Category: McDojos

Unmasking The Trolls

9/22/2020

Author: Bret Gordon

The power of trolls comes from their anonymity. The moment their true identities are exposed is when they lose any sense of control they think they have over the situation. There are many reasons for the pseudonyms, all of which are designed to protect the troll. Some justify their fake names and lack of willingness to be seen by saying that their lives have been threatened in the past, to which I respond by saying maybe people would stop wanting to kill them if they minded their own business and stopped trying to ruin other peoples' lives? Some use fake names to avoid having to answer for their slander and libel. Regardless of why they do it, every troll has one thing in common: they are really good at hiding. Whether it's a single troll or an elaborate group of trolls sharing the same pseudonym and social media account to further conceal their identity, they all live in fear of being exposed for the cowards they are.

If anything has come from this past of year of trolling, I have gained a better understanding of just what the procedure is to file a lawsuit on someone running their mouth on the internet and the requirements/limitations for doing so. I have also learned that anyone who forwards you a video saying "you should sue this guy" also has no understanding of the process. For example, most trolls are in another time zone. To file a lawsuit, you must secure an attorney in their state... Something most don't have the time or money to do, and that's if you even know their real identity. It also comes down to what they're saying. No matter how many times they scream you are a fraud and your certificates are fake or invalid, there is nothing you can do about it. That is an opinion, apparently.

But every now and then, a troll makes a mistake. They say something truly defamatory and slanderous/libelous, and they reveal their identity through careless arrogance. This article will expose one such troll...

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Blowing Smoke... Medically

9/8/2020

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Author: Bret Gordon

For anyone who has been following the ongoing saga of internet drama stemming from the Facebook hate group BSMA against myself and my instructor, Steven Hatfield, what I'm about to write about will be of no shock to you. Those who aren't familiar with the situation should check out the following articles before continuing:

"Obsession Isn't Healthy, Boys" detailing the timeline of harassment from members of BSMA

"The Hypocrisy Of The Internet" detailing the events surrounding Dale Dugas and his faux challenge

Since the beginning of Dale's challenge, he has asserted that he was going to fight both myself and my instructor. I even offered him the opportunity to visit us both at the same time when Hatfield sensei was here (August 28th to September 4th). Now, after we went back and forth for awhile I then met Dale's demands to simply name a time and place instead of "pushing it back" three weeks until Hatfield sensei was here, because "a real man just fights and doesn't postpone," is what I kept hearing. Of course after naming such, Dale failed to show up not once but twice. I won't go into too much detail, as this has all been documented in the article above, but anyone with any measurable critical thinking ability could figure out that Dale had no intention of showing up and was simply blowing smoke as usual.

Just in case he was crazy enough to actually show up on a random night of the week, I then stated that if Dale (or anyone from BSMA) did not show up at an agreed upon time, he would be trespassing. This is simply because I run youth classes, and I don't think any reasonable adult believes any children should be exposed to this nonsense. This was on August 10th (the dates will become important shortly). Even still, he asserted he would see both me and Hatfield sensei "in three weeks" regardless of that statement about trespassing so it was clear he had no issue with it and would still grace us with his presence.

But then, something miraculous happened. He disappeared! Dale went from making videos nearly every day for over a week talking about how he was going to cripple both of us, right up until August 19th when he just stopped. He went silent without a trace of him on BSMA, and certainly no mention of seeing us soon. Maybe he was busy training, preparing himself for the 1970s no-holds-barred "open combat" kung fu death match we were about to engage in? Only one way to find out, right?

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PSA: Patrick Justice

8/13/2020

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Author: Bret Gordon

Recently some information has been made public about a former member of the American Jidokwan Association, an organization I run alongside my instructor Steven Hatfield. Patrick Justice was a lifelong friend and student of Hatfield's in the art of American Jidokwan Taekwondo. In 2011 he was made President of the organization, a position he held until 2017. During this time, his involvement in the martial arts ranged between teaching adult students privately and being inactive at various periods. His position in the American Jidokwan Association was largely administrative and symbolic, as at the time Hatfield was not teaching Taekwondo and the other schools in the organization operated independently.

Customary for our organizations when accepting new members (especially in an administrative capacity) is to run a background check on them. Due to the friendship between Hatfield and Justice, this was never done on Justice. In late 2016 I became actively involved in the American Jidokwan Association on an organizational level, having been a member for several years, becoming the Florida State Representative as the organization began expanding outside of Ohio. In 2017, as Hatfield and I were sitting around discussing the organization's growth and other prospective members, the topic of Justice's background check came up and we realized one had never been done. What we found was shocking, to say the least.

