Leftist Curriculum Taught to American Children

[oggsmash]

The Last Samuria irritated me to no end.  They have a dude who comes in and learns how to samurai better than half the samurai in the clan over the course of about 3-4 months.   That sort of greatly cheapens the whole idea of spending a lifetime honing a skill doesnt it?

It would be irritating if Algren wasn't basically made out to be the ultimate badass soldier who just turned to alcoholism to avoid thinking about murdering Indians. It'd be like getting mad that a basketball movie featured Michael Jordan becoming an elite streetball player after spending an entire winter learning the differences between NBA rules and playground rules.

   I do not think there is a great deal of overlap between Swordsmanship and being a soldier in the US army though.  Jordan did that after a lifetime of playing basketball.  Algren did have a soldier career, maybe 20 years.  But a US soldier's duties and those of a Samurai as related directly to combat have few overlaps past horsemanship.  Had he used that Henry Rifle to help his new pals its a whole lot easier to swallow.

  *Edited to add*  I thought Shogun did a much better job of telling a story of east and west meeting and collaborating.  The Japanese, and the Samuria learned to respect and even admire Blackthorn for being able to do the things he had practiced his whole life (using firearms, nautical knowledge and skill piloting a ship) extremely well, and at  the same time he learned a great deal of respect for the Samurai skill and dedication to their ways of life.   Rather than having an outsider impress everyone with his super talent at trumping their chosen skills.   To me Algren falls victim to lazy story telling (its a very common trope) instead of allowing his already honed skills to complement his new pals.   I did enjoy the movie though, despite this shoe horn hollywood methodology (that is likely a product of Cruise's ego).  But Algren is basically a Mary Sue, not my favorite flavor of character.

[Brad]

   I do not think there is a great deal of overlap between Swordsmanship and being a soldier in the US army though.  Jordan did that after a lifetime of playing basketball.  Algren did have a soldier career, maybe 20 years.  But a US soldier's duties and those of a Samurai as related directly to combat have few overlaps past horsemanship.  Had he used that Henry Rifle to help his new pals its a whole lot easier to swallow.

  *Edited to add*  I thought Shogun did a much better job of telling a story of east and west meeting and collaborating.  The Japanese, and the Samuria learned to respect and even admire Blackthorn for being able to do the things he had practiced his whole life (using firearms, nautical knowledge and skill piloting a ship) extremely well, and at  the same time he learned a great deal of respect for the Samurai skill and dedication to their ways of life.   Rather than having an outsider impress everyone with his super talent at trumping their chosen skills.   To me Algren falls victim to lazy story telling (its a very common trope) instead of allowing his already honed skills to complement his new pals.   I did enjoy the movie though, despite this shoe horn hollywood methodology (that is likely a product of Cruise's ego).  But Algren is basically a Mary Sue, not my favorite flavor of character.

Wasn't he a cavalry officer? So extensive training in horsemanship, swordplay, firearms, probably pretty well educated/literate, etc. Sounds like a samurai to me. Not to mention the leadership skills, strategy and tactics, overall warfare skills...so it's a katana instead of a sabre. There is a massive amount of overlap in real life.

[oggsmash]

   I do not think there is a great deal of overlap between Swordsmanship and being a soldier in the US army though.  Jordan did that after a lifetime of playing basketball.  Algren did have a soldier career, maybe 20 years.  But a US soldier's duties and those of a Samurai as related directly to combat have few overlaps past horsemanship.  Had he used that Henry Rifle to help his new pals its a whole lot easier to swallow.

  *Edited to add*  I thought Shogun did a much better job of telling a story of east and west meeting and collaborating.  The Japanese, and the Samuria learned to respect and even admire Blackthorn for being able to do the things he had practiced his whole life (using firearms, nautical knowledge and skill piloting a ship) extremely well, and at  the same time he learned a great deal of respect for the Samurai skill and dedication to their ways of life.   Rather than having an outsider impress everyone with his super talent at trumping their chosen skills.   To me Algren falls victim to lazy story telling (its a very common trope) instead of allowing his already honed skills to complement his new pals.   I did enjoy the movie though, despite this shoe horn hollywood methodology (that is likely a product of Cruise's ego).  But Algren is basically a Mary Sue, not my favorite flavor of character.

Wasn't he a cavalry officer? So extensive training in horsemanship, swordplay, firearms, probably pretty well educated/literate, etc. Sounds like a samurai to me. Not to mention the leadership skills, strategy and tactics, overall warfare skills...so it's a katana instead of a sabre. There is a massive amount of overlap in real life.

