Whether the subjects' constructions of political action and death were part of a discourse that was more indigenous or more alien is not really the issue, however. Those who embrace foreign doctrines may not recognize the degree to which their conceptions of rebellion are influenced by traditional patterns. The political effects of acknowledging traditional precedents may even be considered undesirable in a context where a modeniizing state and emperorsystem is bent on both furthering and reinventing 'tradition' for its own uses. Such difficulties, however, do not obviate the need to acknowledge that indigenous and other inspirations reinforced and acted upon each other, resulting in influences upon the subjects' thinking that may have been deeper than a mere borrowing of 'exotic' views would suggest.