The 18th century had pirates.The 19th century had cowboys.What does the 20th century have?
>>18732635GIs.
>>18732635Mercenaries in Africa
>>18732643this
>>18732635Mercenaries/PMCs
>>18732635Mercs fighting in the third world and the 21st century has trannies
>>18732635Cowboys were a part of the wider 19th century trend of civilizing regions which were historically complete deserts of human habitation. They succeeded, so there was nothing after that. Throughout history deserts were the norm, and civilization was the exception; not so after the Victorian age concluded.
>>18732635During the 19th century, instances of river piracy and maritime piracy persisted in both the Mediterranean and the Caribbean regions too. Couple of filibuster mercenary.
>>18732635Wolves of WallstreetBrokersMercenaries of the 20th century are simply fighting to fund the investments of the horde of digital brokers.
>>18732720That's what pirates were doing as well tho only it wasn't digital back then
>>18732735Pirates were extensions of the state that partook in maritime expansion with a deliberate free-card to do illegal things as long as it was against the interests of opposing states and not too bad for the proponent.Same for cowboys.Brokers do illegal things in the free market gray-zones on behalf of the big state banks.The point of the thread was to compare pirates and cowboys to what came afterwards, was it not?All powers have armies and mercenaries as standard inventory.Pirates and cowboys were period-specific special soldiers operating grayzones that didn't exist in the area or scale as previously.Mercenaries are about as original as whores.
>>18732754Cowboys were just dudes herding cows, I presumed OP’s question is what was a hypermasculine iconic role of that era that exemplified freedom on new frontiers
>>18732755I was referring to archetypes. Knights, samurai, ninjas, pirates, and cowboys.
u mad bro
>>18732635>poor, POC fucks making money for the richDrug dealers, I guess? Alternatively, all those people watching CP for Facebook and Google.
>>18732635Zogbots
Do astronauts count?
>>18734354astronauts aren't renegades anon, we don't have space pirates (yet)
>>18732635The Mafia GangstersNot as popular but still very kino
fighter pilots
>>18732674>no unknown seas or continents to explore>no unsettled frontier to settle as a frontiersman>but the mysteries of gender and sex still await for brave explorers
>>18732635Pilots. At least if you take Leiji Matsumoto as your guide to romanticism, he didn't just do space stuff.
>>18732635Piracy has existed for as long as ships have and still exists today
>>18734356
>>18732635Pirates were more like 16-17th century
>>18732635American Filibuster alive and well, see Hawaiian overthrown, CIA etc
>>18732754>Pirates were extensions of the statethat is surely the case. if you want to look into a wild one, look at henry avery, apparently a caribbean pirate - suddenly appearing in the indian ocean with several allies, intercepting the mughal emperor's treasure ships. intel, logistics, planning, timing - everything implies state action. or something like a state. east india company took over after the mughals
>>18732635Spies? Somewhat more organized than pirates and cowboys but still into dirty stuff
>>18732635Communist guerrillas