  There would not have been a tremendous amount of saber training or sword play.  Now, shooting a revolver on horseback?  Yes.  Firing a rifle ( the Henry, for which he built his reputation as a badass, yes).  But the sword at that point in the US military was decorative.  Given how it shows Algren handle the sabre early in the movie, its obvious he has not trained with his sword much at all.  He did have fighting spirit and that counts for a lot, learning to use the sword and showing him training fine by me, but over the course of a  couplemonth coming out on top of fighting several assassins in the street with a sword?  No.   Mary Sue.  He should have done the Indiana Jones and whipped out the hog leg and shot them.

   He does similar with his Judo/grappling training they show him engaging in.  IME no matter the talent, the white belt is not throwing the 10 year vets or tapping them out no matter how talented. 

[oggsmash]

  I will add this, it is a movie, and I am already detaching myself from belief in watching.  Hollywood prefers a 7th grade way to tell a story than a higher level one, they rather show our guy reject, then come to accept, then respect, and then accel inside the new culture he is faced with.  To me that  is sort of lazy.  I enjoyed the movie in its totality, and I can also see a scenario where Tom bugged the writers and directors to make him more "badass" at all the cool Samurai stuff.  But that time period the training of a cavalry officer has no real life overlap to a Samurai's training in handling weapons.   So it means he was able to learn and make all that progress in a very short time frame.  If he had more overlap, he wouldnt have been beaten half to death when he acted like an asshole and tried to fight the sword master with the bokken.

[Brad]

Dude, there was a MONTAGE, ergo, he could become a master in literally minutes.

[oggsmash]

Dude, there was a MONTAGE, ergo, he could become a master in literally minutes.

You know,  I did forget the montage....and since even Rocky had a montage..  I relent.  Could have happened.

[UndyingDM]

Tucker Carlson is a racist, white-nationalist, idiotic fucker that should not be listened to under any circumstance. If any of you are capable of even listening to the "other side's" views, I recommend this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMGxxRRtmHc
(No doubt, you think of John Oliver in the same manner that I think of Tucker Carlson, but that's likely due to the genetic fallacy. I despise Tucker Carlson because of his words and actions, not because of his political party.)

[KingCheops]

Another day another communist shit stain to add to the ignore list.  British Milhouse is a steaming pile of shit.

[oggsmash]

Tucker Carlson is a racist, white-nationalist, idiotic fucker that should not be listened to under any circumstance. If any of you are capable of even listening to the "other side's" views, I recommend this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMGxxRRtmHc
(No doubt, you think of John Oliver in the same manner that I think of Tucker Carlson, but that's likely due to the genetic fallacy. I despise Tucker Carlson because of his words and actions, not because of his political party.)

  Ah, yet another open and understanding "liberal" pushing for what appears to be an idea of censorship.  I do not believe in the Bible, but I read it.  I do not think Islam has ANY value at all to western civilization, but I read the Koran.   I can not stand totalitarian leftists, but I will watch the young turks (who named their show in such a manner that denotes celebrating a genocidal gang) and a few other similar leftists who are pretty up front with their agendas.  Both Tucker and Oliver are people who read what writers wrote for them, and both like to make some money from appealing to a side's world view or feelz.   

   Everyone knows Tucker is racist, because ANY time you point out something as a white person, well its racist.  Everything is racist, America, and everything about it, its history and its institutions are white supremacist.  So I think to get some insults or pejoratives that have any bite you may want to dig a bit deeper into the newspeak lexicon. 

[UndyingDM]

Tucker Carlson is a racist, white-nationalist, idiotic fucker that should not be listened to under any circumstance. If any of you are capable of even listening to the "other side's" views, I recommend this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMGxxRRtmHc
(No doubt, you think of John Oliver in the same manner that I think of Tucker Carlson, but that's likely due to the genetic fallacy. I despise Tucker Carlson because of his words and actions, not because of his political party.)

  Ah, yet another open and understanding "liberal" pushing for what appears to be an idea of censorship.  I do not believe in the Bible, but I read it.  I do not think Islam has ANY value at all to western civilization, but I read the Koran.   I can not stand totalitarian leftists, but I will watch the young turks (who named their show in such a manner that denotes celebrating a genocidal gang) and a few other similar leftists who are pretty up front with their agendas.  Both Tucker and Oliver are people who read what writers wrote for them, and both like to make some money from appealing to a side's world view or feelz.   

