Whenever a far-away or long-dead culture can be invoked, a mystery or an entire mystical philosophy can be generated. Depend on it. The scam-artists delight in reaching back for ancient ideas, particularly those that bear some real value, and then they distort it all into flummery — which as we know, sells exceedingly well.

The martial arts have long been a favorite arena for promoting nonsense. There are some schools that depend on their "mysteries" to survive, much to the dismay of the genuine teachers who put their hearts into the task of instructing students what really works — and how it works — only to be eclipsed by the bamboozlers who are selling costumes, chants, stunts, and theories, but no real facts.

Reader Dr. J. D. Morenski has been fighting nonsense in the martial arts for years. He's kept me informed of the more egregious scams in the field, and though we've challenged many of the practitioners to take the JREF prize, they've always gone away mumbling excuses that make "The dog ate my homework" look legitimate. I've published the standard JREF challenge in martial arts magazines that enjoy huge circulations, and not one of those who claim miraculous abilities has ever accepted the challenge — though many have loudly declared that winning the prize would be easy for them, just before they faded from the scene to wait until the pressure has died away. Most of these are selling some system or a gimmick to unsuspecting customers.

In any case, they can never, ever, made a clear statement of what their powers are, or of exactly what they're selling. They come up with lots of fantastic, imaginative theory, and though most of them are not themselves Asian, they complain that "Westerners usually do not understand," and they supply "outs" such as excuses that an opponent can counteract their magical "powers" by keeping his tongue against his hard palate; as Dr. Morenski says, "I am unaware of how anyone can avoid keeping his tongue from his hard palate." Usually, the claim is yet another of the "slaying of the soul" tricks, where they claim that they can "knock out" an opponent merely by waving their hands in front of him.

 There's a "chi-master" named Richard Mooney — who delights in bad-mouthing me, a favorite sport with losers — was put to the test two years ago and the resulting failure has hounded him all over the Internet. His responses have been rather ineffective, says Dr. Morenski:

According to the administrator of the web-page that sponsored the test nearly two years ago, the results of which were reported in a previous issue of Swift and are available on: http://www.uechi-ryu.com/an_empty_force.htm, the claimant in question has had difficulty explaining his failure on a number of other web-pages. Before the test, he tended to "appear" on a martial arts Internet forum along with various students to proclaim his "powers" and to ridicule doubters. He would inundate the forum with theories in a manner which I am sure readers are familiar with from following this site. Of course, any skeptic simply "does not understand" the "powers" because he comes from a "Western bias," et cetera.

If that failed, the chi-master could always resort to simple insult.

However, since the results of the test were published, skeptical readers have been able to bring that fact to his attention, much to his discomfort. He originally wrote a "response" of sorts which can be seen at: http://www.uechi-ryu.com/use_of_energy%20by%20Richard%20M.%20Mooney.htm

My response to his response is available at: http://uechi-ryu.com/response_to_the_empty_force_test.htm. For those who read through all of this, please rest assured that, soon, I will test for and win the $1,000,000 by demonstrating my ability to fly . . . after I work out this problem with impacting on the concrete. . . .

Mooney's responses apparently did not have the effect he wanted, for readers again asked him to explain his failure, and my response. He chose a tactic worthy of any warrior: he demanded that his response be deleted! Apparently, one should exercise caution in what one writes, for one may have to stand by it later.

The site administrator, and administrators of other martial arts forums, discovered that the chi-master and his supporters have stumbled upon a unique tactic — registering under other martial artist's names and under other multiple names to create a virtual "peanut gallery" of support. The responses from this "multitude" has consisted primarily of insulting Mr. Randi, myself, and others involved in the test. Unfortunately for the "multitude," martial artists have begun to wonder why they are receiving reports that they'd posted something on a forum. Worse, apparently it's quite easy to determine the origin of a posting, thus revealing the rather "singular" source of the "multitude."

I encountered one of these dopplegangers when alerted to a debate. Said chi-master and disciples entered proclaiming their powers, only to be met by posters asking for an explanation as to why he'd failed under conditions he agreed to, and under which he'd said he could perform.

Allow me to take the moment to stress a few points contained in the referenced articles. The individual swore he would meet Mr. Randi "anytime, anywhere" to prove his powers. Needless to write, this never happened. The individual stated, specifically, what he could do. He reviewed the conditions of the test. He agreed to perform at the time of the test. Finally, and this involves martial arts: he went into methods to defend oneself against an attacker. I must confess I wish to rely on methods that do not depend on the time of day, on whether or not the attacker is a "non-responder," or is a skeptic, or is relaxed, et cetera.

The response to the questions consisted of barrages of theory and insult.

The proclaimed "lineages" in martial arts, particularly the esoteric menagerie of "kung-fus" based on animals that never existed, can make particle physics appear straightforward. That's the point: anyone can claim whatever lofty expertise and instruction from tongue-twisting oriental masters they wish, in one great appeal to ignorance and authority. "You never heard of Grand Master Poo?!!! Well, clearly you do not deserve to even question my greatness . . . blah . . . blah."

Nevertheless, lineages do exist.

Eventually, a few posters not only recognized some of the teachers cited, a few had even trained under them. One poster quoted his teacher who supposedly taught the "secrets," as condemning the practice as so much chicanery! The response? I am sure readers can guess. "Of course Master-So-and-So condemned this to you. To me he passed the ancient secrets of. . . ."

This did not convince the readers, fortunately.

Dr. Morenski informed me that the enlightened teacher is Ryuko Tomoyose, a 10-Dan master in his late 70's, from Okinawa. And, adds Morenski, "a very nice man."

If these debates had remained in the realm of "weekend warriors" who enjoy dressing up in snazzy uniforms with multicolored belts while addressing one another by various titles, it would remain merely an embarassing joke. However, people do think they can apply such flim-flam in real situations. Faith healing is funny until one realizes that victims become hurt. Students who practice these "techniques" in the "real world" can, and do, get hurt.

It has come to my attention that a proponent of the pressure-point-knock-out sells a video on knife defenses. Try to imagine, for a moment, an attacker armed with a knife coming at you with every intention of committing malice aforethought. You will now lightly touch a combination of points on his body to knock him out.... I've been informed that it works very well on student-attackers who have learned how to react....

As we all know, the JREF challenge is still out there. Come and get it. Quick! Before Sylvia Browne snaps it up! It's been 323 days, Sylvia!