analog

wtf are you talking about?

I don't know what kind of martial arts you've studied, but a large portion of them are not the fear-mongering weapon-making people you seem to be talking about here. Most of the true martial arts are about being at peace, knowing yourself, having respect for yourself and others, and discipline. Learning how to throw a punch is secondary. Sure, there are plenty that are all about learning how to fight, learning how to kick ass, but those are much fewer and farther between. Generalizing all martial arts as you have is just that, generalizing. Why do you think that all martial arts are about instilling fear and creating human weapons bent on kicking any ass they can? It makes no sense to me.

Somehow you're comparing the current, modern trend of Western cultural fear-mongering with the true values held in most martial arts disciplines... disciplines that have been around for a very, very long time, and do not revolve around propaganda to "scare" people.

I really don't understand the comparison to the military, either. The military trains human weapons to kill- just because they both are strictly disciplined and involve punching, does not make them anything alike. I kinda find this comparison offensive, to tell the truth.

As with anything, there are people who use tools for good and evil.

I took karate as a child for many years. It was a great confidence-booster (not because I felt i could kick ass, but because I was proud of my hard work) for a shy kid like I was- and for my brother, it really helped calm him and ground him (he was a very hyper kid) because of the discipline and exercise.