For ground you should do Judo, Jujitsu or Brazilian Jujitsu. For standing you should do kickboxing, muay thai or some sort of style that uses hands and legs evenly. TKD is pretty good for the kicking part, and boxing is good for a striking element.
Lets say you try Judo over the net, how are you going to practice the throw, and how are you going to do it right without using another person to practice on? You can do cardio kickboxing, but there is no sub for a real dojo and actual hands on training. How would you compensate for a person's...
Is karate still an effective way of defending oneself or now an outdated concept?
Now ask your self this. How can that many Asian people be wrong about self defense when their styles still exist today?
This can't be determined, because we don't know the skills of the fighters. Both styles are good, but some times it comes down to who was able to inflict more damage. It's not the style, it's the fighter and how well trained they. Skills, son, skills!
Dude, that is a loaded question that will take all day to answer. There are so many different denominations do to some one taking what they like and scrapping the other stuff. Jujitsu was taken and formed in to judo for example. Kung fu has way too many styles to name.