 It seems like we could use more badass Asian guys. But how do we get there? Because you don't wake up one day and become Bruce Lee. Welcome, everybody, to the hot pop boys. David and Andrew here. You know what? Run the clip. After six men were randomly soccer-punched by a male attacker in New York City last Wednesday, a Filipino-American mixed martial artist was among those who stepped in to stop and subdue the attacker. Amen. It was just nice to see it. After years of this clip and that clip and, you know, sometimes the clips, they make you feel bad. But this clip, it made you feel good. Yeah, and I thought it was really cool that at least the end result was caught on camera because when you see something on video, then you realize how much you needed to see it. It was really inspirational. Shout out to Rob Malabana. Well, so what we're going to do today is talk about why you don't see this more. Why don't you see more Asian guys act like Bruce Lee? Is it for good reason? Is it for a bad reason? How do you do it for your own life? And what does it all mean, man? So please hit that like button, subscribe, turn on your notifications. Let's get into it with a hot pot, boys. All right, so why don't we see more badass Asian guys in action? First of all, there are badass Asian guys out there. I'm not saying there's not. It just seems like you don't see it on video a lot. Or maybe they're not in the city or for whatever reason. They're just not, they don't get those opportunities. OK, so I think there's a couple of reasons. I think there are badass Asian guys in America that I think there's like, first of all, there's not as maybe high population as other groups. OK, to be honest. But even the ones that are, they might like live in like the suburbs because they're like, I don't even want to be in that situation where I got to use my badassness and get it activated all the time. Well, sometimes in the suburbs, you can like own more guns. You have more storage. So let's say, for example, you live in a red state and you're like constantly training in your backyard with all types of MMA and martial arts and grapples and like guns and stuff. You're not even going to be allowed to bring any of that to the city. And you don't want to because you're just like, oh, man, I'm going to have to use it on somebody crazy. So I'd rather just stay where I'm at and prepare for something. Also, I think a lot of families, they don't like push their kids into careers that involve martial arts. I mean, let's be honest, it is something that a lot of Asian parents respect as a thing that you do when you're young to train yourself. But the parents don't want you to become a professional martial artist. Very few parents want that. I mean, dude, the parents don't even want you to become a professional pianist. And you practice the piano every day. Bro, we are talking about a group of people, now the group of people in general, that like score the highest on the SATs. They get into college at the highest rate. So they're not going to have the highest rate of badasses. I mean, that's just they don't they just don't run. You know, they run. Yeah, I think particularly I think it goes for all Asians like under an umbrella. But let's be honest, different Asian groups are different. I would say Chinese probably have the maybe even like the lowest ratio. I'm not saying there aren't Chinese badasses out there. But you know, some of them that are in the city, they might elect to become like cops or something like that, which is like different. Because let's just say that a cop would have taken this guy down. It's perceived way differently than when a random citizen does it. Right. It's more like heroic and more Batman like and vigilante and, you know, vigilante for justice. Yeah. And listen, I'm sure an Asian guy has taken down a bad guy before, but it just wasn't caught on film. So obviously in the day and age of technology and CCTV and iPhones and stuff, you know, we're going to see more and more often. David, what are some like old school like ancient reasons like cultural? I mean, long story short, man, I tend to think at least Chinese. I mean, you know, I know Ro is Filipino. So they're in a little bit of a different situation. Chinese, they tend to be really interested. And this is my theory in like ancient dynastic roles. Like, you know, oh, I'm from a scholar family. I'm from a unique family. I'm from a royal family. I'm from a merchant family. I'm from a bandit family. I'm from like, you know what I mean? Like a warrior, a warrior soldier, sort of like general type infrastructure family. And I feel like Bruce Lee was such an interesting mix. If you look in his actual background, his dad was an opera performer and his mom was like a socialite who was actually like half German. And then he became this like warrior poet actor. You know what I mean? But not even like necessarily a warrior warrior in the sense. He could have been maybe, but he just didn't pick that path. He ended up picking more of like the show biz version or a more like philosophical version of being a warrior. But I just don't think that a lot of people necessarily, you kind of got to raise your kid that way from a very young age. Like if you raise your kid to just be, you know, and there's nothing wrong with this, like a study bug that it games and like gets good grades to get a comp side job. Chances are they're not going to be roll, roll Malabona. No, you like taking down bad guys in the streets. You talk about parents who raised their kid to be more like yo-yo ma versus Bruce Lee. Yeah, they're more looking like Steve Chen, the guy who started YouTube, shout out to him. But like they're not thinking their kid's going to be Bruce Lee. And they're not, they might show their kid Bruce Lee movies. And there's all these murals of Bruce Lee all over Chinatowns. But to be honest, we have to understand, a mural is not going to like just change people. It's about systems and identity. You're upbringing your family life even when you're like three years old. And you know what this quote that we always use in the West, like growing up, American is like, yo, I'd rather die standing than live kneeling. You know, that's actually from a Mexican revolutionist. But I feel like there's not as many quotes like that coming from East Asia because it's more about like staying alive, being stable. Even like I was looking into like the way of the warrior, like samurai, like Bushido law. And it was more about like you never fight unless you have to, you know? Because also in those societies, they're not worrying about like random people coming up and punching random citizens and then you have to protect each other. That like was not a thing that happened back then. Yeah. I mean, I think there was always like bandits and like warlords and stuff in the past in Asia. But it wasn't something that everybody had to deal with all the time unless you were moving around. And fighting was a lot more like formal back then. Like you had to have a reason. But anyways. I just think that long story short, man. It's just more like a lot of Asian parents are not encouraging their kids to be even, let alone Bruce Lee, they're not even encouraging their kids to be like Ro. Right. Ro Malabana. Well, and yeah, a lot of parents don't see it as a career. For example, that's part of it. And you know, to be fair, you know, a lot of people don't act like the mural that's on the wall. You know what I mean? You know, it's just like a lot of things. You know, I do you think all conservatives are following like exactly what Reagan thinks, but they put Reagan on a mural, you know? I mean, let's real quick, when we talk about becoming the Bruce Lee of your life, because I think obviously it is unrealistic to expect all Asian guys, even my family, I'm not like gonna say I'm like the most Bruce Lee person, although I do look up to him and try to take on certain traits that I thought were cool. But like what made Bruce Lee such like a great figure and a great role model to take after though? Because it wasn't just his physicality and his quickness and his wanting to punch. And I literally do not think it's because he could beat up 40 people in real life like he did in the movies. Like one punch sending people through walls. He wasn't even a professional fighter, okay? He was a performer and a martial artist by all means. But I guess like, like what really- I'm sure he could have been a pro fighter had he applied himself in that manner, but he did not. You know what, a lot of people overlook people like, oh my gosh, he was so ripped, he was so fast. I'm like, yeah guys, but really to me what made him different because there's a lot of fast and dangerous Asian guys nowadays. Oh dude, just look at MMA. I mean, whether you took one championship. But I'm just saying like philosophy, education, style, like culture, all that, to me is the biggest special trait about Bruce Lee that I thought was unique. That's what made him different than any other Asian guy that has ex- And that's why 50 years later, we haven't really met another Bruce Lee. Yeah, I think that to be honest, it's like, it's weird because the people who love Bruce, they like treat them like a God, but you can't learn anything from a God, right? That's why even in Christianity, God has like Jesus and Jesus is more like a human form. So you can follow Jesus. Disciples and it's more relatable and stuff like that. I think when you deify somebody, it's like, I don't know, I don't personally like it. I would rather learn from his ability to be fluid between the East and the West and how much he studied the East and how