When I was little, ninjas were cool. They could leap like super far, climb walls, hypnotize people, go invisible, and throw ninja stars through steel plates. Then I grew up and realized that there is nothing special about ninjas. They aren’t supernatural or more determined than anyone else caught in desperate straights. See Judith killing Holofernes while he’s asleep, then sneaking off with the head. That’s more ninja than ninja.
So now let’s steal the word ninja and let it mean anything hyped to more than it is because it’s exotic. Acai berries are ninja. They are exotic super berries from the Amazon! No, they’re fancy blueberries. Their is nothing wrong with them; I’m not laughing at you if you like to eat them. Just pointing out that eating blueberries will give you the exact same health benefits, but not the same ‘ninja magic’.
In ‘Shaolin Soccer’, Team Evil, the antagonist soccer team, were given the latest performance-enhancing drugs from America to give them super soccer powers to match the Kung Fu powers of the protagonist team. Watching that scene gave me that weird sense of inversion realizing that what is just everyday to me (the performance enhancement arms race of dirty cheating) becomes ‘ninja’ to them.
mydeadhorsenow 