"I will not allow anyone to walk in my mind with dirty feet." - Mahatma Ghandi

I've been a martial artist my entire life, trained in arts as varied on the combative spectrum as the eclectic and practical Jeet Kun Do and the cooperative and stylized Aikido. Over a lifetime of training I’ve noticed a couple of things about the cultures of various martial arts. The further an art is removed from combative reality, the more toxic its culture becomes. I think the reasons for this say volumes about the weaker parts of human nature. 

A cooperative training style lends itself to inflated egos and bullying. The instructor or senior student can make anything work on his juniors because they are being “good uke” (training partners). The lack of consequences or accountability for bad behavior leads to those very behaviors. Conversely, arts that include pressure testing in their practice regimens in general have much healthier cultures. A lot of this involves consequence. If you have poor etiquette when sparring or rolling in Muay Thai or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, sooner or later there will be a price to pay.

The shooting sports are vulnerable to this as well. A stage at a USPSA or IDPA match, while a fantastic test of a variety of hard skills, is not a gunfight. There is no resisting opponent. This lack of realistic consequence often creates a culture of arrogance. In keeping with my observations from the martial arts world, the more stylized and further from reality the sport is the more toxic the culture has become. While IDPA still isn’t fighting with a firearm, it at least attempts a degree of real world relevance. USPSA, while in my opinion the more difficult and enjoyable sport, does not take any aspect of an actual gunfight into consideration. From a training standpoint, that is fine. USPSA offers unparalleled benefits for skill development. The stages are tests of shooting, not tactics. But from a standpoint of the sports’ cultures, this difference between the two sports shows in how the participants interact. The culture of IDPA, while certainly not perfect, is far less toxic than that of USPSA. 

The rise of social media contributes to unhealthy culture as well. It gives people a forum devoid of consequence or real conflict. This has become so prevalent that people are honestly surprised when confronted in person over their statements online. They sincerely believe that there should be no consequences in the real world for their statements in the virtual one, and are shocked when they have to pay a price for their actions. 

In order to maintain a healthy organizational culture, whether in a martial art, a shooting sport, or any other pursuit, there has to be pressure on the individual from the group to interact with other participants in healthy ways. People have to value the right things. And there have to be consequences for bad behavior. When the culture rewards poor behavior, poor behavior becomes the cultural norm. And that is all too common today, whether in martial arts, combat sports, action shooting, and I’m sure many other activities I’m not as intimately familiar with.

So with toxic cultures currently so prevalent, how do we navigate them while still engaging in the valuable activities they effect? I firmly believe that one step is simply not engaging in the same behaviors, regardless of how tempting it is to fight fire with fire. Do not sink to their level, all it does is encourage more toxicity on their part.

Another that I think is as crucial as it is difficult given our current social norms, is to call people on their poor behaviors in person. People are emboldened by the lack of consequence from long distance interaction through the internet, and are surprised when there are social repercussions in the real world. If enough people do this, over time the culture will change.

Above all though, the important thing to remember is that your training is for you, and you alone. The internet "mean girls" engaging in ad hominem attacks and trolling behaviors don’t change that with their childish actions. Train for yourself, conduct yourself ethically and with dignity, and disregard the opinions of those who contribute nothing to your path and progress. Live your life as well as you can and strive for self improvement. Everything else is noise…