Journaling - Readings, Muay Thai, Concepts and Articulations

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Think of the highest level of Muay Thai fighting 30 years ago, in the Golden Age, in terms of Dynamic Range, as its applied to photography or sound recording. Fighters were able to perform skillfully at an intense range of distances. It wasn't just a matter of styles, it was that every distance was within the spectrum of competence or even excellence.

With the advent of Entertainment Muay Thai, as Thailand seeks to fashion its sport towards the less skillful foreigner, the real aim is to reduce the dynamic range of fighting to only "the pocket" as much as possible, to generate clashes, because that's where memorized combinations favored by Western and other nationalities are the most effective, and that is where large bodied fighters will win exchanges. The entire spectrum, the Dynamic Range of fighting is to be shrunk. And the ranges were Thais especially held court, too-far (counter kicking defense) and too-close (clinch dominance) have been clipped out.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Really enjoyed the Mongkutpetch slow rolling control and domination of the Payahong Raja belt fight. Especially in the first 3 rounds it was methodical, and her size, knee threats and the joining of the hands in the clinch just gradually swallowed Payahong up. Payahong was never really a plus clinch fighter, her strength is timing and kicking, and composure, so one that space was consistently invaded there was little she could do to change the tide. It was great how unrushed Mongkutpetch was.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

That makes two, slowly stalking dominant clinch victories in two weight classes for the women at Rajadamnern, Barabara and Mongkutpetch. Beautiful to see the classic Muay Khao style embraced by Rajdamnern for the women.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Bergson and The Magic of Movement from Bergson Thinking Backwards, Moore (1996).

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

This is a line of reasoning I'd like to pursue, that global Capitalism is deskilling Muay Thai fighters, but changing the rules and aesthetics to breakdown complex fighting knowledge to repetitive tasks, like throwing memorized combos, in order to increase the labor force, making individual fighters less unique and more replaceable, and transfer the knowledge core to promotional and media oriented marketing.

 

the chat gpt summary of deskilling:

The argument that capitalism induces deskilling comes primarily from Marxist and critical labor theorists, particularly Harry Braverman, who expanded on this in his influential 1974 book Labor and Monopoly Capital. Here's a breakdown of the argument:

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What is Deskilling?

Deskilling is the process by which skilled labor is replaced with less skilled or unskilled labor—often through:

• Technology or automation

• Standardization of work tasks

• Fragmentation of complex jobs into simpler, repetitive tasks

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Why Would Capitalism Encourage Deskilling?

1. Profit Maximization

Capitalist firms aim to maximize profits. One way to do this is to:

• Replace skilled workers (who are more expensive) with less skilled workers or machines

• Simplify tasks so they require minimal training, which reduces labor costs

2. Managerial Control

Simplifying jobs increases management’s control over the labor process:

• Skilled workers often have more autonomy and bargaining power

• Deskilling reduces workers' independence and makes them easier to supervise, replace, and discipline

3. Increased Productivity

Deskilled labor allows for:

• Mass production techniques (think Ford’s assembly line)

• Faster and more consistent output

• Easily interchangeable workers, which supports scalability

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Theoretical Roots

• Karl Marx: Believed capitalism alienates workers from the labor process, reducing their work to mere repetitive actions

• Harry Braverman: Argued that capitalist development deliberately strips away workers’ skill and knowledge to concentrate power and expertise in management

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

 

Watched this fight the other day, and as much as Wangchannoi is known as a hard-hitting Muay Maat, his hidden art is really the art of spoilage. Watch him spoil one of the great clinch attacks of the Golden Age. Among the many things that he is doing is that his punching and pinning Langsuan's collarbone on his right hand side grab (unusual for an orthodox fighter).

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

As Capitalism deskills and enshittifies (this is pretty clear now), how come people don't realize that this is happening in Muay Thai? It is not "progress". It is the grinding down of skills and our capacity to perceive.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Wayfinding vs transportation or navigation. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/tp9wr_v4

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Asynchrony in skill and habit development in Muay Thai helps explains why acquiring change sometimes (often) doesn't cascade through all levels, which would make the change/development "stick".

 

 

The Levels: Embodied Cognition

 

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Here from Eugene Holland's new book, on Markets and Capitalism, talking about the capture and abstraction from artisanship. The "efficiency and increased output" of Bacon's concerns in a Muay Thai context is the efficiency and output of the generation of students/clients (consumers, customers) and of labor for Muay Thai promotions. It's about making the commodity cheaper and faster (deskilling), so that parts and inflection points in the process become replaceable - and therefore less expensive.

This is how Thailand's Muay Thai is being harvested by technique, pushed into global, deskilled commercial production.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

My piece on Muay Dek fighters in Thailand and why they may be the best fighters in the country.