   Everyone knows Tucker is racist, because ANY time you point out something as a white person, well its racist.  Everything is racist, America, and everything about it, its history and its institutions are white supremacist.  So I think to get some insults or pejoratives that have any bite you may want to dig a bit deeper into the newspeak lexicon.

Have you heard of the Paradox of Tolerance? I suggest looking it up. It boils down to that in order for a tolerant society to exist, it has to be intolerant of intolerant viewpoints, otherwise it gets destroyed and overrun by intolerant viewpoints and people. Forgive me if I do not tolerate racists and intolerant people, because that is how I have to exist by nature or fail to exist at all.

I personally don't agree with any religion on the planet, I'm an atheist, but I support the freedom of religion. I don't support any countries being run by religious laws and governments, but I support the religions existing, even if I feel that they're incorrect. You may want to work on getting over your islamophobia, as Islam has already contributed a ton to so called "Western Civilization" (you know, like inventing algebra).

You must know absolutely nothing about John Oliver if you think he's the same as Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson "reports" on whatever scores points with his base and gets enough people watching his show to keep Fox "News" afloat. John Oliver brings obscure topics that are actual major problems to the limelight to try and improve the world (see what he did with Net Neutrality for an example). Tucker wants the spotlight, glory, fame, and money, while Oliver actually wants to improve the world. By no means are they on the same level. (Also, having a teleprompter is by no means a criticism of either person.)

No, not "anytime you point something out as a white person you're racist". Whenever you say something racist, you prove that you're racist. Tucker Carlson is racist. I'm a white person, and I'm pointing out something in this post, but that doesn't make me racist. A white person can have an opinion and share it without being racist. However, racism exists and white people are more often racist than other racial/cultural groups in the US (you know, because the vast majority of Americans are white).

[UndyingDM]

Another day another communist shit stain to add to the ignore list.  British Milhouse is a steaming pile of shit.

I'm not a communist  , but I'm sure you wouldn't believe me even if you could see my post.

Also, I thought that conservatives didn't like censorship?

[yancy]

Agreed, John Oliver is nothing like Tucker Carlson. John Oliver is a smug liberal piece of shit, with a sub-normal IQ. Tucker Carlson is probably a conservative, and of at least average human intelligence.

I'm a white person, and I'm pointing out something in this post, but that doesn't make me racist. A white person can have an opinion and share it without being racist.

But only 'white people' like you, right? And other 'white people' who agree with you, and watch John Oliver?

All the other ones are racist :/

[HappyDaze]

Agreed, John Oliver is nothing like Tucker Carlson. John Oliver is a smug liberal piece of shit, with a sub-normal IQ. Tucker Carlson is probably a conservative, and of at least average human intelligence.

Citation needed for those intelligence comparisons.

[UndyingDM]

Agreed, John Oliver is nothing like Tucker Carlson. John Oliver is a smug liberal piece of shit, with a sub-normal IQ. Tucker Carlson is probably a conservative, and of at least average human intelligence.

I'm a white person, and I'm pointing out something in this post, but that doesn't make me racist. A white person can have an opinion and share it without being racist.

But only 'white people' like you, right? And other 'white people' who agree with you, and watch John Oliver?

All the other ones are racist :/

Methinks you are using the Genetic Fallacy again (you know, by calling John Oliver "smug liberal shit with a subnormal IQ". Let me also point out that IQ is not a good way to measure intelligence or a person's worth, and that many republicans are also "smug" (you know, like with the "liberal tears" mugs and "fuck your feelings"). Also, the more intelligent someone is, they also tend to be less racist, so if we go by that generalization, Tucker Carlson by default would be less intelligent than John Oliver.

I never said anything along those lines. I don't define racism, I call it when and where I see it. Racism is a fact, and it also is a fact that republicans tend to be more racist than democrats (I'm not saying all republicans are racist or that democrats are not racist. Don't mischaracterize what I'm saying).

When someone like Tucker Carlson says that immigrants make America "poorer and dirtier" that's a sign that they're racist. America was built by and on the backs of immigrants. The "American Dream" was/is about finding a better life in America. To say they make the country poorer and dirtier proves that you're racist. I'm not drawing the line, the line is there, and he crossed it.

If others agree with that statement and similar racist statements by him, I'm not the one labelling you as racist. However, if the shoe fits . . .

Citation 1: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/are-white-republicans-more-racist-than-white-democrats/
Citation 2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4845100/

[Ghostmaker]

John Oliver was a failed comedian till he crossed the pond and became Jon Stewart's understudy.

I don't know why you would cite him as some kind of counter to Tucker Carlson.