9

In Karate Kid the mantra of the Cobra Kai Dojo is:

We do not teach anyone to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak. An enemy faces you he deserves no mercy.

Within those 3 lines, it says we don't teach mercy, be merciful to the weak, and enemies get no mercy.

Did the bullies actually ignore the teacher invalidating what is said later about no bad student, only bad teacher?

1
  • exactly right, they were not merciful to the weak-they attacked the weak.... Nov 1, 2018 at 14:56

2 Answers 2

23

Within those 3 lines, it says we don't teach mercy, be merciful to the weak, and enemies get no mercy.

You are misinterpreting the line.

What it means is only the weak give mercy.

Since it assumes that the Cobra kai students are the strong they don't (or shouldn't) offer mercy to the weak.

Nor do they.

They might balk at "sweeping the leg" but they do it....so they don't actually offer mercy at all.

1
  • Except he does apologize for sweeping the leg after the fact. While it wasn't showing mercy, it wasn't something he wanted to do. (Been a while, so I don't remember the character's name :o) +1 for a good answer. Nov 1, 2018 at 23:34
-1

Within those 3 lines, it says we don't teach mercy, be merciful to the weak, and enemies get no mercy.

It's not saying that if someone is weak then they should get mercy, it's saying that if someone asks for mercy, then they are weak (and therefore don't deserve any respect).

1
  • 1
    if someone asks for mercy I think it's also if somebody gives mercy.
    – VLAZ
    Nov 2, 2018 at 7:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .