Lynda

Please read the entire post and then reply to content as written, not what
you choose to read into it. This wasn't a post about "little Kirby" or even
about fads or kewl. It was an answer to a statement that karate had been
around for umpteen zillion years.

Karate has been around forever. It only became a "fad" after
television/movies made it "kewl." That does NOT say that karate IS a fad,
only that it "viewed" as a fad by certain elements in society. Nor does it
say that "little Kirby" took up karate because it was a fad. However, since
we do not live in a culture where karate is part of life, then exposure to
it usually comes from the fact that it has become a "fad" or "in."

Things can be fads without people doing them because they are fads.

SUVs are fads, they are "in," they are "kewl." I own an SUV but not because
of those reasons. Do I care or get my bloomers in a bunch if folks think I
have one because they are "in?" NOT! I know why I own one and I am the
only one whose opinions counts on this. Though, it would be kinda cutting
off my nose to spite my face if I got rid of it so that folks wouldn't think
I was following a "fad." I mean, it is kinda hard to pull a boat with a
nice little family car.

I had a big 4x4 pickup before movies made them "in." I wore Tony Lamas
before movies made them "in." I don't worry about "keeping up with the
Jones" NOR do I worry about what other folks think about what we are doing
and I guess I can't understand why others do.

Which reminds me, I guess I'm having a blonde moment here <g> If you're
going to teach them "kewl" sucks, why would you teach them to do things so
they "will then be kewl."

Lynda
----- Original Message -----
From: <SandraDodd@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2001 9:45 AM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] little Kirby's karate


> In a message dated 11/16/01 10:20:34 AM Mountain Standard Time,
> lurine@... writes:
>
>
> > Ah, Karate has been around but it wasn't a "fad" until the U.S. decided
it
> >
>
> Should I teach my kids that kewl sucks?
> To only choose things that are not mainstream so they themselves will then
be
> kewl?
>
> Kirby's been at this karate school, which was chosen after calling and
> researching the parent schools to find one that was more involved with
> philosophy and culture and health than with tournaments (they do none) and
> quick advancement. He started at nine (somewhat late for that school) and
is
> still there at 15. The two teens who outranked him have left for
> extracurricular school stuff now, and he's the ranking kid. The school
> doesn't allow black belts before the age of 18, but he cares nothing for
> that, because a large part of their training is personal best and team
> effort, respect for the tradition, and not advancement or glory.
>
> For those who know about such things, it's Shorin-Ryu, and Ed Erler is the
> Sensei. Kirby has participated in some of the regional seminars they
sponsor
> with visiting teachers. In those he's usually been the youngest.
>
> He went because he wants to. He stays because he wants to. How faddish
is
> that?
>
> Sandra
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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[email protected]

Karate hasn't been around forever. The style Kirby is learning has a
specific origin in Okinawa after they were forbidden to have weapons and
learned to use oars and crank handles and such as weapons. Forbidden to have
swords and knives, they continued training with alternate "tools." It
parallels Scottish mouth music, in a tradition-building way.

-=-!  I know why I own one and I am the
only one whose opinions counts on this.  -=-

It doesn't affect what others think of why you have it, and that probably
doesn't matter, but opinions are a reality too.

-=->  If you're going to teach them "kewl" sucks, why would you teach them to
do things so they "will then be kewl."-=-

I wouldn't do either one.
It was commentary about how some people consider it cool to do what is not
cool.
It was sarcasm, in part, and the full circule of the "kewl" comment in larger
part.

Sandra






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]