From: Jun Akiyama posted on 17. Jan 2019, 09:34pm
URL: http://thewayyoupractice.blogspot.com/2019/01/guest-article-josephine-fan-perceptions.html
Here’s an insightful article from Josephine Fan of Long Island Aikikai on “Perceptions of the Aikido Community.”
From the article: “A particular question continued to pop up in my research: ‘Why do people have such a poor impression of Aikido?’ […] Taking in my experiences from understanding how social media worked, the simple answer was that the Aikido community itself gave a terrible perception and impression to the outside world. […] There’s so much infighting (“My sensei is better than your sensei, my style is better than your style, the way I train is the best way to train”) and lashing out against anyone that is different or new. It has very little to do with whether or not there is anything worth learning in it, since we know there are benefits to doing so. The perception of the Aikido community has amounted to a joke, and it’s entirely deserved.”