Do Asian Men Need To Be More Warrior-like? 

They should carry the Bruce Lee attitude. Polite and humble when you want to be, stoic and assertive when you have to be, and explosive when you absolutely need to be.

About the defining masculinity thing, I want to bring up an example. There is a Japanese documentary called "泣きながら生きて". (the whole doc is on youtube btw, just search the title) It's about a Chinese father who became an illegal immigrant in Japan in the 90s, who endured unimaginable poverty and hardship, sacrificed all he possibly can. To afford his daughter a chance to a good education and eventually afforded her to become a physician in the US. I cried watching that doc. I think a lot of Americans, due to a generally comfortable and carefree upbringing, have a relatively shallow understanding of the concept of masculinity. To this day, that father is the manliest man i know. And hes an unassuming, if not a submissive looking man. Like Gus Fring said in breaking bad. "And a man, a man provides. He does it even when he's not appreciated, or respected, or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he's a man." I think people need to re-learn how to appreciate the strength of one's character.

Be dangerous, but not a threat. Choose to be peaceful, but don’t be harmless. Essentially it boils down to “You’re peaceful because you choose to be, and not because you have to be.

LMAOOOOOO…a few years ago, my family and I were walking down a street in NOLA. Whte guy walking towards us and expected me to avoid him. Checked him, his drink fell on the floor, he went WTF and I turned around and LOL’ed at him.

Asian American young men need to work on the very same things every other color of young man needs to work on: the pursuit of excellence, becoming physically dangerous, taking comfort in the discomfort, embracing the suck, finding purpose, practicing discipline. The difference we face is the generational dereliction on our fathers’ part in fostering physical strength and toughness (my pops was an exception and I’m grateful); that simply wasn’t part of the immigrant playbook. And the Asians growing up here in America have had to grapple with the ramifications of that. Jocko wrote The Way of the Warrior Kid as a manual for success for growing up here in this country. Explicit in that book is a reverence for warrior codes, whether harkens from Japanese samurai, Navy Seals, or European knights. How many of our fathers communicated that ethos to us in grade school? My father raised me in his martial arts academy and I grew up doing hard training under his guidance. But most other Asian dads were engineers or doctors or academics and, if they were involved at all, did not properly prepare their sons for life in urban America.

Totally agree. This topic always remind me of the "Good times make weak man" poem. It's always good to have the ability to protect yourself and your love ones.

My wife wondered why I'm watching this. I told her the part about people testing my boundaries at work resonates with me.

Under respected would imply they got respect to begin with... disrespected is definitely more applicable.

This was a great conversation

Perhaps we should be reminded that not that long ago East Asia had a plantation economy for thousands of years with the majority living as powerless peasants. Any peasant standing up or rebelling would have faced the crushing weight of oppression by the landed gentry and the aristocracy that owned most of the land. Peasant rebellions came and went but they never fixed the fundamental problem of land ownership until the arrival of Communism or Capitalism. In my opinion, what is often seen as cultural norms are actually adaptations to survive the oppression. FOB East Asian immigrants often shy way from asserting their rights and pushing for recognition of their work. As the result, they often end up pigeonholed into doing most of the work while credit and advancement goes to others. And worst of all, they get no respect.

It is about standing your ground and not letting people taking advantage of you. America was built on slavery and violence.

I’m trying to mature my clothes style now. I’m trying to tuck in my shirts and wear suit style materials. I need to buy more blazers; literally. I found out wearing the right suit attire won’t leave you soaking and damp during hot times. It’s really not that bad wearing suit style.

Love it.

All this is very true and Asian men probably do need to do more. This is a masculinity problem which isn’t isolated to Asian men but we seem to suffer from it more often than other races. Comes from our upbringing of often being very passive, keep our heads down, and focus on our studies cause otherwise our parents will think we will fail and die. We need to become more balanced individuals and become more confident in ourselves by learning to fight, working out, playing more sports. A part of being a man is being able to physically handle ourselves and protecting those we love. Can’t do that if we’re small shy and weak. A “nice” guy is kinda like a useless guy in some scenarios.

I live in Japan now after doing things in both Afghanistan & Iraq on and off for 10 years. I've traveled from Kobe to parts of Hokkaido for martial arts training and debauchery. Even parts of Tokyo (Kabuchiko) that's considered dangerous in Japan is a garden compared to many parts of America. To give context: I came to America in 1973 after my parents established themselves. I grew up in NJ, NYC and parts of Philadelphia, PA. I've been in several parts of America with the army and government details. American cites can be more dangerous than some of the combat zones I've been in. My parents just wanted me to study and not get involved in sports & martial arts. I was the small kid in the block and never had good grades. I grew up fighting but never got in enough trouble to deal with the law. I went through army basic training at 4 ft 11 in. weighing 113 lbs. Since then I'm 5 ft 6 in at 174 lbs. I grew taller and gained muscles in my army days and even earned a 5th dan blackbelt ranking under the Bujinkan. Myself being the traditional martial artist do other things like shooting pistol and rifle. I also learn Pekiti Tirsia Kali along with Inosanto-Lacoste Kali, Jeet Kune Do & Brazilian Jujutsu. In a sense, I am a warrior due to be a soldier by profession. The mindset that I got from my army days was a good work ethic, proper decision making, proper action (when to and when not do take a course of action), dealing with pressure ie. grow a thicker skin & seek ways to improve one self. You don't need to join the military to learn these things. The Asian American male can return to their warrior roots by taking a shooting class, participating in group sports, archery, the iron sport (body building/weight lifting/power lifting/olympic lifting), martial arts and the list goes on. RPGs like table top Dungeons & Dragons & Pathfinder helps with strategy. I participated in a D&D campaign that met once a week for 3-4 hours that lasted 7 months. I became a certified scuba diver. Some of the things that I listed were done at different stages of my life. Build your body and build your soul. Become stronger while enjoying yourself.

Damn I would’ve loved to join in on this convo because this is something I’ve been doing since the late 00’s.

As a professional trained life coach and Chinese-American, it’s less about a warrior. It’s about leadership and vision. Self-lead by creating a vision for your life. Know your mission, your value cores and express your authenticity with boldness. Protect life. Provide for life. That’s the assertive “yang” energy that will attract the “yin” energy. And remember there’s “yin” within “yang.” There’s balance ☯️

Primarily Chinese men need to do more, other Asian men aren’t that disadvantaged from what I know.

That mandatory military experience has a lot of physical exemptions. lol

You guys have to look into the Chinese classic novel, Water Margin and the characters inside that book.

Not gonna lie I feel like growing up as an Asian in the US is a lot more difficult than growing up in Canada. This is not as big of a deal in Canada

They should have warrior like attitude like taekwondo/karate vibe that will upgrade the attraction for sure

Short answer yes. Long answer depends on your style

More Asian guys should Carry.

yes we do.

read bronze age mindset and it lays everything out

It would be great to see more Asian American and Asian Australian athletes in various popular sports.

The most important thing is to be comfortable and confident in your own skin. Don’t need to try hard to do somebody you are not. I see there is danger that influencers try to impose unrealistic Monotonous standard of masculinity on young men, just like some impose unrealistic beauty standard on young women. It could lead many young men into wrong path of steroid abuse, self hating and mental health issue.

What’s the Navy Seal book David references at 20:40?

Yes I agree Asian men needs to be more warrior

psychacks youtube channel has a vid on what makes a man, and i agree: having a spine and balls, figuratively speaking of course. asian cultures are typically warrior cultures. colonization did a number on all of us, and no one seems to acknowledge the impact it has on us. knowing who we are, where we come from, and our willingness to stand up for it - tenets our ancestors have lived and died by. One's attitude through life will determine their success. The same water that softens the carrot hardens the egg. Adversity is inevitable. time to rise boys

Actually the ideal man in Chinese culture is 文武双全 which means to be complete in, or "master of both the literary and martial arts".

