Who is your role model?

[sixsix]

I don't idolize other men. I just don't.

Generally what respect in men is a full package deal of content and character. Dumb athletes or spineless scientists are of no relevance to me, they will shine for a brief moment if at all.

Men who have a great intellectual capacity and an autonomous, critical mind and also some 'dark triad' sociability are what I strive to be like.

Richard Dawkins is an example. He is a bare knuckle debater against the ignorance and malice of the masses, but dresses sharp and is a gentleman. It is a lot harder to argue against him, then it is against all the logically-correct-but-autistic-as-fuck internet atheists.

Also, see the late Christopher Hitchens for an example of a brilliant mind in a rebellious body. He was an intellectual badass, being drunk on scotch and destroying the sober and boring competition.

Being smart means nothing, being hot means nothing, but combine them and you're on your way to good places.

 

[Ubietza]

Ernst Juenger
Stalin
Albert Hoffman
Yukio Mishima
Nietzsche
Anthony Robbins
Otto Skorzeny
and dare I say it... Roosh

Your role model is Stalin ??

Yes. Quite the great man in the sense that he had a will of steel. From where he came from and what he achieved, he's one of the world's greatest success stories. I could add Hitler, as well, but that would be a little too politically incorrect. :-D Now, if I had written Che, I'm sure someone would've given me a pat on the back: only because most people are quite ignorant about what Che was about. But I like the guy, as well. I take inspiration from men from the entire spectrum: some 'monsters' and some 'angels.'

 

[polymath]

Che and Stalin were very different people, from different backgrounds, with different goals. Che was a medical student when he started his motorcycle travels. Stalin grew up in an abusive Georgian home. Both men embraced violence, but Che is remembered as a hero to the poor and powerless, while Stalin oppressed and killed millions of peasants.

Ubietza, I'm curious about your take on Che. I admit that my knowledge about him is incomplete.

My personal heroes are Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy.

Jefferson's contributions to government, architecture, and political theory are among the most significant in America since our country's inception. He founded and designed the University of Virginia, spoke five languages, and was reportedly quite charming. I wouldn't know...I've never met him.

Kennedy was an excellent president, from the American pride he fostered with his aspirations to put a man on the moon to his skillful handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. When he was serving in the Pacific theatre of World War II, his boat was struck and destroyed. Clenching the life jacket strap of a badly burned enlisted man between his teeth, Kennedy tugged the man three miles through the ocean as he and his men swam to shore, and then again to another island.

 

[Ubietza]

Che and Stalin were very different people, from different backgrounds, with different goals. Che was a medical student when he started his motorcycle travels. Stalin grew up in an abusive Georgian home. Both men embraced violence, but Che is remembered as a hero to the poor and powerless, while Stalin oppressed and killed millions of peasants.

Ubietza, I'm curious about your take on Che. I admit that my knowledge about him is incomplete.

My personal heroes are Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy.

Jefferson's contributions to government, architecture, and political theory are among the most significant in America since our country's inception. He founded and designed the University of Virginia, spoke five languages, and was reportedly quite charming. I wouldn't know...I've never met him.

Kennedy was an excellent president, from the American pride he fostered with his aspirations to put a man on the moon to his skillful handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. When he was serving in the Pacific theatre of World War II, his boat was struck and destroyed. Clenching the life jacket strap of a badly burned enlisted man between his teeth, Kennedy tugged the man three miles through the ocean as he and his men swam to shore, and then again to another island.

My take on Che? A man of action and not words: a true revolutionary in every sense of the word. I don't necessarily agree with his politics, but he was a master of guerrilla warfare, and that I do acknowledge. I just don't like the fact that people idolize him to the extent they do today: especially these 'antifas' and the like; they just discard his own racist observations and his brutal ways, and embrace his revolutionary tactics and rhetoric.

 

[zanetti]

Mine: Tony Soprano & the Dalai Lama

i like their different approaches to conflict resolution

 

[Beachsidejarl]

Don't have one. There are certainly people I respect more than others but I tend to view everyone as a failing human being. This means I don't place people above myself, nor do I tend to look down upon too many people. I try to maintain a balanced view of everyone.

Besides, I do think that heroworship is in some sense a sign of weakness of your own identity and sense of self. It's naturaly when we are younger but if you are past the age of 20, then something's wrong.

 

[Big Nilla]

Don't have one. There are certainly people I respect more than others but I tend to view everyone as a failing human being.

Besides, I do think that heroworship is in some sense a sign of weakness of your own identity and sense of self. It's naturaly when we are younger but if you are past the age of 20, then something's wrong.

Totally agree with you. I don't have any role models. I learn from others, but I'm my own person on my own path.

 

[dirtman]

My Grandfather May he rest in peace. He was more of a father to me than my dad. Fathered a huge family, was an inventor and holds patents, taught me to fish and about being a man.

Seneca His thinking and philosophy have been medicine to me in my middle life.

Charlie Chaplin Total hero. I can't even imagine the life the guy led, the dames he had, the total creative freedom and all he did with it. True genius.

Werner Herzog Also a total hero of mine. Just nuts enough to be sane. Anyone crazy enough to pull off a movie like Fitzcarraldo has things right.

All of these inspire me. There are more, but these come to mind at the moment.

 

[hypesession]

Floyd "Money" Mayweather -

I feel for this guy in so many aspects. Family struggles, overcoming obstacles and winning--I think he is tortured on the inside and fights through it like a man and makes smart decisions for himself despite what people think about him.

 

[painter]

Travis McGee was always my player idol. El Mechanico is kinda the modern version. It's a Florida thing.

The others would be General Macarthur and General Patton.

 

[Sherman]

I attended a Feynman lecture in my younger years. The topic was on the smallest computer possible in nature. His enthusiasm was infectious and there was no such thing as a dumb question.

My role model was my uncle who grew up on a farm working a plow and in his younger years was a powerful man made of solid muscle. I liked the way he could just walk into a room and gain respect. He was ethical and gentle with people showing me that real strength doesn't have anything to do with being an asshole.

 

[hypesession]

Joe "Girls Gone Wild" Francis.

 

[Chevalier De Seingalt]

Giacomo Casanova (aka Chevalier de Seingalt, a pseudonym he made up for himself). 18th Century Venetian and probably the true original player. His first love affair was a threesome involving two sisters and it only got better from there. He was a constant traveller and adventurer, bold to the point of being reckless, and over the course of his life he worked as a priest (although none-too-chaste), soldier, violinist, merchant, diplomat, gambler, spy, pretend alchemist, and author. He won and lost several huge fortunes, and could just as often be found charming the royalty and nobility as carousing with the drunks and criminals of the street. His escape from the Leads prison in Venice was the most famous prison escape of his day. And throughout all this he was constantly seducing the most beautiful women all over Europe.

The man knew how to live. Lucky for us he eventually became too old and poor to continue his adventures and so spent his twilight years as a librarian and author of his memoirs. They are over 1000 pages long and I couldn't recommend them highly enough to the readers of this forum.

This isn't the best translation available, but there is a free online version if anyone is interested in having a look:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2981/2981-h/2981-h.htm

 

[tnoonan2013]

My Brother - Basically the exact opposite of me, but we both have the same sense of humor and are each others best friends. He had to take care of me because we both lived by ourselves for a short period in time while my mother was in the hospital and my father had divorced my mother and was non-existent for a while.

My Mom - Nobody on this planet is a sweeter person, nor is anybody more stubborn. She has had a double lung and heart transplant, been diagnosed with schizophrenia, has had a toxic-plasmosis on her brain, yet you could not tell by looking at her! She is the epitome of a fighter.

Anthony Bourdain - The modern day badass, I want his job sooooo bad, he has had such a difficult life (living in NJ - crack addict - chef - TV personality) but has come such a long way and is living THE life!

Richard Branson - When I own my own hotel, many of the ideas and practices will be inspired by Richard Branson's business models. He truly is a revolutionary thinker.

Kanye West - I know I'll get flak for this, but he is really a great guy, sooooo enthusiastic about everything he does and is a quality control freak, I live my life by "Quality over Quantity" and someone that has the same mindset is a friend of mine.

 

[eveningdiary]

Pablo Neruda

Theodore Roosevelt

Me

 

[bacon]

hunter s. thompson

he was a guy who lived life without fear always seeking out adventure and new experiences. he lived life on his on terms. even to the end when he took his life. he was the first to wake me up to the red pill life

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!” hunter thompson

 

[Rick91]

Mine is Spartacus. Treat your fears and anxieties the same way Spartacus treated the Romans. Refuse to be a slave and allow them to control you and your life.

 

[TXH]

I second Roosh's mention of Derek Sivers. His book reviews alone show that he's a serious student of life. Great video of him talking about lessons learned from his days at Berklee School of Music (he bucked the system and graduated early, by the way).


Tnoonan2013 and I think alike re: Anthony Bourdain. He's at the top of his craft, plus writes and speaks extremely well, is well traveled and well fed, isn't afraid to piss people off, and married a woman 22 years younger.

I'm shocked no one's mentioned Robert Downey Jr. He has a silver tongue, puts his heart into roles, writes and performs music, does martial arts, and is always on. Most badass fact: he proposed to his wife the last minute of her 20s (see 6:50).


Last and most classic: Rhett Butler from "Gone with the Wind." Every player should study these scenes.

 

[Idlenations]

Has to be Iggy Pop.

 

[Don Juan Tenorio]

I opened a thread about people who inspire us and someone warned me that there is another one discussing the same topic. Maybe he is not my role model but he was very inspirational and he had lots of life in his years:











Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages.[1]

Burton's best-known achievements include traveling in disguise to Mecca, an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights (also commonly called The Arabian Nights in English after Andrew Lang's abridgement), bringing the Kama Sutra to publication in English, and journeying with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile. Burton extensively criticized colonial policies (to the detriment of his career) in his works and letters. He was a prolific and erudite author and wrote numerous books and scholarly articles about subjects including human behaviour, travel, falconry, fencing, sexual practices and ethnography. A unique feature of his books is the copious footnotes and appendices containing remarkable observations and information.

He was a captain in the army of the East India Company, serving in India (and later, briefly, in the Crimean War). Following this, he was engaged by the Royal Geographical Society to explore the east coast of Africa and led an expedition guided by the locals and was the first European to see Lake Tanganyika. In later life, he served as British consul in Fernando Po, Santos, Damascus and, finally, Trieste. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded a knighthood (KCMG) in 1886.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton