Bill Duff comments on Human Weapon BS.

[DdlR]

What a fuckin' load that is. The 'traditional' perspective would value 'combat efficiency' if anything MORE than the modern. Idiot.

I did not say that traditional MAs did not value combat efficiency, I said that a given teacher of a traditional MA might prioritize other aspects of their art ahead of combat efficiency.

[JohnnyCache]

What a fuckin' load that is. The 'traditional' perspective would value 'combat efficiency' if anything MORE than the modern. Idiot.

Not really. There's a LOT of things a given combat leader might want to ingrain in an ancient warrior before "efficiency"

For example, many western leaders valued fearlessness in their cannon fodder, and would often actually give certain combatants drugs or alcohol to help them "run down the guns"

The samurai had an incredibly rigid chain of command - they often put station before "efficiency." They (not unlike the norse) placed a value on "fearlessness" that was foolhardy - warriors from those cultures often had to compromise what they were taught if they wanted to use guerrilla tactics or make smart retreats (hence the fiction of the "ninja")

Muslim fighting doctrine includes modification to and allowance for religious strictures.

And politics, of course, have always been a factor in deciding who trains the military and in what - I have trouble picturing ancient asia, with its bureaucracy and systems of favor - being different.

Those are all NON philosophical reasons - factor in reasons of individual belief and philosophy and there's more.

Even something as simple as making sure people are fit for advanced techniques, physically, or that they're willing to work before you put time in them, could change the order you present material - especially in older times, when passing on training was essentially constrained by a lack of fast travel and mass media.

There's nothing wrong with doing something for culture or tradition in a martial art - it just shouldn't overly interfere with practicality.