Found this question on an Instagram reel as dating advice for girls if they don’t know what to talk about and that men have a lot of opinions about this. Let’s see if she’s right.
But I already am a pirate?
Pirate! CGP Grey has a great video on how pirate ships worked. They were a lot more democratic and fair than the merchant marine which worked their crew to the bone and paid them peanuts.
Forgot to mention the part where that democratic society is upheld by the fact that you can (and will, if you’re an asshole) be stabbed dead by nearly anyone you interact with. Your own crew, your “customers”, the law, rival pirates, all of them have a will and a way of removing you if you don’t play fair. This is great for ensuring a fair society, only at the constant imminent risk of death.
Although to be fair I suppose cowboys and samurai were also pretty frequently in deadly dangerous conditions.
Cowboy, no contest.
Samurai’s lives belong to their masters. I couldn’t live that way.
Pirates live by killing and stealing. I couldn’t live that way.
That leaves cowboys. Certainly not the glorious and romantic life Hollywood makes it out to be, but generally honest work toward specific goals and freedom otherwise, which’d be fine.
IDK, getting to spend a ton of time camping sounds kinda romantic/glorious.
Reminds me of a neighbor I had years ago who was an archaeologist.
He said once that archaeologists are basically cowboys with degrees - that the work they do is often just sort of a way to get out into the middle of nowhere and camp for weeks at a time and get paid for it.
And yeah - I can see the appeal.
Samurai. Literal nobility, regular baths, nice clothes, fitted armor, regular training, and at least during the Edo period, low risk of actually having to go into battle (doesn’t apply during the prior periods of course). Good food, good rice wine, poetry and music, good literature, intellectually stimulating conversations.
Contrast a cowboy - saddle sores, dust, caked sweat from weeks without baths, cholera, gangrene, bandits, native raids, long hours, and the blazing desert sun.
And the pirate: nothing to eat but hardtack and freeze-dried cod until you make port or board a merchantman, hunted by the Royal Navy, surrounded by fellow pirates who haven’t bathed since the last port call, constantly alternating between seasickness and landsickness, cramped quarters belowdecks, constant risk of drowning, and when you finally go on a raid, you’re getting shot at by grapeshot and 16-pounder roundshot at effectively point-blank range.
Samurai, any day. raises cup of green tea
Joke’s on you. Anyone can be a literal pirate right now, no boat required. Just grab a BitTorrent client and off you go. 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
Honestly, I’d choose that technically correct option because it’s probably the one that makes it easiest to get and maintain insulin, which I need to live.
I came in here for this comment. When the choices are “criminal fighting the immensity of the ocean”, “guy named for all the cows and famous for shooting/being shot by other cow guys”, and literal nobility, it’s a solid deal. Of all three, one has the lowest chance of death, highest quality of life, and you pretty much got to do whatever you wanted depending on the era. The law that let you kill offending lower classes for twenty days of house arrest was only struck off the books in the mid 19th century.
I think I would be a samurai. Samurai, while fierce warriors, were also poets and great appreciators of the arts.
Have you read Musashi, the novel?
I have not but I did read Shogun by James Clavelle. It is an epic novel and quite a good read. I should check this one out. I am quite curious about it.
