The greatest trick that Google Corporation ever pulled, was to convince the world it didn’t exist. Although its shareholders know it as a profitable advertising brokerage, the majority of Internet users believe it to be nothing more than a benevolent purveyor of web search, email, and other free online services.

Google is a fierce and formidable competitor. Its network of websites is the Internet’s single most popular destination; it processes more search queries than all its competitors combined, including stalwarts Microsoft and Yahoo; its annual revenues and profits are measured in billions. Through all its successful expansions, Google has worked to maintain an image of simplicity and altruism.

Google’s bungled launch of their Buzz platform illustrated the pervasiveness, and the deceptive nature of this public image. Their initial decision to quietly convert 100 million private email contact lists into an open social network was met with immediate shock and outrage. It was widely regarded as an invitation to espionage and cyberstalking.

Google had chosen to present Buzz with a simplified interface that neglected its users’ privacy concerns. This was a profit-maximizing decision for the Buzz platform: a social network is only as valuable as the user data shared within it. By leveraging their enormous GMail database to expand into a new market, Google hoped to instantly close the gap with, or overtake their new competitors.

Public demand forced them to reconsider this “beta experiment.” Google product managers declared a “Code Red,” and company engineers worked nights and weekends to revamp the Buzz sign-up process. A week later, reporters in the traditional media breathed a sigh of relief, and praised the company for its contrition, and for acting in the broader public interest. According to a popular narrative, Google’s quick turnaround once again demonstrated their commitment to “do no evil.”

Simplifying the news industry

Traditional news media sources are suffering today, due to decreases in print circulation, loss of classified ads, and obsolete business models. Nobody disputes that the future of mainstream news publishing is online, and that Google will continue to lead the transition, extending its own reach and power along the way.

As explained by Google’s chief economist Hal Varian, “Serious reporting… has simply never paid its way.”

What exactly is Google’s role in online publishing today? Although it enjoys an esteemed reputation often reserved for public broadcasting services (with their strict policies against undue commercial influence), Google actually earns its money by placing advertisements.

This is how their ubiquitous AdWords program works: first, Google invites advertisers to bid for the right to display their commercial message, next to a desired set of keywords. Whenever or wherever Google can find those keywords–in web search results, or users’ email boxes, for example–it displays the highest bidders’ ads. Depending on the individual agreement, Google may then debit the advertiser’s account immediately, or only if a user clicks on the advertisement.

In order to gain access to a richer keyword database, Google designed the complimentary AdSense program. Independent publishers who agree to host Google-negotiated advertisements on their own websites are promised a percentage of the resulting AdWords income. There are currently over one million publishers participating in AdSense; only a small percentage of them earn anything near a living wage.

In an era where stories are consumed individually and immediately, rather than as cross-subsidized bundles of daily newsprint, the news is less profitable than ever before. As explained by Google’s chief economist Hal Varian, “Serious reporting…has simply never paid its way. What paid for newspapers were the automotive sections, real-estate, home-and-garden, travel, or technology, where advertisers could target their ads.” Relative to its new unbundled and electronic format, high-quality news is more expensive than ever before.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt confesses that, without the survival of serious journalism, his company’s own future is placed in jeopardy. Google does not consider itself a competitor to the traditional media outlets that provide shelter for good journalism; but it has no interest in directly supporting those outlets either. Instead, Google is working to address what it calls “inefficiencies” in its own online ad placement services.

Consolidation makes sense: increased efficiency is improved profitability. Why should every city manage its own news media organizations, and pay its own support staff, when Google can perform these functions remotely at a lower cost? The principle applies not only to the news industry, but to all electronic communications.

Google has not confined itself to sponsoring the written word, but has also experimented with (or committed to) supporting online maps, streaming online audio and video, spreadsheets and stock tickers, digital photography, medical records, traditional radio and television broadcasts, and even long-distance phone calls. It is all to fulfill Google’s corporate mission: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

The Beast File: Google

Google must admit that it intends to enrich its shareholders in the process. And we might agree, as a democratic capitalist society, that their corporate success is well-deserved–even if their gargantuan size has tilted the competitive playing field.

