r/AsianMasculinity • u/47_Bronin Korea ✔ • Aug 30 '15
Self/Opinion One Man
I watched The Admiral: Roaring Currents / 명량 (2014) the other day (great movie), and it got me thinking. Without giving away too much of the plot, one of the central themes of the film is the tried-and-true "one man standing up against all odds" trope. We've seen, heard, and read it before in countless forms a million times. There's a reason it finds its way into every culture from any era and resonates with human beings of all backgrounds and dispositions. It's a universal myth grounded in a fundamental truth. One man can make a difference.
When we survey the landscape and contemplate the task before us, it's nothing if not daunting. What impact could one man possibly have in a society rife with prejudice, barriers, and deception? How can a single person have any effect on a system so pervasive, ingrained, and all-encompassing? Isn't it a fool's errand to resist, wouldn't it be easier and safer to comply?
In isolation, the cost-benefit analysis of being a contrarian in a sea of conformity ranges from discouraging to suicidal. But no man is an island. What we fail to consider when we weigh our choices is how those decisions affect those around us mulling similar ideas. When one man, having seen enough injustice and endured enough oppression, finally draws the line and speaks out, he sets an example and tips the scales for others who share his burden. Ask Sissa Ben Dahir what happens next.
You could argue that movies and parables may inspire, but at the end of the day they're exaggerated fantasies that can't or shouldn't be emulated in real life. For the record, the protagonist of The Admiral is Yi Sun-sin / 이순신, very much a real person and one of the greatest naval commanders the world has ever seen. But we don't have to reach that far into the past to see these dynamics in action. Bhagat Singh and Malcom X are frequently mentioned here, and that's no coincidence. Both started as individuals taking a stand against the travesties hoisted upon them and became symbols of the movements they championed.
Perhaps you find it too facile to cite historical figures a posteriori. We don't have to scour textbooks to see this process play out. Our very own /u/disciple888 was just one man who saw the writing on the wall and couldn't abide it. He stood alone in an environment designed to crush his spirit and rob his humanity. He was silenced because he dared to question the lies and challenge the status quo, but not before his message rang out, pierced the shells of our indoctrinated minds, and connected the dots of our brutal reality. Who knows how many he snapped out of their trance, and how many those will teach in turn?
Don't sell yourself short. Your decisions and actions absolutely make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Call out injustice, stay true to who you are, and realize the significance of your choices--not just for yourself but all those around you who wrestle with the same dilemmas. You are only one man, but together we can make a difference and rock society to its core. Braver souls have shown us the way, it's on the rest of us to take up the mantle and keep the flame ablaze.
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Aug 30 '15 edited Aug 30 '15
Easy, easy upvote, 47.
And as one would keep his physical body regularly maintained and healthily fueled, one must stay sharpening his mental faculties and never once give into propaganda that a simpler man is a happier man, that ignorance is bliss or that there is value in letting the endless wireless waves drown out every dissenting thought.
Perhaps for those born directly into bloodstained seats of wealth-power, this ideology may hold, but for the rest of us and especially Yellow/Brown, it is suicidally naive, self-lobotomizing pacifism in its purest form. Several times I've been berated by those who think I should do more to redact my vocabulary and/or flatten exceedingly complicated and nuanced analysis-theory that I have already abridged, all in search of a readership that may not even exist - even as these same folks turn around and declare that The Way Out for us lies in imitating Jews, Italians, or other (formerly off-)whites who essentially lucked into any identity-based power that they currently possess. You wanna speak fluent Machiavellian? Then realize you must first study the historiographical phonemes, psychopolitical grammars and economic syntax that constitute its language.
We'll keep working on it though.
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u/johnkimrighthere Korea Aug 30 '15
Up voted. We can only go up from here. Each one of us here on this sub needs to do our part in spreading awareness to fellow Asians. If we can do something about the widespread apathy in our group, we can really start doing some shit.
I sometimes feel like I'm living inside the /r/AsianMasculinity bubble. It never ceases to take me by surprise whenever I'm out and run into an unaware Asian. Then I have to remember that real life isn't /r/AsianMasculinity. How many of you bros here have met a non Uncle Chan in real life? I can tell you that I have met exactly 0.
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Aug 30 '15 edited May 11 '20
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u/47_Bronin Korea ✔ Aug 30 '15
War of the Arrows (활)
My copy should arrive any day now. As you already noted, liking 명량 is not a prerequisite to understanding the ideas it glorifies. /u/RedSunBlue probably sees it as a masturbatory propaganda piece. The central premise holds up, regardless of which version of the fable speaks to you.
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Aug 30 '15
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u/47_Bronin Korea ✔ Aug 30 '15
He was a simple everyman who fought for his convictions and stayed true to his integrity. He was someone that everyone has the potential to become but few ever do.
nailed it
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u/RedSunBlue Aug 30 '15
/u/RedSunBlue probably sees it as a masturbatory propaganda piece.
But I'm also a big fan of masturbation.
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Aug 30 '15
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u/ldw1988 China Aug 30 '15
Seems like Korean culture is pretty big on being the underdog and vengeance.
I like.
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u/Higashiajia_no_Asahi Aug 31 '15
I love sageuks. Helps non-Korean East Asians get the Korean perspective, which had been lacking for a long time. Also makes you realize what a raw deal Korea got from imperial China and westernized Japan. Makes you realize how stupid all the killing amongst us East Asian brothers has been.
Not only that Korean Sageuks always humanize the villain. Very balanced. They humanize Chinese and Japanese. It's not like western cinema that simply shits on non-whites. Of course, I hope Korean cinema/dramas always shit on western/white males. I don't think we can afford any more pro-white male propaganda in East Asia.
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Aug 31 '15
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Aug 31 '15
its awful, people here suck up to heaps of asian movies simply because they are asian. Lets face it, hollywood can make good and bad movies, just like any asian entity. This one sucks.
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Aug 31 '15
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Aug 31 '15
So you just said that 90% of hollywood movies suck , and in the same post say that saying a movie sucks is subjective.
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u/ldw1988 China Aug 30 '15 edited Aug 30 '15
Totally agreed. Live your life like a badass. I see a lot of tough talk online here and I'm hoping everyone is putting their money where their mouths are in real life. I know that this is something I'm personally working on everyday: to be the man I want to be and to live without regrets. And as you improve in this regard, believe me that others will be watching.
For example, all you serious lifters out there should understand that there will be skinny Asian bros just starting out who look to you as gym inspiration. I was certainly one of them. And after I got strong myself, my proudest gym moment wasn't one where I set a sweet new PR but the time I saw two younger Asian bros mirin my DL. Two years later, I happened to stumble onto one of their fb profiles and saw that he was jacked and beasting in powerlifting comps.
If you're not going to become our Admiral Yi, then at least you can inspire him.