE MISSING--

# 20

Originally Posted by Shuma-Gorath

You used an argument that demonstrates a total lack of understanding of the functionality of a gi. That kind of post normally gets flushed around here, but I let it stay because I felt Matt might want to hear and destroy your argument. In the future I will just wipe your stupid posts entirely instead of pretending a respected martial artist and teacher should waste his time with your drivel.

Ya right, you hot.

Originally Posted by Shuma-Gorath

If the sidebar comments about the President and the Catholic Church hijack this thread any further I will dispose of the offending post(er)s appropriately.

If a video is discussion, statements made in legitimate topics discussion.

To bad, all my posts. However, not worry, I repost this I make my sacred cows Bullshido. I post soon, if anyone wants an example of how I send it.

If say something stupid, have a duty, agree with them about Aliveness.

**Einar Fridgeirs** · Posted On: 5/17/2006 9:20pm

Perhaps I can shed some light on the makings of this video, although I wasn´t there for that specific class. But I do train when circumstances allow at Mjölnir MMA and have been around the nascent Icelandic BJJ scene basically from the beginning.

One thing you have to understand about Matt Thornton, something that I figured out after attending his first seminar in Iceland and interviewing him afterwards is that he always calls things like he sees them, and more importantly he has put a lot of thought into his opinions - whether they are on martial arts, politics, philosophy or whatever. And he sees all those things as interconnected. If you read his personal blog(Matt Thornton´s Guerilla Blog, where he talks about whatever he wants), you´ll see him coming back to the concept of authenticity in all actions, which is basically what aliveness is for martial arts. He is not trying to "sell" aliveness in the sense that he will say whatever it takes to get you to "get with the program", nor will he shirk from saying what he wants even if it might put you off his whole thing.

As for your original critique, I don´t think it´s fair to say that he´s advocating social Darwinism, all he´s saying is that on a subconcious level there is always, in all our interactions with other people, particularly male/male relationships these undercurrents of who is stronger and who is weaker. And that many of the stupid things we do in life are done partly because we fear the notion that we may be weak and attempt to project an image of strength where none exists....sound familiar? Isn´t that what Bullshidoism is all about? And do you disagree that being dominated in sparring and learning that it isn´t the end of the world if you are not invincible are valuable lessons that stay with you when you leave the gym and go about the rest of your life?

As for him not being qualified to comment on matters political or religious - I really don´t understand. Matt´s wealth of knowledge on both topics is extensive, as a cursory look at his blog will show(check it out if you are interested in either topic, ihe´s a good writer), and I would not be surprised if he has spent an equal, if not greater portion of his waking hours reading about those topics as he has spent on the mat. The man is quite smart. He sees a connection between the dead pattern/aliveness divide in martial arts and some of the uglier aspects of politics and the repressive nature of organized religion. Is it a crime to speak of such things in a gym?

If Matt is not qualified to talk politics, because he´s a martial arts instructor and not a poly sci professor or something, then I´m afraid most of the senators, congressmen, parlimentarians and presidents of both our contrys do not qualify either. Most of them are either lawyers, economists and MBA´s, not philosophers, sociologists or political scientists. I was taught that in a democracy, EVERYONE was qualified to talk about politics.

One thing to keep in mind is that this little speech was shot not at the seminar or anything like that, Matt taught some regular classes at Mjölnir MMA as a guest teacher after the seminar for free(how many black belt instructors do you know that would do that?)simply because he was in the country and enjoyed it - everyone there had already paid their fees and would have been training with the regular instructors anyway, so it´s not like he´s talking about these things on your seminar dollar. Matt´s classes are quite intense - he can make a guardpass drill feel like a Bataan death march. So the breaks are a little longer inbetween, and instead of everyone just lying around gasping for air, he holds these little Q&A sessions. It´s a great format for instruction IMO, and he WILL answer any question you ask him.

And on a side note, take into account that this was shot in Iceland - just about everyone here holds both Catholicism and Bush in about as high a regard as most Bullshidoers hold Ninjutsu. So there was no real danger of alienating anyone.

And the Gi argument I find rather ludicrous. The Gi is a functional training tool much in the same way as boxing gloves are. A gi is just a durable piece of clothing that you can use again and again while fighting a resisting opponent without going bankrupt replenishing your wardrobe every month. I´ve been in several scuffles, both as a bouncer and a stupid drunken fool who didn´t have the sense to walk away, and in all encounters clothing has been a factor, and "win" or "lose", not once did my outfit emerge unscathed even if I did.

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 5/17/2006 11:19pm

Mjölnir has got to be the coolest name for a school in the history of the world.

The Yoga thing kind of seems like the TCMA way of saying "Chi is just biomechanics. But we like to call it Chi", but it's basically being "in the zone". I don't think it's that big of a deal, because he thoroughly explained what he was talking about, instead of being really vague about it, like TCMA people are about Chi.

**Stick** · Posted On: 5/20/2006 12:41am

So basically Olorin's not allowed to talk, got it.

All hail Thorton and his high priests Shuma and Aeso.

Good videos BTW.

**Yrkoon9** · Posted On: 5/20/2006 9:38pm

His words echo many of my own sentiments.

I remember getting into a few debates here about 'real self defense' you know...'for the street'. I went on and on saying there is no way you can be fully prepared for violence. And I have very little fear of fistfights and being 'attacked' these days. Instead I train for the sake of training. I simply like the way it makes me feel. A few people had serious problems with the concept.

**C 'Quence** · Posted On: 5/23/2006 10:03am

So does anybody have a direct link to these videos?? I can never get the Bullshido MediaPlayer to work for me and I'm foaming at the mouth to see these! I couldn't get the 71 min. video to work either :(

...am I not worthy?

**Aesopian** · Posted On: 5/23/2006 10:05am

I'm going to just dump the links. You can sort them out on your own.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...84548000318708
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...76475130093551
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...22756738846126
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...50760833041053

**Meager** · Posted On: 5/23/2006 11:00am

Originally Posted by The Hero

So basically Olorin's not allowed to talk, got it.

All hail Thorton and his high priests Shuma and Aeso.

Good videos BTW.

If Thornton had derided hippy leftists in the video he wouldn't have said a thing. The video wasn't posted for political reasons and if he wants to talk politics I doubt anyone will edit his posts if he does it in the proper forum.