Well, Nate, because this is JUST an internet forum, a place to discuss things and ask questions and see what people have to say, if they want to participate in a discussion, not give away all your footnotes and source materials, etc., etc., in a public place, this ain’t no “Journal of Asian Martial Arts” or whatever.
I don’t know what you’ve said on the forums that is so original or insightful or much of anything other than a mundane comment here or there.
Sure I cut and paste in a forum, most people do, it’s the fastest way to learn more about the material that I “cut and pasted” from. Why else would I cut and paste it, to see what people have to say about it.
When people PM me for the source of something I said, I give it to them via PM, as it should be done in a public forum.
Its not like I can start transferring Chinese handwritten material into english and then immediately post it. No, I “play dumb”, come across stuff I have seen, and yeah, I cut and paste it so that a discussion can happen. I’m looking for a reaction from people.
But all my articles in various martial arts magazines from the 80s to now have been done with full research, I’m sure you never read them, since you are too cool to read martial arts magazines. Many well known masters respected them enough to have me judge their students at the Han Wei tournaments during the 1990s.
Nobody is ever going to present a full scholarly work with all their source material documented in a public discussion group, that’s nonsensical. I’m a professional writer for a living, writing under various different names, I’ve had plenty of scholarly articles published in various fields from technical writing about wireless computing to historical investigations to interviewing rock bands to writing business consultation advice to political rants to product reviews.
My original research comes from when there was no internet to cut and paste from, people weren’t using PCs everyday, and talking in discussion groups. I’ve got boxes and boxes of material from 8mm tapes, to videos, to taped interviews to manuscripts to whatever from material that I have gathered directly from TCMA people, many are now long dead, even stuff that was willed to me, starting back in the early 80s. People who entrusted me things that they didn’t even give their own students, which makes people jealous I guess, but they gave the stuff to me cause they felt their students didn’t give a crap about history of their style and why they do what they do and where it might have come from first and how it evolved from something else. I was one of the very first people in the USA during the late 80s and early 90s to translate lots of important information dispelling all the typical legends that were common. MY articles are the ones that have been the MOST cut and pasted from. Things people take for granted now I was writing about in the early 80s.
I have tons of rare stuff like old N Mantis masters on 8mm and video that goes way back that I would think someone like you would like to see. Various N Mantis teachers have looked me up and contacted me by phone and asked to be able to see the material once I transfer it all to DVD.
Everything I have learned from these TCMA people has never failed me in a fight. And I have fought plenty of times. I’m not afraid to fight, my well known great uncle was world champ in boxing in the 1930s, I learned to fight on the streets, I grew up fighting everyday of my life to and from school, everyday, a gauntlet of hell to deal with, in the 1960s and 70s in the heart of Newark NJ, even after being stabbed I clobbered the guy, I’ve picked up someone and swung his head into a tree, I learned how to live when it was kill or be killed times. I’m about 50 years old now and when I toured with my bands I’ve beat up people when necessary in various countries.
I practice TCMA for an hour every morning, an hour or two at lunchtime, and a few hours every night, then all day from 9am to 3-4 pm on sundays. I teach classes twice a week and still go go to learn more. I give seminars on my ideas and research, I invite masters to visit me so that I can show them directly what I am talking about, and I travel to see people who can’t travel to me. And, I play and tour with a band that plays all over the world, and have a family life. I think I have earned the right to be the way I am here.