In 2004, Patrick Justice was convicted of sexual battery and served three years in prison (view source). We immediately confronted him about this, giving him the option to either step down or be removed publicly. He was upfront about his record and chose to step down. He turned in his certifications and was dismissed from the American Jidokwan Association entirely. On October 3, 2017, I replaced him as President of the AJA which I hold to this day.

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What Is A Martial Arts Fraud?

8/13/2020

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Author: Bret Gordon

The most insulting thing you can say to a martial artist is that they are a fraud. It's right up there with being a pedophile, rapist or other vile criminal. Where martial artists pride themselves on upholding the virtues of honor, integrity and respect, the accusation that one is a liar, a conman or otherwise dishonorable is a blow that many never recover from. Unfortunately, the words "fraud" and "fake" get thrown around way too much in the martial arts community, almost to the point where they don't mean anything other than the accused belongs to a different group than the accuser. When we break it down, the actual definition of a fraud is:

So we can see very clearly what a fraud is and isn't. A fraud is someone trying to deceive others. Therefore, everyone who throws around the word "fraud" simply because the other person does not meet their standards, either in their skillsets or in their affiliations, is simply wrong. There is a difference between being a low-quality martial artist and being a fraud and since quality is subjective to begin with, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But let's explore this world of fraudulent martial artists even further, shall we?

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A Warrior's Duty Is To Protect

8/10/2020

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Author: Bret Gordon

As frustrating as the smear campaign is against me and my instructor by the trolls of BSMA, there is a bright side that when I sit down to reflect on is not so bad at all. In fact, I see it as an honor.

Several years ago, the same group of people drove a man named Dan Harmon to commit suicide due to their relentless bullying and degradation. I will admit I don't know much about Dan's martial arts background so I will not say whether or not what he claimed was legitimate, nor do I have any connection or affiliation to him, but the psychological abuse he suffered at the hands of Don Roley and his followers is well-documented. He even went so far as to check himself into a mental health facility to try to get help. He begged law enforcement to intervene, ultimately leading to him making the choice to take his own life rather than continue to suffer at the hands of these people.

I am not Dan Harmon. I will not be driven to such extreme measures. In fact, I welcome them to continue their attack on me and keep their energy focused here, because every day they do is another day of life I can give back to someone who may not be as strong that they could be attacking instead. Those who respect me and know the truth will not be swayed by such obvious lies, fabrications and misinformation. My ego is not so fragile as to be destroyed by their failed attempts. So go ahead boys, take your best shot. I am here to stay.

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The Hypocrisy Of The Internet

8/10/2020

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Author: Bret Gordon

I simply have no words for the amount of hypocrisy and idiocy that continues to plague the martial arts community, thanks to the wonderful invention of the internet. The ongoing harassment of BSMA towards myself and my instructor Steven Hatfield was documented in my last article (click here), but the events of the last few days have simply blown my mind.

On August 6th, an acupuncturist by the name of Dr. Dale Dugas issued a public challenge on the BSMA forum against me to fight him in a "full contact, no pads, all targets legal" match. Most interesting about this challenge is that prior to this remark, I didn't even know who he was. He was simply another troll that lurked the comment section of BSMA to me, and we had never even spoken so why does he want to fight me so badly? I looked him up on the internet and called him (click here for video) for the opportunity to speak to this man and figure out why he had such an issue with me in the first place. Of course he didn't answer, because not a single member of BSMA with the exception of one has ever had the audacity to step out from behind their keyboards and speak to someone, so I left him a message welcoming the opportunity to speak about his issues.

Apparently after doing some digging, it seems he wants to fight me because my teacher studied Judo with "Papasan" Jack Stern. Stern is absolutely a controversial figure in the martial arts and did some things in his personal life I won't comment on, but anyone who questions his Judo credentials is simply misinformed. He studied directly under Mifune Kyuzo, the "god of Judo," as well as Korean Yudo under Bong Yul Shin, Sung Jae Park, Tae Ju Chung and others. He was a staple of the New York martial arts scene in the mid-to-late 1960s as a member of Hara Naraki's demonstration team at the 1964 Worlds Fair alongside legends Ron Duncan and Moses Powell. He personally hosted Mas Oyama during his visit to the United States, and promoted martial arts on an international level throughout his entire life. To read more about "Papasan," check out this memorial written by his inheritor Dell Sharpe. He was anything but a fake martial artist.

Unfortunately, people tend to focus on the negative and allow one, albeit significant though not martial arts related in any way, instance of flawed character to ruin a man's entire legacy. They even go so far as to dismiss his military record, calling him a bread truck driver. I don't know too many bread truck drivers with 276 confirmed jumps (according to the 101st Airborne Division Association). They claim he admitted in open court that he lied about his martial arts background, which is itself an outright lie (something becoming increasingly more popular by the trolls of BSMA).

