Shenanigans. Just a big pile of Shenanigans...
I frequently chat with folks who have a lot of experience in martial arts... sometimes lifetimes worth of experience.
The correspondence usually starts like this:
"Hey Trav, I've been practicing Wing Chun Kung Fu for the last 34 years, and I want to say that your techniques are unbelievably effective. Thank you for sharing them. Now, let me tell you about every single fight I've ever had... in my entire life."
Then, I do my best to skim through the depiction of glorious victories and bitter defeats... often trying to find some sort of common ground, upon which I can base my 10 second response:
"Someone threw a brick at me once too... I'm glad you're not dead."
---Trav
In truth, I usually have much more to say, but I can't bring myself to repeat the same arguments thousands of times...
"Wing Chun Kung Fu was actually created by a female monk who had absolutely no fighting experience, but was, in fact, just really tired of getting raped by Mongolians.
You may or may not have wasted 34 years of your life."
It's a hard pill to swallow.
This of course prompts claims that the 'art' is just too diabolically vicious to showcase publicly, and that masters of Wing Chun are too Feng Shui to have pursuits in competitive fighting... so, we just don't get to see how awesome it actually works.
I sigh... and wish that I had just said something about throwing bricks...
Look, I've discussed what 'works' and 'doesn't' work in martial arts for hundreds of hours... but recently, Joe Rogan stated my case perfectly in one of his podcasts.
I chuckled many a time...
There's probably some NSFW language in this, but for the most part, it just might help you to distinguish what is real, vs what is just... well... a big pile of Shenanigans.