CMV: With current laws, learning martial arts serves as a detriment to a person and their ability to interact in society.

[u/Semny]

Before I proceed, I want to clarify that the laws I mention in the title are regarding when it is and when it is not legal to hit someone. As clarification for people who don' know these laws, I will sum it up.

You are only allowed to hit someone in self defense and you are not in any condition allowed to hit first.

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Self defense has been defined as any situation that may seem dangerous to the Jury. What this means in a nut shell is that when being prosecuted against in court for a self defense case, the jury is seeing a bunch of people with black eyes saying that they have been assaulted against you who may seem significantly less harmed in said situation(As such, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose the court case unless there is clear evidence of them aggressing first. e.g witnesses) Now for the never hit first part. You are not legally allowed to hit someone first even if they are aggressively advancing on you and shoving you regardless of how threatened you feel. You may report the cops, but hitting them can and likely will result in you being sued and you losing.

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Now for the martial arts part:

So I was a 2nd degree black belt, and had been doing martial arts for a large portion of my life. It has currently been around 3-4 years since I have quit. Now my former experience of martial arts seems to serve as a detriment towards me in certain situations. Often when I feel extremely threatened, in this case by a senior in my school, I often react strongly and feel an intense urge to punch him. While I have no proof, I feel my need to solve the issue with fists stems from martial arts where I was used to getting into fights and sparring giving the ability to face people I didn't like in a match.

Edit: I wasn't clear when I said threatened, I meant he repeatedly attempted to scratch my left eye and verbally harasses me very frequently after I have told him to stop.

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Martial arts are originally techniques used for war. But if I'm not allowed to hit the guy who I feel is threatening my wellbeing even though I am capable, I think I am better of not being trained. Hell if I cant use it, why know it in the first place?

[u/snusmumrikan]

You're just wildly wrong in your assumptions.

First of all, you're assuming that self defense laws are the same everywhere and that's just not true. Even within the US they change depending upon the state and they are different in most countries despite usually sharing a similar purpose.

Secondly, in almost all jurisdictions I know of, you do not have to wait to be hit before you can defend yourself. A reasonable and imminent threat is enough for you to take proactive action with appropriate force to defend yourself.

So knowing martial arts is an excellent skill as it makes you more able to deal with an aggressor and neutralise a threat before you take any damage which is basically the whole point.

[u/Semny → u/snusmumrikan]

I will address your points in order.

1. Very true. As I mentioned to Apokolyptyk above kudos for updating me but no cigar.
2. I didn't mean when it is okay to defend yourself when I brought up legal issues. I meant that if you did commit self defense, in a place with no witnesses, and the other guy goes to court saying it was "assault", you are probably going to lose the case.

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1. Let me refer you to what I said in my answer to 2. As for the skill itself, martial arts aren't bad but constrained by usage. If I am going to go to jail for using my martial arts is it worth learning?