The Great Game

A poll in Japan placed Bruce Lee in the top 100 people of all time. Andrew Su;;ivan comment on this and some his readers responded with derision. Then this response came. From this take, the idea is much more reasonable.

Your reader's remark about Bruce Lee not being worthy of the top 100 list is very Western-centric. Beyond just being a martial artist, many Asians (largely Chinese) see Lee as the first propagator of Chinese values and worldviews in the Western world (unlike most Western films like 'Breakfast at Tiffany's", or even the TV show 'Kung Fu' which Lee was turned down for over the white David Carradine). Lee was the first cultural missionary-hero to millions in the East, not just the cultural artifact we in the West see him as.

You might also read one of his books for more insight into this amazing man. Chuck Norris makes foolish videos about how evolution shouldn't be taught in the classroom, while Bruce Lee graduated with honors with a degree in Western philosophy, and injected a great deal of his writings on martial arts with both Eastern and Western philisophical concepts. Don't forget that martial arts is not just a mess of punches and kicks - there's a much deeper aspect to it.

Finally, for what he is known to most of the world: martial arts. Lee revolutionized hundreds of years of martial arts beliefs in a single lifetime. He broke free from the forms of Wing Chun and provided martial freedom in Jeet Kune Do. In a sense, he invented martial pragmatism.