But would this be the full extent of our compromise?

Independent news with Chinese characteristics

When Google announced its intent to cease self-censorship in China, in defiance of Chinese law and precedent, they were hailed in the West as champions of human rights and free speech. Few thought to scrutinize the laws Google applies to its own vast publishing empire. As it turns out, Google’s content restrictions are no less oppressive than those applied by the Communists.

According to the longstanding official policies of the Google AdSense program, no publisher is permitted to create content that Google deems violent, mature, or intolerant. Any violation, as determined solely by agents of the Google Corporation, can result in immediate expulsion from the AdSense program.

Google’s editorial policies are no idle threat. According to one indignant former AdSense publisher: “Their entire program is Kafkaesque.”

The Chinese government is criticized for censoring online discussion of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and repression of Falun Gong practitioners. Incredibly, Google forbids these same topics as a matter of official policy. There are no exceptions for news reporting. (Unofficial policy allows these stories on a case-by-case basis, with risk of permanent expulsion born by their publisher.)

When a publisher is ejected from the AdSense program, they lose not only their source of income, but also their online friends and business partners. Google warns participants that, if they dare link to a forbidden work, they risk ejection themselves. Since Google and other search engines use incoming links to estimate a work’s importance, and consequently its proper ranking in search results, ejection from the AdSense program may constitute a de facto banishment from the public web.

Despite numerous requests from its partners, Google has declined to clarify what it considers to be unacceptably violent, mature, or intolerant content. Its precise definitions are either secret, arbitrary, or nonexistent; and the mere threat of enforcement is sufficient to produce a chilling effect.

This is Google’s vision for the future of the news.

Google’s secret trials

These policies are no idle threat, according to one indignant former AdSense publisher, who wished to remain anonymous in fear of retribution. “Their entire program is Kafkaesque. I asked for permission to write news and opinion for my chosen niche; my note was dismissed with a vague injunction to follow the guidelines. After surveying the market, I assumed that I could proceed safely. So I invested hundreds of hours producing and promoting my content.”

“Then they booted me out. An anonymous reviewer stated that I should have followed their guidelines, refusing for the second time to explain what those guidelines actually mean. Meanwhile, dozens of other AdSense websites continue to operate in the same niche, with similar content. I was wrong to place my trust in Google.”

Like any other private media organization, Google Corporation has the right to enforce its own editorial standards. But then again, Google is not like any other media organization. There are already more people in AdSense than in the state of Montana. The size of their audience, and the scope of their current and planned operations is unprecedented. With Google’s control over the flow of information, they are already an international government unto themselves; and theirs is not a rule of law, but of men. They endorse democracy, but deliver simplicity and efficiency instead. And nothing is simpler and more efficient than a dictatorship–at least from the dictator’s point of view.

Mystic philosopher Krishnamurti warned that the devil might come in the form of a search engine; that if we accidentally stumbled upon a piece of truth, the devil would help us to organize it. In its plans for guiding independent journalism, it seems that Google has abandoned the slogan “Don’t be evil,” and embraced “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The meme works as follows. You post five things about yourself. Four are untrue. One is true. All are so outlandish, implausible or ridiculous that no one would be inclined to believe that any of them are true. And despite the pleas from your readers, you never divulge which is true and which are fabrications. You then tag five other people (four seriously and one person you are pretty sure would never participate).

1. I once challenged more than twenty members of a rival Kung Fu school. None of them dared to step forward.

2. In my first Karate class, I was the only student who was unable to break a board.

3. I have personally knocked people down without touching them.

Iron Kim kicks a helicopter
carrying illegal drugs

4. Frank Dux, “Iron” Kim and I briefly served together on a secret crime-fighting team for the Mexican government.

5. All my sifus could beat all your sifus in a fight.

I tag: Dean Radin, Jet Li, “Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson, Weakness With a Twist, and Wuji.

