Monday, April 14, 2008

Plagiarism.

Marko's excellent "Why The Gun Is Civilization" essay has been ripped off all over the intarwebz, and even mis-attributed on the air by Neal Boortz.

Now it's being used as ad copy by noted Four Weapons Combat Master®©™ and gun school impresario Iggy Piazza.

Were I Marko, I'd lawyer up. I'm just sayin'.

14 comments:

Earl said...

He should get rewarded for his work with those words. He definitely should have his name on every copy repeated, we know who wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Anonymous said...

So, I'm like 20-30 minutes away from Iggy P's place in Nevada right now.

If it wasn't for the exorbitant cost of his training, I'd whistle over there for a weekend and see what's all the hubbub, bub.

I figure I'll show up for the defensive pistol class with a .25 ACP and a couple of spare mags.

Anonymous said...

Sue Piazza? Dude, get in line!

NotClauswitz said...

I smell the acrid odor of Scienterrifficism around the devlish image of Ignatz Pizza, so lawyering-up is a good thing in any event.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't so bad when it was just being misattributed in an Academic way, but now it's commercial.
If it were me, I'd be very pissed that someone else was using the sweat of my brow to drum up business.

Anonymous said...

I agree. BTW, one of these days you gotsta tell us what a four-way weapons grandmaster thingy is. When I google, all I get is 100 entries all from Piazza.

Anonymous said...

Ahab
if you look around on the web, you should be able to find someone selling a course certificate for a good price. There are several different versions of them. Some of the memberships came with these certificates to give or sell to the public. If you can't find one, I have a friend with the unlimited type, which is more than you need for a first time student. He'll be out of town for a week or so. Take a 4 day class. MUCH better than the two day class, in the opinion of those who have done both.

Anonymous said...

I'll try to explain the 4 Weapons Master thing.
This is actually from Chuck Taylor. He devised a skills test for handgun, rifle, shotgun, and subgun. Very long, difficult course of fire for each one. And expensive in time and ammo! When Chuck was able to pass his own program, he accorded himself that title. The second person to do it was Piazza. It is long, difficult, and you have to pass at 100%. A couple years later, Piazza invited Taylor to help him start FrontSight. Chuck was the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at FS for the first year. He left, following some sort of falling-out with Piazza. It seems that the 4 Weapons Master setup stayed with FS, since several instructors and students have attained this label. I think around 8 people total have done it since the early 90's. I have a vague recollection of having Chuck describe the course of fire, and it was fatiguing just listening to it! One thing I remember is if you blow a shot, you start all over from the very beginning. You have to be perfect every shot. BTW, Chuck did it in 1981, Piazza in 1993. I think Piazza spent into 5 figures training to reach that rating.

It was disappointing when Chuck left the school. Excellent instructor.

verification: tufppy

Tam said...

Will,

I'm very familiar with the Four Weapons Combat Master With Gold Stars and Green Clovers rating. Chuck wrote all about it in an article for either G&A or that rag Libourel edited back in the early '90s. That was back in the day when I was still shooting a lot of action pistol locally.

I, by the way, am a Two Pistol Death Zap Master. I invented the course and shot it perfectly. There are no other Two Pistol Death Zap Masters on the planet, because in order to be awarded the title, you have to be scored by an existing Two Pistol Death Zap Master... See what I'm saying?

Ken said...

Yeah, but do you have the special boots so you can climb walls, plus enough extra trauma plates to catch .338 rounds, and a lifetime supply of Ignoble Pizza? ;-)

Anonymous said...

I have no idea who the hell he thinks he's impressing with the FWCM title, has ever actually been in combat? I think Zero Shame Bullshit Master is more fitting.

Anonymous said...

The height of bullshit in our society is the "Doctor" in front of Iggy's name. He's a fucking chiropractor... and I'm sure there are a few of them that are legit, but the majority of them are charlatans. AND... even if you're an MD, typically the title "Doctor" is only used professionally. What does the "Doctor" have to do with "Four Weapons Master"? They're both crap. And that alone makes me skeptical of anything he says or does.

Unknown said...

Wow,

What a bunch of douche bags. Jealous much? Funny how there's a huge difference between people who actually do and create things and the critics who say (talk shit) things. I attended a 2 day defensive handgun course and was amazed by the professionalism displayed by the staff and how much I learned that I though I knew already.

Seriously guys Dr. Piazza, yes a chiropractor is a doctor (look it up), is doing something for the 2nd amendment and responsible gun ownership and training. What is the point of all the shit talking? Do you guys work for competing schools run by the ex-law enforcement, ex-military drill instructor type?

Anyone who wants real world training delivered by professionals who respect you as a customer and fellow firearms owner trying to improve their skills get a Front Sight membership.

Anyone who wants to know about my experience feel free to email me. I'm not some anonymous shit talking coward with nothing constructive or positive to say. I'll let you know my experience and you can judge for yourself.

robodaddio@gmail.com

Tam said...

"Ro",

Is "Ro" really what it says on your D/L? 'Cause it says "Tamara" on mine. Anyhow...

"Jealous much?"

Not really, no.

"Do you guys work for competing schools..."

No.

"I'm not some anonymous shit talking coward..."

Back to that "D/L" thing again...

Anyhow, I'm pretty catholic in my gun school tastes. I've only had instruction from Todd Jarrett and Louis Awerbuck so far, but I'm signed up for a Todd Green course in October and I hope to do a Clint Smith class before too long, too. If I like all these other guys and only make fun of one or two, maybe there's a reason?

Just a thought,

Sincerely,

Tamara K., 2PDZM, HD, GW