Has modern culture lost touch with the warrior ideal?

Post Reply New Topic

Has it?
It seems that historically, among ancient and medieval European and Asian cultures and a number of Native American cultures it was seen as respectable and honorable to stand up for and defend what you believed in, not by marching around holding up signs and shouting bland slogans, but by breaking enemy ranks and slaying foes, even as recently as World War II.
However, it seems like post-Vietnam modern culture seems to have lost touch with the idea of the honorable warrior, and with that archetype blatantly trampled and spat upon by self-professed peace activists, who want us to deny and hate our history, an important archetype is missing from our collective cultural consciousness, and that seems to bespeak a tragic lack in the stories and concepts that inspire us as human beings.

You seem to be ignoring metal culture.

MLK proposed (like others before him) the path of peaceful protest.

It has its merit in societies where ideas are more powerful than guns. Much change can be done if you simply work on the minds. Heck, socialism spreads often through violence, but they are taking over more and more by indoctrinating a generation to believe socialism is better way and getting governments to change with each year through the enactment of each new socialist law and policy proposed.

However, when the goal is important enough, the shedding of blood must not be shirked. Peace works when your ideas are given room to grow. If you are essentially shut out, you either fight or be obliterated in due time.

Yes, modern culture has lost touch with the warrior ideal. In fact, it has been awhile since we've had it. The major issue is that now a "warrior ideal" has become useless to most of us. We don't need bravery and pointless acts of will, but instead, what we need today is analysis and social coordination. So, instead of a business culture being dominant, we see business, political and academic cultures being dominant.

....has come a realization that the old ways perhaps aren't what they once were.

as a personal ideal, one can certainly live honorably, as a warrior.

and common enemies to us all are ignorance, hatred, and fear. one can vow to remain undefeated by these. believe me, no battle will ever be harder, no victories harder won.

humans aren't particularly impressive enemies, being mostly scared, confused, and easily led by whim and sentiment.

Culture has changed.

When I was a kid movies showed male role models like Davy Crockett, Daniel Boon, The Waltons, The father from Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza, etc.

Good honest strong men. If you want to see a real man than think of John Wayne in "True Grit" or "The Quiet Man" or the movie "High Noon"

These were quiet strong family men who would fight if they had to.

Then came James Bond. A womanizing jerk who could kill a man as easily as he would swat a fly.

It was all downhill from there.

@awesomelygolrious i love your signature!

as to what you quoted, you're not wrong of course. that bit was kinda personal. i've enough dramatic, literally life-threatening experiences with people that little scares me now.

(that's not to say nothing scares me. just far fewer things do now than used to.

people have always said i'm strong. i used to wonder why, but now i see that i am, and that indeed, one can be a warrior in just the vein i outlined.



-@wombat: lol! your tidy summing up of things was hilarious!

A warrior is in essence a paid killer, a public thug outfitted with theatrical dramatic fittings like swords and armor or machine guns and camouflage clothing and bullet proof vests and little colorful symbols to enhance his or her grandeur. I have no doubts that there are extreme situations where that type of violence may be the only recourse in extreme situations but that merely indicates the failure of all that humanity prizes as its intellect and comprehension that the differences amongst people have peaceful solutions that require understanding and compassion. This is not to downgrade the courage or even the assumed ideals of those who commit themselves to combat for what they assume is a good cause. It is a dangerous profession just as is deep sea diving and ventures beyond the atmosphere can be but, at end, its use is the admission that basic human intelligence and compassion has failed. It should not be glorified. And as many examples, historical and current, make very evident, the permission to act brutally granted to these people is universally misused by frightfully antisocial elements in all societies for horribly selfish ends, The general application of brutality does no honor to humanity.

The family man espouses a hunter ethic. It is the James bond/modern hero type that promulgates the way of the warrior.

A hunter is one who provides. A warrior takes what is not his by force.

You are either mixed up or you are nostalgic for the wrong thing.