So today we ask the question, is this man Xu Xiaodong, a truth finding hero, or is he a publicity hungry villain? Today I'm going to talk about it. And I welcome some of my friends and fellow martial artists, including Moses, who told me and we can see who else joins the conversation
Lucas Peltonen
@Martial_Arts · 0:50
As you guys know, I'm a Kung Fu practitioner myself, and I train other martial arts. And so my take on it is that Shusha Dong is definitely a villain, right? So first, he's fighting different styles of Kung Fu. He's fighting under rules that favor him. He was fighting under MMA or boxing or kickboxing rules. These other styles don't train for that. These other styles train for life and death situations as they arose historically. That's why they're traditional martialarts
Moses Utomi
@Moses · 1:52
However, I think the fact that they want to meet him in combat demonstrates their attempt to hold on to their view, their public view as fighters, not just martial artists. And as a result, I think it's okay that he beating them and showing the new generation has something to offer and a way to improve the culture of martial arts
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Lucas Peltonen
@Martial_Arts · 1:19
Moses, thank you. I really appreciate your answer. And you're bringing in the role of culture. As we can agree, Kung Fu is definitely a treasure of Chinese culture. So. And you also know a major focus of my master's studies has been the role of culture in society, language, pedagogy, communication. And what I've learned is that culture is fluid, it's constantly changing and developing
Moses Utomi
@Moses · 2:08
Maybe he's making a distinction between true, honest grandmasters who have a respect for the arts and what martial arts should be about, which is, as you said, health and growth and discipline versus some of the people who purport to have abilities they don't have, who present themselves as fighters who in some cases are making a lot of money off of students who believe they are learning a craft that can protect them in a life or death situation
Lucas Peltonen
@Martial_Arts · 0:14
Alright, you make a good point there. I can't even argue with that. He's not calling out Kung Fu as fake. He's calling out these supposed Masters who claim to have fake powers and he wants to expose that. I get that
Lucas Peltonen
@Martial_Arts · 0:47
Would we think that's more villainous or more heroic? And what other kinds of problems and issues would that bring to light, Moses, you're for you to answer that question, or anyone else who's listening
Moses Utomi
@Moses · 0:55
And so it does make it difficult to see him as somebody who is from the culture challenging the culture if he's doing so with something outside of the culture overall, I still think because he is a person from that culture, it's allowed. I think it's very common for people to bring in things they admire from other cultures, to bring it to their own culture and find a way to use it. So I think that's allowable
Lucas Peltonen
@Martial_Arts · 0:08
So there we have it now you've heard both sides. What do you think? Let us know, feel free to respond