Most Popular Posts

Totally Nude Tai Chi: A DVD Review With Pictures
After writing this, I learned that Tai Chi is just one disc in an extensive nude martial arts DVD series. Other titles include Judo, Kendo, Karate, and Changquan. I kid you not!

Five Questions With a Nei Kung Expert
My thanks to the Mo-Pai disciples who collaborated with me on publishing this interview.

Top Commenters
Thomas Tan
Rick Matz, Cook Ding’s Kitchen
Bob Patterson, Striking Thoughts
Richard C. Bauer, Dim Mak researcher
“Thunderbird”
“Kungfuguy”, a.k.a. “Cobra-Kai”
“Skeeva”

I have randomly selected one commenter to receive a free gift. Congratulations, Richard Bauer! You will receive Me, Chi and Bruce Lee: Adventures in Martial Arts by Brian Preston, courtesy of our sponsor Blue Snake Books. Please contact me with your mailing address.

Funniest Posts
In my totally unbiased opinion, everything in the martial arts humor section is great. Check it out.

Announcing the Martial Development Forums
Martial Development is truly a community of experts: according to a recent survey, the (modal) average reader has studied martial arts for over ten years! I have launched a set of discussion forums to leverage this amazing resource. Please feel free to visit, read and post on any topic you choose, including:

• Martial Philosophy and Psychology
• MMA and Combat Sports
• Qigong, Neigong and Meditation
• The Business of Martial Arts
• Martial Arts History
• Seminar, Workshop, and Event Announcements
• Video Clips and Links

Next month, I will choose an active forum participant to receive another free gift!

Most Controversial Posts

Robbie Lawler’s Ruthless Wing Chun
Sarah Palin, Spirituality and Forbidden Knowledge
In Defense of the Dojo Kun

Show Your Work
If you have a martial arts blog, please drop a link to your single best post of 2008, with a single sentence summarizing it, or why we should read it. Don’t be shy!

As I skimmed Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 report yesterday, I was reminded of McCain and Obama’s earlier performances. Technorati’s investigation reveals that bloggers are “savvy and sophisticated,” and their daily output is “integral to the media ecosystem.”

Technorati, in case you didn’t know, is a blog aggregation service, whose business is built upon the free content we bloggers create. Like our presidential candidates, it is not necessarily in Technorati’s best interest to provide a frank assessment of our future. So let me provide my own frank assessment.

The Bearish Perspective
Looking back over the past five years, the blogging explosion has roughly matched the runaway expansion of credit. And like our economy, the blogosphere is poised to undergo a serious “correction” over the next 12 months.

How do Technorati’s blogging statistics support this theory? 47% of bloggers earn less than $50,000 per year. The average blog is three years old, and has never seen a bear market. The mean blogging income is low (in fact, too low for Technorati to include in their report). The most popular stated reason for blogging is “personal expression”.

From the State of the Blogosphere 2008 report

In the grand scheme of things, most people would consider blogging a trivial pursuit. Looking forward, how many of us will continue to devote the necessary time and effort to maintain a blog? How many of us can afford to do so?

Technorati’s data, I believe, implies an imminent contraction of the blogosphere. My own anecdotal observations—less frequent updates on some of my favorite sites—seem to confirm it.

History shows that extreme economic conditions support political extremism. Hyperinflation in Germany contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler, who used the Jewish people as a scapegoat for the nation’s difficulties. If such a figure were to rise to power today, he would undoubtedly search our blogs—our conveniently accessible and revealing online diaries—for “incriminating evidence”. This is a powerful argument for un-publishing and self-censorship as a means of self-preservation.

In summary, the state of the blogosphere is likely to get worse before it gets better. Some of the blogs you currently enjoy reading may be abandoned soon, and others may disappear from the Web entirely. Have you made a backup copy?

My Special Offer To You
With the SuperBot Offline Browser for Windows, you can easily save a backup copy of your favorite blog(s) to your personal computer. No administrative password, or special access is required to create an offline mirror of these valuable websites.

