From: bobsarv@microsoft.com (Bob Sarver)
Subject: Re: Thai kickboxing
Date: 03 Jan 93 03:04:46 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.
Distribution: usa


(mary)
   >Please, if you're going to get inebriated and belligerent, don't blame 
   >a martial art because it doesn't bail you out.  


/   I think (hope) what Bob was referring to was the likelyhood that he would
/   be attacked in a place and situation where the attacker had been drinking.
/   Since most of us only find ourselves in such places if >we're< drinking,
/   and since those kinds of altercations usually happen later in the night,
/   it's a good bet that the defender is not completely sober...


Exactly my point.  Thank you.



/(mary)
/I'm sure that's what he was referring to as well.  

Sure didn't sound that way to me.  Nor to this other gent, obviously.



/(mary)
/My point was that drinking messes you up, to a greater or lesser degree.  
/If you drink, to be on the safe side, you should assume that it will have 
/some negative effect on just about anything you do.  It will, in general, 
/assist you in being loud, obnoxious, belligerent, and stupid, but that's 
/about it.  

I'm sorry; this is pure horeshit.  People (and myself included) drink
3 or 4 beers without turning into uncontrollable gamecocks trying to tear
each other apart.  It may make *you* loud, obnoxious, belligerent and
stupid, but that's no reason to assume that all people have the same
reaction.   The effects of alcohol vary from person to person.  Some
people are assholes; some get _very_ friendly, others just get sleepy
or cry a lot (extreme drunkenness, we're talking about here).  But the 
point is that you seem to think that alcohol is some kind of drug
that turns normally rational people into hatchet-wielding maniacs.  

And, that which you have decided to pooh-pooh (drinking a few beers) is a 
legitimate form of relaxation for other people.  Lighten up and don't be so 
judgemental on other people's fun; I'm sure I could find several 
distasteful habits of yours.



/(mary)
/Going out and getting drunk, especially in a rowdy bar or nasty part of
/town, is a little like bungee jumping.  

The only person who mentioned "rowdy bar" or "nasty part of town" is _you_.
Getting robbed or rolled is pretty damned common today; in any metropolitan 
area, you run a chance of an encounter like this.

The problem is that you never know who else is drinking in the bar, what
they have on their minds, or how many they've had.  Nor do you have control
over who is walking the streets on the same night that you happen to be
out.  You can't account for all random variables.  

Sometimes trouble comes looking for YOU, despite your best efforts.



/(mary)
/You're engaging in a risky behavior that's completely optional.  Nobody is 
/making you do it.  

And you're bordering on paranoia.

If you want to stay at home, safe behind your door, that's fine.

But I am not going to let fear of the boogieman keep me at home at night.
I won't go charging into gang turf either; but I see no reason why I 
should avoid a few beers after work with my friends, or go dancing on
Friday night just because _you_ think it's "risky behavior".


(mary)
/Some people decide they want to do it anyway, for the rush or the thrill or
/the exquisite experience of puking against the side of someone's Camaro
/afterwards.  

You seem to lean on extremes really heavily; extremes don't prove anything
about the average person, Mary.



/(mary, re: spinning heel kick in a parking lot)
/That's not the use they were intended for, and it's not why they were taught 
/to you.  If you insist in trying to use them in an inappropriate situation, 
/you shouldn't blame them for not working.

"Insist"?  

You really have an attitude problem.  As I pointed out, some people
would like to know that in an unexpected situation of danger, their
particular training would be valuable.  

As for "inappropriate situation";  well, next time I'll have to pick the 
time of my mugging a little better.  How stupid of me to ask to be mugged on 
gravel; I should have known that was inappropriate.  



/(mary)
/Personally, I don't have a lot of respect for people who expect a 
/martial art to save them from the consequences of their own stupidity
/(and I am not saying that Bob falls into that category, at all).  


You aren't saying it *now*, because someone pointed it out to you and 
called you on it.

It is _exactly_ what you were saying in your first post, however.

Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts