Actor and martial artist Michael Jai White believes American boys are too soft these days.
“This is another sad thing about America: We don’t make men anymore,” White told Joe Rogan on the Rogan podcast Wednesday while discussing men’s “rites of passage” in countries like Australia and New Zealand.
“Not that much,” Logan agreed. “When that happens, it stands out.”
White argued that movies now often cast non-American characters to play “American alpha males.” …It’s very rare for an American to appear. It’s been a great trip, man.
Logan agreed that American masculinity has been “demonized” “over the past several decades.”
White said he saw the “beginning” of the trend when he was a school teacher.
“I was right on the front line watching everyone receive their trophies,” the 58-year-old said of his participation award. “These kids are about self-esteem and you have to protect that. I’m like, ‘Come on.’ And, you know, taking away competition? I saw the beginnings of it.”
Because of this, he says, kids don’t know how to deal with losing, “and end up shooting into the classroom.”
Logan agreed, saying, “Losing is the best medicine.”
The “Dark Knight” actor, who holds black belts in various sports, told Logan that he became a member of his high school’s track team in a “fluke” race when he beat one of the fastest runners in the school.
His experience in track and field taught him what he would later evolve into martial arts. “Because nowhere else do you get the advantage of shaving seconds off a movement like you do in track and field.”
“Everything I had to do on the track in terms of movement efficiency, I started applying to martial arts,” he explained. “And that’s what gave me the cheat code to be super efficient, which became really useful.”
White also said that he feels that natural athletic ability can sometimes hinder his growth in martial arts because it is easier to not try too hard compared to other athletes who have succeeded through sheer grit and hard work.
“Fighting was easy for me, but when I was a famous fighter, I realized that I wasn’t a great fighter, because then you neglect other things. I wasn’t, I didn’t work as hard as other people,” he explained.
He gave the example of a hypothetical fighter who would tire out after 100 kicks, whereas White could fatigue after 1,000 kicks.
“And he pushes to 120 and I push to 1,001. Who’s the better fighter? Him, because he’s pushing[outside]his comfort zone,” White said.
As a result, he said he stopped comparing himself to other fighters during training and started working “according to my ability.”
“It really taught me something about why I go through things like this and why I benefit from martial arts because I really love what it teaches,” he said. “And while I do have these gifts, there is also the fact that when you use those gifts as crutches, you limit what you can do.”
