Ninja versus Pirates
Posted by Jack Morgan in Audio, Meme Watch on October 3rd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
When we were kids, “Ninja Gaiden” and “Shogun” were huge games on NES and I don’t know how pirates got involved, kind of innocent bystanders, really, but they did, and we all fantasized about what would happen if 100 angry pirates met 100 pissed off Ninja in an epic battle to the death. It has since become a global phenomenon, spawning flashmobs, Facebook groups, and even team ups. It’s what Chow Yun-Fatt was doing in “Pirates of the Carribean III.”
People who write things on Wikipedia are calling it an “internet meme,” but I assure you it is much older than the internet. Perhaps even ninja and pirates were wondering who would win. Maybe it even happened! It’s too bad they didn’t have cameras in the 15th century. I have been talking about pirates and ninja killing each other for as long as I have been talking about Star Wars, and Star Wars came out before I was born. Everywhere I go, people are talking about it. I spent a long time in Japan (which is how I know the plural of ninja is ninja), and the Japanese have their whole cultural identity tied up in the debate. After all, what are they fighting for but for spheres of influence? We could call it a battle between Western might and technology versus Eastern discipline and elegance if we wanted to. Pirates vs. Ninja is easier.
With a name like Jack Morgan and a nickname like “Captain,” I’ve always been clearly on the side of the pirates. But ninja have always fascinated me, too. I thought TMNT was the coolest thing ever invented. I even took kung-fu lessons for a while. (I love being a turtle). And aren’t the Jedi like samurai and the Sith like ninja assassins? Whether we westerners like it or not, the ninja is a part of our lives, an icon Ninja have permeated our culture so much that I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t catch some sort of ninja or martial arts reference. And I think the culture’s better for it. Let’s face it, even though we all know who would really win when it got down to it, ninja are pretty awesome.
So I made this podlist. It’s a ninja podlist. I call it “Ninja Killer Tunes” I discovered some new bands,(Ninjaspark and Science Ninja Team), rediscovered some familiar ones (Dragon Ash and Ninja High School), and took a stroll down memory lane with Ninja Gaiden and Vanilla Ice. I hope you like it. If you don’t, search “ninja” on Seeqpod; there are a total of 2183 podlists dedicated to ninja.
Hiiii-YA!
A couple things come to mind here…
1. the Duck Pond camp at Burning Man offers pirate-specific ninja training. Very fun.
2. Ninjas have much more discipline, stealth and training and thus any serious debate regarding ninja v. pirate should not even occur. Ninjas would dominate.
3. I’ve been arguing a different pirate related issue for the last 5 years. Pirates v. Cowboy outlaws. Pirates - the sea, treasure, exotic but infrequent ladies, high probability of homosexual prison sex aboard, scurvy, take no prisoners mentality. Cowboy outlaws - drinking, gambling, whoring every night, gun fights, claim jumping, stage robbing, horses, ambush, drinking and riding, sleeping under the stars, harmonica, jugs with XXX on them. Clearly I’m in the outlaw cowboy camp. Tombstone v. Pirates of the Carribean - no contest. Even the worst outlaw movie beats a pirate film.
Lastly, the greatest book ever written, Moby Dick, while not a Pirate book, calls one to the sea and its challenges like no other. For this, the cowboy outlaw shall never be forgiven, but if given the choice between sword, throwing star or six-shooter, I choose six-shooter.
-btp
Pirates have guns, too.
Funny you mention the cowboy outlaw, though. I just found out that there is a sirius station called outlaw country. I saw Appaloosa tonight and really liked the music. My friend said, “that’s outlaw country.” I am going to make an outlaw country podlist. The pirate one’s almost done, so we’ll see who wins at the end of all of this.
Pirates v. Ninja, though. Pirates all the way. Fiercer.