Street Jujitsu Handbook
Review by Phil Elmore
Before I can review Street Jujitsu Handbook by Ron Collins, there is some... er... full disclosure we need to get out of the way. Sometime early last year or late in the year before that, a fellow named Ron Collins phoned me. I don't remember the call; I usually forget things that are of little significance to me (and sometimes I forget things that are important, too). I do dimly recall, though, that the conversation took place and that Ron asked if he could send me a copy of his "book," Street Jujitsu Handbook.
Not long after that, I got the "book" in the mail. Like Ashida Kim's Mugei Mumei No Jitsu, it's not a book at all; it's a pile of duplex-copied sheets of 8.5x11 inch paper that have been stapled together on the crease of the fold in the middle (more or less). There is no shame in releasing such a booklet; I've put out a few of them myself. I just can't bring myself to call them "books." To me, "book" implies an actual cover, and perhaps a binding process that doesn't involve my own desk and a Swingline stapler.
I looked through the book and, because I am not (contrary to opinion in certain online circles) deliberately a dick, decided I had better not review it at all. It was... well, not very good. To say that it sucks would be a very subjective description, but one that is nonetheless accurate and universally understandable. It made me somewhat uncomfortable when Ron, using his MySpace page, repeatedly contacted me, asking after the "book," apparently a bit desperate to know what I thought of it.
I believe (though I don't have the sent message saved) that I brushed him off, I hope politely. There didn't seem to be any point in trying to discourage him person-to-person. At the time I had no reason to crush his hopes. Things got a little more tense, however, when Ron started participating at The Martialist's discussion forum. He revealed, over the course of a lengthy discussion, that he was actually writing to the forum while under house arrest, apparently in some way related to the following conviction:
Ron's contentious post history on our discussion forum started in earnest, you see, when he related in early June of 2009 that he had assaulted someone with a hammer, in what he said was a self-defense altercation. On the first of September, he posted to Ashida Kim's discussion forum (and I copied the post and pasted it at The Martialist's discussion forum) that he was once again "the talk of the town" and that he had been charged with "malicious wounding" for the hammer assault. At last count, he was awaiting the decision of a Grand Jury in January of 2010 to see if they would "pick it up."
I mention all of this because it speaks directly to the mindset and attitude of someone who markets books (or booklets) like Drunken Wolverine-Ninja-Kung Fu, one of Ron's other titles. Here's the ad copy from Ashida Kim's Dojo Press website, the outfit through which this "book" is available.
Now, keep in mind that this is a man who, in his own words, claims to have been a rather notorious "street fighter" and "pit fighter" who is also a modern-day ranked ninja. On these various claims, Ron went on at length at The Martialist's discussion forum, saying that he was once (before the age of 17, presumably, when he says he enlisted in the Marines) homeless and that, from the age of 15 to 17, he used to "pit fight" other teenagers and even adults "for money" in an abandoned parking garage. Truly, this paints a colorful scene that would have done Frank Dux proud.
Those who market self-defense materials have an obligation not to send people into the world prepared to do grievious and unnecessary harm. Walking about with "intent to kill, cripple, and maim" is not preparing for self-defense; it is preparing to be charged with assault or manslaughter. No legitimate instructor of self-defense would teach his students an attitude like this, nor would a reputable instructor, in my opinion, take pride in numerous brushes with the law or in being a violent person by nature.
After careful consideration I have, in fact, decided to review the booklet Mr. Collins sent me, if only as a warning to any who might unknowingly choose to try to learn from it.
Street Jujitsu Handbook
This brings me to Street Jujitsu Handbook. This booklet runs the gamut from mediocre, to dull, to unremarkable, to truly awful, not to mention potentially dangerous to the practitioner. There is no table of contents and there are no page numbers. The booklet rambles from topic to topic, starting with the "Seven Rules of a Street-Fight" (including such gems as "Never Underestimate Your Opponent!!!" and "Always Expect to Be Attacked!!!", each one punctuated by no less than three exclamation points) and the "Psychology of Victimization" and continuing on through "Basics of Stealth & Evasion," "Physical Conditioning," "Fighting Techniques," and various other topics.
