Dismal dim mak

[rachelmanija]

Via Carl Fink:

Video from Chicago Fox News of a supposed dim mak (death touch) master doing astonishing things to his students, then failing miserably to replicate the effects on the Fox reporter (whose comment after he tries it on her was my favorite part of the entire thing) and a jujitsu school:

http://tooshocking.com/index.php?ns=view_vid&id=692

Comments

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

That thing he did on his students looked a hell of a lot like the hypnosis trick I remember kids doing to each other when I was in high school.

[ghosthorse [deadjournal.com] (from livejournal.com)]

Ooooh, yeah--what are you supposed to chant while looking in the bathroom mirror with a candle lit and all the other lights off? And if there's, like, ten of us, we can levitate somebody with one finger...

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Also, if you chant, "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary" three times in an unlit room while looking into a mirror, Bloody Mary will come out of the mirror and kill you. Or maybe you'll see your future husband's face, I forget which.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

The one I remember was just chanting and rubbing someone's back (and breaking an imaginary egg over their head) and, finally, pretending to pull on a rope tied to their back, which made the person feel pulled along with it. Sort of like the kids toppling over in the video. And those students in the video were mostly kids, weren't they?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! I remember that game. The version of chant we played went, "Concentration. Concentration. People are dying, children are crying, concentration." And you'd repeat it for as long as it took you to finish the game.

When I was ten, I thought that chant was so creepy that I planned to make a horror movie using it as the basis.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I wonder if, like with many other things, it's all about belief. Voudoun works because people belive it works; if you truly believe in curses and you think someone has cursed you, then it affects you.

The mind is an amazing thing. We can completely fool ourselves (sometimes for good things, too), heal ourselves, let ourselves walk over hot coals...when I stop and actually think about it, it's almost too much to believe.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I think it's completely about belief. Martial arts students tend to place a lot of trust in their teachers, so if he says he's going to wiggle his fingers and you'll faint, he'll wiggle his fingers and you faint.

[mcdolemite.livejournal.com]

I suppose that "din mak" is a misnomer, since I've not heard of George Dillman claiming he can KILL anyone with this technique. As I observed on DM, this is a lot like the way evangelists "zap" their worshippers. I'd like to see Dillman try this on Mirkov Cro-Cop (the former Croatian Special Forces guy who usually wins PRIDE fights in Japan by roundhouse kicks to the head). Come of it, I did once see Cro-Cop win a fight by punching a guy in the arm, but in that case his Russian opponent fell down and doubled over in obvious pain from a muscle spasm -- he wasn't knocked out by Cro-Cop's ch'i!

It's a truism that nobody ever demonstrates these techniques in a real fight, but it's also pretty damning that neither Dillman nor anyone else can do this in a controlled fight, like full-contact or even light contact sparring. No, the opponent has to stand there and be lectured first.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I would so love to have one of those guys try a no-touch knock-out on me. As for the light-touch ones, as the Fox reporter pointed out, she winced because "You hit me on the head."

[hokelore.livejournal.com]

I've read accounts by people who weren't Dillman followers that attended his seminars. They all say that after he does his little pressure point taps, if the person doesn't drop, he gives them a covert, but solid, shove to knock them off-balance, so he can make a show of helpinng them up.

[mcdolemite.livejournal.com]

Here's an Aussie "Yellow Bamboo" practitioner trying to demonstrate his no-touch ch'i knockout on a guy from a jiu-jitsu dojo. It doesn't seem to go well:

http://www.muchosucko.com/video-yellowbamboovsreality.html

What do you think of this? I would never dis aikido like I do Dillman, but these demos always look a bit too stagey for me. Mind you, I've never been on the receiving end.

http://www.muchosucko.com/video-passivefighting.html

Since I'm pasting in stuff from muchosucko.com, I never get tired of seeing this police marital arts instructor (who was filming some kind of demo in the hood) knock out this pimp. Is that a backfist?

http://www.muchosucko.com/video-pimpfuvskarate.html

I think you've seen this one before, but here's Mirko Cro-Cop demonstrating that anyone who says high kicks don't work in mixed martial arts hasn't fought him. Dig how he managed to deliver those kicks even to guys who are sitting on top of him. Until I saw this, I thought that only happened in the movies (no, the PRIDE fights in Japan are not fixed).

http://www.muchosucko.com/video-crocophighlights.html