For a limited time, I am offering a 40% discount on SuperBot Professional Edition to Martial Development readers. This discount expires on October 20, 2008. To receive the discount, enter coupon code SPAR-LT9T on the online order form.

Hat tip to Striking Thoughts.

Zen Buddhism is a way and a view of life which does not belong to any of the formal categories of modern Western thought. It is not a religion or a philosophy; it is not a psychology or a type of science. It is an example of what is known in India and China as a “way of liberation,” and is similar in this respect to Taoism, Vedanta, and Yoga. A way of liberation can have no positive definition. It has to be suggested by saying what it is not, somewhat as a sculptor reveals an image by the act of removing pieces of stone from a block.
- Alan Watts, The Way of Zen

If Zen has no positive definition, then everything is Zen. And if everything is Zen, then naturally every blog is Zen too. Right?

Actually, this argument is a perfect illustration of New Age rhetorical misdirection. While one can say that everything is Zen in its transcendent sense, such a statement cannot serve as the premise for an immanent logical conclusion. In other words: Zen proves nothing, by definition.

Applying transcendent or non-dual definitions to conventional worldly contexts is a popular tactic amongst false gurus. The answer to any difficult question is, Everything is Zen. Yet, when such gurus request payment in return for their enlightened teachings, cash is a bit more Zen than anything else. Thusly, their disciples learn the joys of emptiness: empty realizations and empty pockets.

One would hope that a real Zen master is as circumspect when accepting donations and gifts, as when sharing their realization.

I am the Spiritual Zen Law of Attraction Monk–and so can you!
Considering all of the above, under what circumstances is it ethical for a writer to refer to themselves as an honorary “monk”, or to their writings as “Zen-inspired”? These descriptions are guaranteed, if not specifically tailored to draw a particular brand of ignorant consumer. (“Ignorant” is not an insult here, but a reflection of the fact that Zen experts do not seek lessons from a search engine.) According to Google, more than 50,000 such blogs exist today.

Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits is among the most popular, and he explains his naming decision thusly:

I chose Zen Habits as the title of my blog because it describes the philosophy of the blog in a concise way.

The Zen of the title of this blog is simply a way of reminding myself to be present, to live simply, to keep myself centered and at peace as I make my slow journey to creating good habits and achieving my goals. That’s all. I am not a Zen monk or a follower of Zen, although I do try to practice zazen when I can. I’ve never studied under a teacher, although I have read some books on Zen.

Zen Habits covers: achieving goals, productivity, being organized, GTD, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits.

In the resulting discussion, comments fall into two categories:

• “Zen is not about achieving goals or getting things done, and I am curious where you got that idea. I think you are vastly misunderstanding it and using the word ‘Zen’ like a brand name to make yourself feel cooler.”
• “Perhaps those people who are jumping on the ‘impreciseness’ of the name are not being very Zen themselves, which would not get overexcited about someone else’s choices. Zen is both doing and not-doing, but it’s about simplicity.”

Personally, when I want to remind myself of something, I use a yellow sticky note. I do not change the title on my website, which in turn directs the search engines to send me a different class of visitors, who I then match with advertisers in an attempt to turn a profit. Don’t get me wrong: Leo runs a good website, and I do not begrudge him the right to earn a living from his work. I am just a little disappointed that his explanation pretends innocence of the consequences. David Allen is good, and Zen is good, but GTD is not Zen.

As for the repeated assertions in the comments, that a genuine Zen master should not exercise discernment, or object to a misrepresentation of their discipline? It all reminds me of a poem by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, one of the fathers of Chan Buddhism in America. Hsuan Hua was not shy in expressing his opinion of wanton, New Age “spiritually-inspired” individuality:

Your Moment of Zen

The dumb transmit to the dumb,
One is teaching but neither has any idea.
The sifu goes to hell.
Where will the student end up?

Is that Zen enough for you?