The striking targets, fighting techniques, and general mechanics are fairly unremarkable, though they are described somewhat incoherently and illustrated even more poorly, mostly with small, fuzzy line art. Those who are already familiar with jujitsu and the other techniques borrowed for this book will be able to identify most of them. Those who are attempting to learn the techniques from the book will not have an easy time of it, nor should they try, as injury from simple ignorance would likely result. On this last point I can't fault Mr. Collins, for that's true of almost any martial arts book.
Where the booklet truly raises eyebrows is in the philosophy it espouses, as I've indicated. Ron states, in the closing of the booklet, that he is "a violent person by nature." He writes, "My violent nature is a matter of survival. I learned to fight to survive. I learned to endure pain & fatigue to survive. Most of all, I learned to use the side of me that is 'animal instinct' to survive."
This unnecessarily violent attitude pervades the entire booklet. On the philosophy of Street Focus Jujitsu Training, Ron Writes,
The greatest weapon is the Mind of the Fighter/Warrior. In this the person who is taking action does so with a [sic] element of control & coldness that may seem inhuman to most bystanders. This coldness is not so much malicious action but a firm resolve that comes from understanding odds and options...
...What this means is that if I break a mugger's arm or even go so far as to kill that same mugger that person will not be able to hurt others. If I fight a "local tough" and injure him so badly that he never wishes to fight me again, it means those who witness the violence & the effects of the violence will not cross the same line. Those who do will do so doubting themselves. And, this why [sic] we train, we learn to fight so that we don't have to fight.
The whole booklet reads like that -- as the posturing of a man who, it seems, wants you to know just how incredibly tough and able he is (so that you will be so afraid of him that he, like Bruce Lee, won't "have to fight"). At the same time, the author repeatedly exhibits a dangerously casual disregard for the concepts of parity of force and the circumstances under which the use of force is legally justified. In our litigous world, it is monstrously irresponsible to ignore the legal repercussions of your actions, or to purport to "train" people to behave as vicious "street fighters" who kill and maim, not of necessity, but because they wish to send a lesson and instill fear in throngs of cowering, agape bystanders. Ron goes on, again near the booklet's closing:
I codified a system, that addresses the world no one learns in the dojo or gym; because no one I'd seen had ever done so before. I applied various martial arts in principle to formulate my own; because everyone has done that before...
...I am survivalist [sic] above all else. May goal [sic] in life is to stay alive and for that I must be willing to do what is necessary...
...In the mindset of pure survivalist nature this means, letting go of comfortable idea [sic] for uncomfortable truths...
...Meaning quite simply, the guy with gun [sic] only has the advantage if your scared [sic] of the gun or he has the nerve to use the gun. The guy with the knife who will stab is the threat that the guy who uses the knife to scare will never be. This is especially true of "martial artists" the guys who want to be respected for their ability often go out of their way to prove that ability. But, those who have intentions are what is dangerous, if a person intends to get your money he will take it be any means [sic] available & necessary to achieving his goals.
If immersing yourself in this mildly illiterate bucket of crap is your idea of a good time, well, I'm sure Ron would be happy to sell you a copy of Street Jujitsu Handbook. If, however, you'd like to study self-defense and self-preservation, even survivalism, without spending any unnecessary time in jail or wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, I'd have to encourage you to move on. This "book" isn't worth your time and, more importantly, it's riddled with an attitude that is exactly the opposite of that which a law-abiding citizen defender should adopt.
Ron writes, in closing the booklet, that "the choice to be great was measured by the strength & character of the individual, & this is how the world will see us. So much so that every choice we make must be towards that end. To be great we must choose to be great." Insofar as I can understand what these mangled sentences are trying to convey, I believe I agree.
It then falls to you, the reader, to determine if, in writing this booklet, Mr. Collins indeed has chosen to be great. >>
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