much he studied the West. I noticed a lot of Asian Americans, they only know as much about the East as like organically their childhood taught them from their grandparents or parents. And they only know as much about the West as whatever their organic everyday life teaches them. That's both not enough. Your spectrum is like tiny at this point. Bruce was like, all right, let me go all the way East and let me go all the way West. Do you understand his mastery of Eastern and Western culture, especially like martial arts and philosophy and stuff? That was so important to him dropping all those quotes like be the water. Like that's not just something like a whitewash Asian American comes up with. Yeah. And I do think that it's, he chased glory. And I don't think it's wrong to say that. And like, I don't even care who leaves whatever comment on here. Cause you know, every time there's a Bruce Lee video on YouTube, it turns into this wild thing. Like, you know, some people support the Quentin Tarantino perspective. Like, he was a glorified actor. And then some people are like, he was a God. And then I'm like, well, isn't the truth somewhere in the middle? And just depending on your perspective, like here's the middle, it's going to just go left to the middle or right of the middle. What the real definition of what a role model is, it's someone that people look up to to imitate. So if we're not imitating and actually taking on traits of someone like Bruce Lee or any other badass Asian guy out there, then they're not role models. We're not actually trying to become like them and trying to learn from them. I will say this, this is a funny, interesting insight I have. The closest guys that I have seen in my personal life to Bruce Lee, and I'm not saying this is a hundred percent, have been Filipino. Like- Why do you think that is? I think that- And Ro by the way is Filipino. Ro is Filipino. And shout out to my friend Joseph Medina growing up too. He was like very much like Bruce Lee. And actually Ryan Benson, shout out to Ryan Benson. He trains martial arts because of Bruce Lee as well from his uncle. So I mean, I just think that they are more like knowing what aspects of Asian culture are cool in the West. And I do think that they tend to be less like in that like scholar, Unic lane. Like you would not say Filipino dudes would want to be Unics. If you guys know about the definition of what a Unic has to do. That's- For example, there's more like East Asian engineers rather than Filipino engineers. So you're saying- The Filipinos, they'd be like- They'd be like Brian Poospo on one side or they'd be like Ro, you know? Like I'm saying just, you know, a higher ratio. Yeah. That's an interesting point. You guys let us know in the comments down below what you think about that observation. I just think that I will say this. It's like not everybody needs to be Bruce Lee and I'm not saying Bruce Lee in like movie love. You should be more like Bruce Lee in real life, not Bruce Lee in the movies, okay? Nowadays in 2022, acting like Bruce Lee in the movies might get you killed. Like you know what I mean? Like how crazy the movie depiction was from how he was in real life. So it's like, I just think that it's not about being this movie tier badass in every single IRL interaction. As you can see, it does go downside. Sometimes even for RIP, great Brazilian jujitsu master in Brazil he ended up getting shot. You know what I mean? It is so terrible. So I think for me, what it means to be Bruce Lee in real life is like just become a smart basketball player that knows when to pass, knows when to shoot and knows when to dribble and relocate. Yeah, I mean being self-aware, being well-trained, being prepared and also being physical and being confident in that, you know? And also know why you're doing it. I think Bruce Lee had studied himself, studied like so much philosophy. He was a philosophy major I believe at University of Washington, which is our college that we went to because Bruce Lee is buried in Seattle. And it's like, you know, I feel like he was just so confident in what he knew and what he was. And I think that was is really what people got to take away from him. You know, I'm not saying I'm the most Bruce Lee, I'm not that lethal. I didn't train, we trained a little bit, but like, you know, and obviously I do feel confident that I would be able to handle some situations on the street if I had to diffuse it or disrupt it or whatever. I can't say that I would have did what Roe did. Hell no, I'm not doing what Roe did. I don't even know, you know, how to do a pull a seatbelt hold on somebody fully. I didn't train that, but I think all Asian guys, and I don't think this is too unrealistic to ask because we're very realistic with Asian guys and what I think that Asian guys should do. I think we all need