1. Name one thing you like about this blog.
2. Name one thing you dislike about this blog.

Your honest answers will help me improve the content of Martial Development. As a small token of my appreciation, I will randomly select two respondents to win free DVDs. This month’s prizes are:

• The Onion Movie, starring Steven Seagal, and not suitable for children
• Nickelodeon’s Three Delivery, a Kung-Fu cartoon series quite suitable for children

You’ve never seen Three Delivery—it premieres this Friday—so I’ll provide a brief introduction:

Three Delivery follows three Kung Fu fighting teens as they strive to balance studying, delivering food for Wu’s Garden Chinese restaurant, and protecting ancient Chinese secrets from the evil Kong Li.

Inspired by live-action film, graphic novels and classic cartoon comedies, Three Delivery features references to authentic Chinese phrases, celebrations, cuisine and mythology. Real Kung Fu such as crane style, tiger style, snake style, and eagle style is illustrated in the show.

Three Delivery

Three Delivery is first cartoon to come with its own Mandarin-English dictionary. Now that’s edutainment!

To be eligible for these DVD prizes, you must:

• Send me your opinions on or before July 1, 2008
• Live in the USA (or move here before July 1)

If you prefer to answer anonymously (though you cannot win a DVD this way), you are welcome to do so in a comment below.

Thank you to Regency Entertainment and Animation Collective for graciously providing free copies of these DVDs.

Update: I’ve fixed the images in the RSS feed, and added a sitemap link to the sidebar.  Keep your good suggestions coming.

Martial Development
Unconventional Wisdom
Award Winner

What are the Unconventional Wisdom Awards?
I created the Unconventional Wisdom Awards to give recognition to, and show my appreciation for unusually insightful, thought-provoking blog content.

How do you select award winners?
I randomly choose award-winning posts from among the best I discover. Your two-step path to victory:

1. Write something great.
2. Get it onto my radar.

The easiest way to get my attention is to link to, and/or comment on something on this site. Please keep it meaningful; begging for a prize may get you disqualified.

And what will I win?
A link, some extra traffic, bragging rights, and the privilege of displaying a cool award graphic on your site. Here is the HTML code used above:

<p style=”font-size: smaller; float: left; text-align: center”><img src=”http://www.martialdevelopment.com/shared/award-ribbon-silver.gif” alt=”Unconventional Wisdom Awards” style=”border: 0px solid black” /><br><i>Martial Development</i><br><a href=”http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/unconventional-wisdom-awards-2008/”>
Unconventional Wisdom<br><b>Award Winner</b></a></p>

(Other award graphic colors available on request.)

Unconventional Wisdom Award Winners

April 2008

• Rory A. Miller, for (among other things) supplying my new unofficial blog comments policy: First, tell me what you know. Then tell me what you don’t know. Only then tell me what you think.
  
• Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop, for recognizing Martial Development’s contributions to the field of…career advice? Personally, I might have placed it at the top of the Lifehacks, Education, Health, or Sports categories—but I’m not complaining.

May 2008

Charles C. Goodin, Karate Thoughts:

…The student might refer to his “grandmaster,” or “hanshi,” or “soke,” or “supreme grandmaster, soke, hanshi, 10th dan, great light unto the world.” Titles are unnecessary for a real instructor and not helpful for a poor or fake one. I feel that we should not show more respect to our instructors than we show to our own parents.

June 2008

Chris Stangl, for his brilliant Garfield deconstructions:

…The “Beware of Dog” strip relies first on our recognition of the omnipresent deli numbered waiting system, and the absurdity of a dog having access to and understanding of this system, and the mechanical ability to install it. That is fine and good, but the real mystery and contradictions are dense and endless. Why would anyone wait in line to be bitten? Don’t we sometimes wait in longer lines for equally miserable, arbitrary tasks? Doesn’t the acceptance of the waiting line by participants negate the purpose and message of the “Beware” sign? Why do people choose to obey one sign over the other? Do we simply try to compute every fresh directive, even when it contradicts prior knowledge? Why does Garfield take a number and take his place in line? His weary sideways glare tells us that he has the ability to see through the inanity of the situation. The Garfield conclusion tends to be that self-awareness is not a free ticket to self-improvement. Knowing where you are does not set you free.