Now of course, the logical response to all of this is to fight me because you don't like one of my teacher's teachers, right? Surprisingly, the situation only got weirder from there...

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Obsession Isn't Healthy, Boys

7/30/2020

5 Comments

Author: Bret Gordon

Most of my readers are aware of the ongoing harassment both my instructor and I have been subjected to by the Facebook hate group, BSMA, run by Don Roley and his goonies. What started as a dispute over some paperwork that we refused to show them, because what gives them the audacity to demand anything, has turned into a public charade that's nothing less than stalking. For those of you who don't know, and for the first time ever, let me give a play-by-play of how we ended up here.

Let me apologize now for the length of this article, but it's time the world got to see exactly what we're dealing with... Because I'll be honest. Nothing is more frustrating than venting about these bullies only to be met with the sentiment "just let it go" from those who have never been attacked like this. There's only so many times a chihuahua can nip at your heels before you turn around and kick the chihuahua. So this is me, punting the yappy little animal that is BSMA across my now barren field of....

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There Will Be A Reckoning

4/2/2020

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Author: Bret Gordon

What interesting times we're living in! Nothing brings out people's true nature like a crisis, and we are seeing the beginning of a revolution. The world as we knew it will be forever changed by COVID-19, but the subject of this article is a slightly narrower scale.

As a Budoka, it is fascinating to watch the shift in dynamic of the martial arts industry as it faces collapse and frankly, I'm not too upset over it. For centuries, martial arts have been handed down through families and clans as life-saving skills of war meant to protect the ones you love. It is in this spirit that I run my dojo. We are purposely small and intimate, allowing us the opportunity to develop bonds that transcend the four walls of our commercial space. I don't just accept everyone with a credit card, but rather only those who will benefit the school as much as we'll benefit them. These bonds allow us the foundation of trust and mutual respect to push the limits of our training and experience with one another, the benefits of which are exponential. All of this is in stark contrast to the cultural norm we see today...

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No More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed

3/25/2020

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Author: Bret Gordon

Every now and then, some prosimian with a keyboard tries to hide behind a fake name on the internet to call someone else a fraud. Irony of this aside, this particular lesser ape has actually succeeded in making a pseudo-name for himself. Now, I don't normally use such derogatory remarks in my articles but this individual has chosen to self-identify as "The Monkey" and in today's politically correct climate, the safest thing is to just address people how they want to be. Far be it from me to assume he's a man.

For years, "The Monkey" has used the internet to write a blog about those he considers to be martial arts "frauds and fakes." Going through the list of everyone featured, some definitely are dubious and some definitely aren't. I won't go into detail on each individual featured on his site, but instead will focus on my own personal experience with him.

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The Problem With Internal Martial Arts

8/28/2018

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Author: Bret Gordon

The deeper I go in my study of Aiki Jujutsu and internal power, the more styles of internal arts I've encountered. Lately, I seem to have gotten myself immersed in the Chinese internal arts community and have even taken up a cursory study of Baguazhang to help expand and refine my develop of aiki. The more I watch and engage with other internal practitioners, however, the more I notice a rather unsettling trend that's not unlike the rest of the martial arts community... The complete abandonment of practical martial application.

I've written countless articles thus far stressing the importance of maintaining practical and intensive training for self protection as a large part of your martial arts study, and the internal martial arts are not exempt from this. Let's not forget that the word "martial" implies a combative context and to ignore that section of the art (which in this context refers to a skill or discipline) is to do a great disservice to those who came before us and the legacy they left behind.

While it's true that most martial arts are descended from combat systems, the internal martial arts have historically held a place of significance in protecting those of high stature. In Japan, the Minamoto and Takeda clans were charged as Imperial guards. They trained in the art of Oshiki Uchi (also known as Gotenjutsu) to protect the Emperor and/or Shogun for over 700 years according to oral tradition, an art that later became Daito Ryu - the root of all Japanese aiki arts. In China, Dong Haichuan was charged with teaching his art of Baguazhang to the guards after winning patronage by the Imperial court. Even Okinawa has its own internal martial arts tradition, Motobu Udundi, that was used for the same purpose. The internal martial arts were chosen for this purpose because of their superiority in allowing the practitioner to counter conventional fighting techniques through the use of structure and respond with devastating results. So how did the elite fighting system of the historical Secret Service equivalent become the laughing stock of the martial arts today, and how do we fix it?

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<<Previous

USAMA BLOG

Unmasking The Trolls

Blowing Smoke... Medically

PSA: Patrick Justice

What Is A Martial Arts Fraud?

A Warrior's Duty Is To Protect

The Hypocrisy Of The Internet

Obsession Isn't Healthy, Boys

There Will Be A Reckoning

No More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed

The Problem With Internal Martial Arts

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