I think there's a difference between having the capacity to physically defend yourself if the opportunity calls, but not purposely searching for fights as a means of proving your bravado. There's a reason trained martial artists don't get into street fights because they understand the consequences whereas the layman may be more ignorant of that. The best general never fires a shot, as Sun Tzu would put it.

We can find that middle ground. Just be able to stand up for yourself and be assertive and set boundary. If that person doesn't respect it and get physical then be prepared for it. I encourage everyone to learn how to fight and go to some martial art school.

YES

hello fb, the gardener in war means 1) the man who buys flower to his lady for sorries or 2) grow flowers and have flowers for free to his lady ; gardener in war also means outsider changing the route of the warrior heading to kill ; then the gentile asian man comes in again and show a different car, speed, rims, bumper colors, or etc. to just say stop. elle for meadows

Asians especially East Asian, of both genders, are perceived as less dominant, less masculine and maybe even less mature. Physically, Asians are smaller sized. They have less prominent noses, less pronounced jawlines and their men have less facial hair. And sorry to bring this up, squinty eyes. Squinty eyes gives the impression that you are looking down and not looking directly at the other person, meaning you are subservient. When you have round eyes, they are more prominent and it gives the impression that the person is looking directly at you and holding your gaze with confidence. It doesn't help that Asians are known for being high academic achievers (ie nerds) and not so much for being athletes and sportsmen (ie jocks). Why do you think that other races are so attracted to Asian females, they give the impression of being more feminine than females of other races. But it brings the completely opposite effect for Asian guys, because they give the impression of being less dominant and masculine than guys of other races. That is also one reason why East Asian guys don't get to climb up to leadership posts of most organizations. You can talk all that crap about samurai and warriors but modern times, the ordinary East Asians are not known for being violent and brutal. Look at those random acts of violence on the streets today. How often do you see young East Asians beating up other folks just for the heck of it. It's like comparing a nice friendly golden retriever to a wolf. Look at this video right here right now. You have two Asian guys TALKING and PHILOSOPHIZING about some 'new' masculinity. If you are bloody wolf, you would just move in and bite the retriever's head right off instead of barking and talking about how tough and masculine you are.

*Be yourself but be water, my friends*

Need more red pill!

The response will be interesting on this one.

I just want to eat chicken & rice with a beer hot pot boys. 😊

I say yes

This channel is very insightful even for Caucasians such as myself. We can always learn from each other.

but a gardener in a war is basically a ninja.

YES!!!!! DUH!

In the United States Asian men have never even been a factor when speaking about masculinity, the only Masculine representation they have in media is Jackie Chan. All the Korean men are androgynous, Chinese are seen as nerds who hate the west, and Japan just wants to White so badly they’re not seen as a threat period. so I think even having the option of being hyper masculine taken away lends to even more bitterness.

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

As a British-Filipino from London who used to be quite chubby & much taller than others when I was younger, I lost the weight by walking in high school & took up kickboxing & lifting weights throughout my younger years. These days, I mainly just lift weights & hit the heavy bag every now & then .. Whilst I agree that Asian men should surely consider empowering & bettering themselves through things like martial arts & other hobbies/activities, unfortunately - this still isn't enough to combat all the irritants of daily life e.g. bad neighbours, racist abuse, irate members of the public, being talked down to by managers/work colleagues etc .. Unfortunately, we live in a society where one wrong move or taking matters into our own hands (emotional or not) - would result in us being on the bad side of things .. Being warrior-like has its moments - but unfortunately we're all still playing on the same chess board of life .. And there's loads of other things that have just frustrated me the older I've gotten, knowing that there's damn well nothing I can really do about it ..

Also if you want to see how Americans view asian society, look at the movie demolition man. It should be pretty obvious.

