The No-Touch Knockout

I know this topic has been discussed to death on the Internet already, but believe it or not there are still groups discussing if such a thing exits or not.

I’m going to keep this short…. at least for me, and sum things up in one sentence.

There is absolutely no validity, or scientific evidence to prove, that anyone, living or dead, can or ever could knock someone out without touching them, without the aid of a some type of projectile.

Fact is fact!

Okay, so much for one sentence.

I know there are those that will vehemently argue that no-touch knockouts do exists, and that they have witnessed someone get knocked-out in such a manner, or know of someone who witnessed such an event.

Okay, I also have a bridge I like to sell you here in San Francisco. It’s really pretty and attracts a lot of tourists. I’ll sell it to you for a steal.

I realize many people have a need to believe in something. I understand that some people want to believe in mystical or super human abilities. Furthermore, I know people can at times be pretty gullible, and someone with a forceful charismatic personality can sway people into believing the unbelievable.

I’ll be the first to admit that if such a technique existed I would want to learn it. I mean, who doesn’t want to have that skill. It’s the ultimate self-defense.

However, if such a skill did exist don’t you think a lot more people would know how to do it? Don’t you think there would be reports in the news, because such a skill is being abused?

I mean why use drugs to commit date rape, just knock her out from across the room. Why point a gun at a clerk, when you can just knock him out from a distance.

Now the argument of course is that in order to develop such a skill requires a lot of training, and dedication. Training and dedication most people wouldn’t endure.

Maybe that’s true, but there are millions of people in the world, and a few bad ones would. Just like a few bad people take the time to learn to make bombs, plan terrorist plots, and even cultivate bacterial weapons like anthrax.

Strike One

Then of course, there is the argument that this knowledge was lost and only recently re-discovered. Crap! That’s just too easy of an explanation. Plus, except for legends, no reliable sources state that such a techniques was ever used in actual combat.

There is also no viable information that an actual living person in the past ever had such a skill.

I think anyone in the past that had such ability, and demonstrated it effectively-especially in a combative situation-would have instantly become a martial arts icon. He would have had tons and tons of disciples. Nnumerous stories about him would exist.

There are no such stories, and such a person never existed.

Strike Two

The last argument is my favorite, and usually used to attack skeptics like me. I call it the blame game.

In this case, when the no-touch knockout fails it’s the skeptics fault. They countered the techniques by lifting their toe or twisting their tongue.

Or how about this excuse: I can’t do the technique on you because your chi isn’t developed enough and it would seriously injure you. Don’t laugh; that excuse was used on me.

Many years ago there used to be a female martial arts instructor in San Francisco, whose students swore could knock people out without touching them. I forgot her name, and I’m not even sure if she is still alive. That’s not important anyway.

As a skeptic that would be willing to accept being proven wrong, I went to her school to see things for myself. I politely introduced myself to this teacher, and told her I had heard great things about her skills. I told her I was extremely interested in her ability to knock people out without touching them.

For the next half hour or so I got a lecture on chi, and the training it would take to develop my internal force. This lecture was followed up with her giving a demo, where she continuously knocked her students to the floor or into unconsciousness without ever touching them. She even knocked one guy out as he stood on the other side of a wall. Pretty impressive stuff to be sure.

I then asked her if she do it on me. She looked at me for a moment and said “No.” I asked her again, and she said she couldn’t. Not because she lacked the ability, but because my chi wasn’t strong enough and I would get seriously hurt.

Sure!

I then told her I would be willing to sign any release and wavier she wanted me to, and that any injury suffered would be totally my fault. She still declined.

Of course at this point she offered to accept me as a student and help me develop my chi. All it would cost was $85.00 a month.

“How long do you think it will take?” I asked.

“Years,” she said, “maybe longer.”

Once again I asked her to just please try and knock me out, I needed to feel her power before I could commit to training with her.

With a huff she agreed to try. I stood there waiting to feel something, anything. All I felt was bored...okay maybe a bit amused. I certainly was never knocked-out. If she was projecting any “force” my way, I never sensed it.

After a few moments she stopped. There was never any explanation why nothing had happened. She just left the room.

Of course some of her senior students asked me if I was feeling okay, and if I needed to sit down. I guess they were worried about my welfare. Nice of them, but unnecessary.

I left her school as I had entered it, still a skeptic. Maybe even more so.

This story clearly illustrates the main fact that disproves the notion of no-touch knockouts. If such a technique existed and one had the ability to do it they should be able to do it on anyone at any time.

If you placed 100 people in a room, 50 of them skeptics, 50 of them believers, your abilities should work on everyone. Maybe not to the same degree, not every martial arts technique works on everybody equally, but enough to show a verifiable statistic to prove its existence.

To date, I’m unaware of any such study, and I doubt any such study is forthcoming.

Furthermore, I find it interesting that those individuals who claim to be able to do no-touch knockouts, usually accuse the other person of countering their attack when things don’t work. What a load of crap! How can I counter something when I don’t even understand how it works?

More importantly if it’s that easy to counter, why bother learning it anyway?

Strike Three

The truth is that no-touch knockouts don’t exist. The body does not externalize energy like a ray-gun, any more than a goose can lay a golden egg.

No-touch knockouts are a con, a scam, and those that claim to have the ability should trade their black belts for a priest’s alb, since they are more akin to wanting to be a guru or a cult leader than a martial arts teacher.

Please give us legitimate martial arts teachers a break. Give the unsuspecting a public a break.