August 2008

Peter Lamborn Wilson‘s Sumerian Economics:

….Coins might “really” be worth only their weight in metal but the temple says they’re worth more and the king is ready to enforce the decree. The object and its value are separated; the value floats free, the object circulates. Money works the way it works because of an absence not a presence. In fact money largely consists of absent wealth-debt — your debt to king and temple. Moreover, free of its anchor in the messy materiality of commodity currencies, money can now compound unto eternity, far beyond mere cows and jars of beer, beyond all worldly things, even unto heaven. “Money begets money,” Ben Franklin gloated. But money is dead. Coins are inanimate objects. Then money must be the sexuality of the dead.

…Writing needed to be difficult because it was a mystery revealed by gods and a monopoly of the New Class of scribes. Aristocrats rarely learned to read and write — a matter for mere bureaucrats. But writing provided the key to state expansion by separating sound from meaning, speaker from hearer, and sight from other senses. Writing as separation both mirrors and reinforces separation as “written,” as fate. Action-at-a-distance (including distance of time) constitutes the magic of the state, the nervous system of control. Writing both is and represents the new “Creation” ideology. It wipes out the oral tradition of the Stone Age and erases the collective memory of a time before hierarchy. In the text we have always been slaves.

October 2008

In 2007, Peter Schiff predicted a self-imposed economic collapse for the United States:

The real estate bubble, easily the worst speculative episode in American history, has been artificially propping up the entire national economy. The unwinding will cause havoc reaching well beyond the stakeholders directly involved.

According to a Northern Trust Company report, a stunning 43 percent of the increase in private sector jobs between 2001 and April 2005 were housing related, and these jobholders are themselves homeowners and consumers. But furniture, landscaping, appliances, municipal governments, and nearly everything else depend, directly or indirectly, in one way or another, on real estate. The amount of consumption related to home ownership is almost without limit.

Ironically, the worst-case, and most likely, scenario would be not a bust proportionate to the boom. That would be devastating, but natural and ultimately salutary. The worst case would be a politically inspired re-inflation aimed at preventing a crash landing. That would mean winding up Helicopter Ben Bernanke’s money printer to keep nominal home prices artificially high. In foreign central banks, suddenly awakened to reality by mortgage-backed security investments gone bad, reacted to U.S. economic woes by backing away from Treasury securities or by releasing a flood of dollars in our consumer markets, hyperinflation would compound the problem, causing an economic coup de grace, with hell to pay.

Schiff’s financial self-defense strategies are outlined in Crash Proof.

More award winners coming soon…

You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of “somebodiness” that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence.

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the “do-nothingism” of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained.

If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …”

So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.

In his Letter From a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. posed a question to bloggers great and small.

Your blog confers a measure of authority, influence, and social capital. How do you choose to spend it?

Building a loyal audience is simple: just tell the people what they want to hear. Following the crowd is the safest route to fame and wealth; but would do you dare to endorse an inconvenient truth?

Martin Luther King dreamt of a nation whose citizens would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character—and he worked tirelessly to achieve that dream.

On April 3, 1968, the day before an assassin’s bullet ended his life, Martin Luther King expressed his willingness to die for the causes of freedom and equality. King acknowledged his inescapable mortality, the necessity of sacrifice, and the choices he faced: to die for nothing, or for something. For what cause are you willing to sacrifice?

What kind of extremist are you?

The rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here we go…

• I previously ran a social networking site for creative talent (think Friendster meets Flickr). The service was unique and appealing, with a strong potential for profitable growth; but after some soul-searching, I decided that I would rather write about martial arts than continue reviewing import models’ photo shoots. So I shut down the website and opened Martial Development instead.
• I know dim mak is real, because I have experienced it myself! While finishing a game of ping-pong at the neighborhood park, a child accidentally struck my arm with the tip of his elbow. He didn’t even notice that he had bumped me, but my arm instantly went numb, and I was unable to move it for almost five minutes.
  I figure that if a small child can execute a crippling nerve attack by accident, then a highly trained adult martial artist should be able to do the same on purpose.
• Stephen Chow Sing-Chi is my favorite actor. His comic timing and delivery are brilliant, and almost all of his movies contain martial arts references. God of Cookery and King of Beggars rank high on his long list of great work.


King of Beggars (Part 1, continued on Youtube)

• Although I love poking fun at Occidental re-imaginings of Chinese internal arts, I do respect the genuine article and its sincere proponents.
• I have lived in Seattle all my life, yet I’ve never bothered to visit Bruce Lee’s grave. And why should I? He never visited mine!



• I once fell asleep outside Bodhidharma’s cave, where he is said to have faced the wall for nine years of uninterrupted meditation. Word to the wise: if you ever plan to spend the night on a mountaintop, bring your tummo skills or a warm blanket.
• I stopped attending regular classes more than a year ago—so that I would have more time to practice.

I now tag:
Taiji.Question
Scott P. Phillips, Weakness With a Twist
Baiguai, Kung Fu Artistry
Aiki in Seattle
Lori O’Connell, Jiu-Jitsu Sensei
Nathan Teodoro, TDA Training
Another Neijia Blog
Albert Foong, the Urban Monk

Some letters highlighted an important point that the author missed, while others had the temerity to disagree with the author’s conclusion. How very rude, I thought!

Indignant, I perused the other newsstand periodicals for validation of my feelings. I found none. From obscure technical journals to USA Today, every professionally edited publication followed the same pattern.

Rather than showing gratitude for tight prose and well-researched reporting, readers seemed to expect them; and they spoke up only when writers failed to meet this high standard.

Walking away from the kiosk, I realized that I was judging these professional authors by the standards of an amateur blogger. Anyone who aspires to creating high-quality content and a respectable audience, through a blog or any other medium, should appreciate the difference.

Every Writer Needs an Editor

Offline newspapers and magazines employ an editor, whose function is to ensure the publication meets a baseline quality level. An editor might make minor grammar and punctuation tweaks, or send an article back to its author with suggestions for revision. In some cases, an editor will reject an article entirely because it just isn’t good enough.

The relationship between writer and editor is intended to be symbiotic, not sado-masochistic. Working together, they produce the best possible content. Writers who refuse an editor’s criticism are generally unwelcome in the publishing industry.

Editors also decide what public feedback, if any, will be published. By and large, they decline to print simple kudos and congratulations. There are a few reasons for this policy; the most important is that such comments do not serve the readers.

Blogging has changed this time-honored equation, for better and for worse. Rare is the blogger that submits their work to a separate editor. Instead, bloggers rely on themselves and their readers to perform the editing function.

Before publishing, bloggers receive no independent review of their content. Afterwards, they find themselves in a position to sanction anyone who expresses a dissenting opinion. In the print world, this is seen as a conflict of interest; on the Internet, it’s standard operating procedure. Blogger habits, from questionable to despicable, include:

• Disabling all reader comments;
• Deleting individual comments that cast their work in an unflattering light;
• “Astroturfing”, or employing shills for an illusion of popular support;
• Ad-hominem attacks on commentators (editors); and
• Rewriting inconvenient comments so that they support the blogger’s own opinion.

The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum

Bloggers exercise complete control over their editors’ comments. Editors receive no pay, only a backlink next to their comment, and the opportunity for more prominent links in the future if their feedback is acceptably positive.

Considering this system of incentives, it should be no surprise that the most popular blog comment is simply “Great post.” Despite the fact that the value of the average blog post is too low for publishing in any offline newspaper or magazine.

Professional writers exchange value, while amateur bloggers exchange flattery. That is the difference.

None is this is intended to discourage the readers who have left a comment to compliment my work. On the contrary, I appreciate it very much! Reasoned and civil disagreement is also welcome.