Masculinity is just another label used in Western conversation ... there are plenty of physical and assertive men in Asia as there are meek and genteel ones ... genetics and personality determines this , not culture or ethinicity ... Granted the stereotypes applied in mainstream media of Asian men being feeble and 'unmasculine' was an effective tool deployed in the last century to keep the ceiling low and ultimatetly contain Asian men's role/power in the the US/UK ... now it is all about compounding this with portraying (China) as an existential threat ... If you were to become more masculine ... i.e more confident and more physically formidable ... you're just seen as a bigger threat, and then comes a whole different flavour of descrimination and abuse your way ...

My Japanese cousins in Japan can grow big full beards like they used to. After the war having a beard was taboo, so they don't bc it can affect their career. Asian men can look tough, but a lot of it has to do with cultural standards

This is because the Chinese have always thought about war in terms of planning, management, and numbers, all highly cerebral disciplines. The never valued the warrior as they can be overcome by mass of inferior units. If you read art of war, you’ll find that it’s mainly about how to outstrategize the enemy

asians that have masculine features tend to hide them for some reason. I am 3/4 asian. When I do not have my beard I look way less masculine. When I do not go to the gym I look way less masculine, If I grow my hair long etc. Many of us choose to look feminine and then complain :P

Be like water - Bruce Lee.

Flow like water.

The middle ground is def asian people finding that middle ground where we arent exploding or ignoring. We are just defending ourselves and standing our ground. We also need go to lawyers to defend our many many self defence cases where attackers try to play victim and hope the asian people they attacked cant do anything legally to them , maybe hoping they have too poor english skills which give them the ability to control the narrative.

To me, it's who's an asshole and who isn't and this applies to all race including Asians. At my local gym, I bench 225, majority of the dudes there, muscular or not, short or tall, young or old, (I'll just include women as well), will make way for me but I also show respect by doing the same if we try to get through a pathway or sharing weights etc. There are some Asian dudes who are complete assholes, muscular or geeky, and those are the ones I will not have their back when shit goes down. And this happens everywhere. Also, I train light MMA just to condition my muscles for self defense. Having muscles is meaningless if they serve little purpose.

All I say f around & find out ain’t no one pushing me because they think Asian are weak Revenge is a dish served cold stay aware of your surroundings

Depends where you are. If you in a terrible neighborhood then yeah you'd benefit from being more "Warrior" like but if you in an office setting then whats that gonna get you? Like you mentioned Ray Allen was kinda soft and quiet but if you acted like Kevin Garnett in the workplace people would think somethings wrong with this guy.

To gain respect is still old school. You have to let others know you can beat them in the classroom and that you can beat them in the alley.

This comes naturally. Can't force a bunch of timid cowardly men to act like warriors lol.

First all, you have to understand, US has been a superpower developed country for centuries where you can nearly drop out of high school and still be successful. This is where academic isn't everything and you have the luxury to play sports or practice martial arts. For decades in Asia (Boomers onwards), there was a strong push for children in academic, because this was the only way to drive poverty out onto the level of the western world - Science, computer, technology, or basically STEM. Even tho East Asians have created tons of martial arts in history, the art of war, then you got philosophy of Bushido, Samurai, Xiaolin etc. All of these are useless for the growth of the country and it's only part of "'Wu" not "Wen" (warrior + academic), which is essential to have both in order to be the ideal man throughout ancient times (quoted from the hist of 3 Kingdoms). Yet, the ones that are studying those in today's modern time are mostly westerners. Asian have loss touch on all this for a number of decades.. these days they are good at playing video games instead.. If you notice Thailand for example, the ones that practice Muy Thai are extremely masculine males versus an average Thai men are all feminized

You missing all the great heroes of The Three Kingdoms.

I totally agree with that statement. Look at the people of America, Europe, middle east and even to indian people. They are tall and mascular. Why chinese and rest of the Asian people people neglect their physical appearance?

The conversation is riducuous, has anyone been to asia and seen how violent it is

Yes 100 percent As a part asian man that everyone assumes is asian I see asian man as weak. The year may be 2023 and feminism may be the reigning regime but men still respect masculinity and women still crave masculinity.

