He’s got his backups from the Pensacola School of Ninjitsu.
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they tend to not give out honorary degrees to just anyone (well, of course, sometimes, especially the wives of dictators) - it’s usually someone who has some actual accomplishments under their belts that they just happened to have not gotten in school. They’ve often gained knowledge via their work outside of a university… Like Neil Gaiman has an honorary degree but no college degree. I suspect he knows a thing or two about writing…
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I mean yes, they aren’t handed out to just anyone. Usually it is an honorary title for recognition of one’s accomplishments or their good works. So giving an honorary degree is just acknowledging them. It doesn’t “cheapen” the idea of a degree for anyone who put in the time, effort, and money to get a regular one.
So it said above Obama received a honorary black belt. I don’t think that cheapens the idea of a black belt for anyone who put in the time and training to earn their own.
If and organization hands out an honorary degree and people feel there is nothing to really honor that person, like Putin or Trump, that’s fine. It is an honorary degree - it doesn’t mean the same thing as a regular one, and so it doesn’t “cheapen” the idea of a degree, IMO.
If anything cheapens the idea of a degree, it would diploma mills and martial arts schools that hand out belts in regular fashion as long as the checks clear, not honorary degrees.
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It’s not like a video game ranking of being a certain amount of bad ass, it’s a measure of honor, your appropriateness of being a teacher and a representative of the art, and a sign of mutual respect from the community of the style. In those senses of what a belt means, it should absolutely have been stripped some time ago.
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Maybe I said it wrong.
If I worked a long time to earn a belt and then the same organization hands out belts to people like trump it would tick me off.
I run 5ks a few half’s and a full marathon. I have no problem with finisher medals for anyone that crosses the finish line in any time. But if someone was given a medal to honor them for some other accomplishment it wouldn’t sit well with me. I have a crap ton of finisher medals and several medals for winning. I’m most proud of the winning medals and if those were given out as honors it would really tick me off.
Trump and even Obama getting an honorary belt doesn’t seem right but at least Obama studied Taekwondo and earned a green belt.
Just my opinion of course and I know it’s common practice.
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This goes some way to explain how he’s now seen effectively with his pants down in Ukraine.
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I’m just gonna leave this here…
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I agree, having several “regular” degrees up to the phd level…
Sure, but he’s not given the black belt for being good at fighting, but just cause Obama… I agree it doesn’t cheapen the hard work of actual black belts.
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My Shorinji Kempo instructors laughed when I mentioned belt rankings in Judo. They both earned black belts in Judo as teens. Apparently a lot of Japanese high school students take Judo and/or other martial arts as after school sponsored activities and it takes them about a year to earn a Judo Shodan (1st degree black belt).
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The World Taekwondo Federation is literally a WTF organization.
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I wasn’t sure what the best language was to discern a degree you go to school for, vs a honorary. one. Traditional?
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Does “World Taekwondo” even test for and issue conventional/not-honorary belts? They just sound like a sports governing/promotional body. Like, could I go train under World Taekwondo to get a green belt or whatever?
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I guess he thought Ukraine would put up the same defense as that goalie. Oops.
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Yes, a lot of the schools around the world are affiliated with them, they offer a conventional olympic-style taekwondo curriculum.
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AKA blackbelt mills. There’s a distinction to be made between personal accomplishment and formal recognition, but that doesn’t render formal recognition worthless. If an organization wants to recognize someone as an ambassador or honorary title, that reflects on them, not everyone else doing something in the same vein. So World Taekwondo (formerly the World Taekwondo Federation) recognizing one person who practices taekwondo for their other accomplishments (such as Obama) while cashiering another person who practices taekwondo for tarnishing the sport with their other dishonorable conduct (Putin) is a good thing insofar as they represent the sport in the broader culture.
World Taekwondo should have taken away this accolade a long time ago. It’s still good to see solidarity for human rights from organizations and I wish more would do so, whether they get out ahead of it or their participants kick them to the curb to force their hand like Formula 1’s drivers did.
I mean, they gave Henry Kissinger a friggin’ Nobel Peace Prize.
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To be fair judo guys laugh at karate too though… Martial arts being full of “our art is better than theirs”. But Russian judo is super well respeted, as is combat sambo. Putin is a despicable asshole but he is a legit lifelong martial artist.
First part is correct and can be readily verified, second part is not ever been independently verified, and likely never will be. His tough guy persona is all made up, by none other than himself.
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I’m using Flask-WTF, right now!
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