to be one more notch, one more tick, more like Bruce Lee. And I don't mean only in the fighting sense. I mean mentally too, and just knowing what to do and being confident in that. Yeah, just think about like what Bruce Lee would tell you. And I think Bruce Lee was pretty understanding. Like if you are a computer programmer, Bruce Lee is not going to tell you to like get on his level and be like him, you know? He grew up in Hong Kong. It's not like everybody was a kung fu master. That was an archetype of an identity you could follow, but there was like, there've been a hundred identities in every society forever, you know? I would say this, I just think that the Asian American community needs to value like a do good or bad ass more. I feel like right now you just see like more like geek money, street money, which is like, that's what I see in the Asian community, whether it's like tatted up full sleeves, like Kevin Wynn, whatever, whatever, you know, Buddha chains over here. And then you see like, oh yeah, I'm like this rich preppy guy who like tried to go to elite schools over here. You're not seeing that middle lane where Roe is in it, you know what I mean? Where he's like trying to be successful, but in his own like all American, all Asian American bad ass Bruce Lee way. It was almost like after we saw Bruce Lee die young, everybody was like, oh no, no, no, no. That's good. Yeah, that's good for Bruce. And he's like very famous now, but look at what happened to him. Let's either just be like triads or let's just be Wall Street or computer. Triad or trader. Yeah. And it's like, dude, guys, I feel like in other communities, they might be like 10 options or maybe at least like eight to 20 options. And then we're literally picking between like street money and like geek money. I mean, I go back to this one comment that someone said on one of our Asian hate videos when we were talking about it. And they were like, man, if Bruce Lee was still around, he wouldn't let this Asian hate happen. I was like, first of all, Bruce Lee was not an actual superhero. Okay. But Superman. Yeah. But I'm also like, I think like always think about like what would Bruce Lee say in response to Asian hate or like the state of Asian America? And I think he wouldn't say maybe anything super mind blowing, but he'd be like, you know, in today's society, they are more dangerous people. And with more danger means that you must prepare yourself better. So you must study and train. And then like, I mean, when that doesn't make sense. Like, I don't know. What would he say or someone was like, yeah, Bruce, I do train with a two finger technique when I'm tapping away at Fortnite. You know what he'd say? He'd be like, listen, if you want to train like that for the virtual world, that is one thing, but you must understand that society is getting more dangerous and more people have dangerous weapons. So now you must become a weapon yourself. Pretty good impression, man. I mean, long story short, man, I definitely think that, you know, Ro doing that, it made me think about it. And of course, there are upside examples. Ro is one of them. There are downside examples. Nothing, no thing that you tell everybody is gonna be like true a thousand out of a thousand times. There's always gonna be outlier examples on both sides. Hey man, shout out to Ro. That was very inspirational. Obviously, I don't think he lives his life only to like just become this glorious hero, but he's just that guy. He is who he is. And it was a perfect situation. Long story short, people should understand who Bruce Lee really was. And he's still absolutely somebody that I look up to. And treat him like a role model. Treat him like a role model, just like my role models are not perfect. I look up to my dad. My dad is not perfect. I am not perfect. My son will look up to me and wanna fix things about me, but I'll just be his role model. Like I said, I'll try to be a good one. But it's like, you know what I mean? So I think that there's that. And then number two, you need to find what it looks like for your life. And I'm not just saying, like training your extra fast fingers for video games. You know what I mean? The one inch. It's like the one inch Y button hit. But I guess like, and not only that, like we just gotta think about like what he would say in modern day. You know what I mean? Like he would probably We have enough Bruce Lee quotes, okay? We don't need an AI algorithm to figure out what he would probably tell you. I feel like I have a good idea. I'm not speaking for the man. I just have. You do do a good impression though. You must be the water. All right guys, thank you so much for watching. Let us know in the comments down below what you think about all this. Check out other episodes of the hot pop boys. And until next time, we out. Peace.