A lot of catchphrases to read up on: “Might makes right” being one (I believe this is very outdated and should not be anyone’s motto), and “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” Which I also don’t agree with because during hard times weak men don’t suddenly become strong. In the end though, the world is too complex to adopt just a single trait (warrior-like) and leave behind this wisdom: have the skills to pay the bills, know when to walk away, and it’s not about what you know, it’s who you know.

The answer for Asian hate is simple, just always carry a Katana.

1:00 I'm not Asian but I'd rather be the Ronin. No clan or alliance But will end you if need be. With respect of course.

Historically, the region of East Asia has been one of the most violent.😅 A very strong "masculine" warrior culture , I'd say .So I believe Asians progressed to this modern archetype that we see today.. Confucius probably played a huge role, sort of like the prophet from Christianity..Almost like this was a major turning point in human history..

East Asians are soft compared to South East Asian

100% Japan was masculine before they were neutered by the US Need more modern samurai and sohei Speak up, work out, stay strapped

Assertiveness is definitely a quality that everyone can benefit from, especially against transgressions. However people gonna need more than that when dealing with psychological aggression/manipulation aka covert aggressive behaviors which is more common among asian cultures.

Where's the Asian red pill or Asian "Andrew Tate"? There's a huge void to be filled by someone....

just be, love yourself, and let the world be...

Asian men are masculine and warrior like in their own way. They're just very quiet and insular. I've seen a lot of great dancers and musicians who are Asian, soldiers........ but they have a tendency to do, something that I did, as a young woman, in that they resign themselves to the background. I think if people see them in the more popular sports, to INCLUDE teaching ASIAN martial artforms, it will bring them to the forefront. I was thinking about taking a martial arts class and everywhere you go, there's either a White or Black guy, pretending they created it. I think Asian guys need to befriend Black women, because they are polar opposites in some ways, similar in others . Asian men just need more visibility. They don't need to become brutes like the other ones.

Idk bro so we suppose to be street and about that life shit i dont have anyone punking me

There’s more to masculinity than just brute force but it sure doesn’t hurt to be capable Stoicism goes a long way

I would recommend Martial Arts training like Laido, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Kra Be Ka Bong, Eskirmira, Karate, Geomdo, Tai Chi, Ninjutsu, all the others. We Asian Men need to be more warrior like to survive in the west, and gain respect in the west and all the rest. Be like historical warriors like Cao Cao, Sun Tzu and Musashi Miyamoto.

If we should stop pushing Asian men into a softer stereotype, then we shouldn't pay attention to Kpop

Asian men being warrior like....Atilla, Genghis, Imperial Japan....yeah..I don't think rest of the world would like that...

The correct strategy is lawfare, not warfare. Scholarships and other encouragements to get your people into positions of power. A District attorney that supports your community is worth more than "warriors" in present day America.

No it’s not about us. It’s about Hypergamy. It’s about white supremacy. You should always strive to self improve but look at the big picture and what is at play here. We should be advocating for a more multipolar world and a less Western dominated world.

Oh, I hate this conversation because when you read a history, book, Genghis Khan and Japan at war was vicious.

Just kpop max bro lol

You’re approaching this as if it’s an Asian dragon mom raising you and that you need to try harder. The current is strong going against the image of Asian men because of social narratives and maybe how stiff, hard, and cold old Asian “father figure” men are. Be more personable and sociable like how most likable people are in the world. Don’t act like the stereotype. You’re not going out there to beat someone up.

Asian men don't need to change for anyone.

I say No.

Jesus would totally disagree, and Jesus is a Western religious figure, not Asian.

So we need to take some Andrew Tate classes.

Only east asians and southeast asians have this issue. Mongolians, Buryats, kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks (central asians) are quite warrior-like and agressive in street fights

dont be too harsh to urself just be more man-like

In the United States Asian men have never even been a factor when speaking about masculinity, the only Masculine representation they have in media is Jackie Chan. All the Korean men are androgynous, Chinese are seen as nerds who hate the west, and Japan just wants to White so badly they’re not seen as a threat period. so I think even having the option of being hyper masculine taken away lends to even more bitterness.