Its a two parter (part 1)skittleboiNovember 8 2005, 00:17:05 UTC
It's like the analogy of The Cave (Plato? Aristotle? I don't remember).
The Allegory of the Cave is from Book VII of Plato's Republic
However, this situation is like Plato's The Allegory of the Cave, and here's why:
Plato believed that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually.
So in this, you are in some manner beginning to see the world not through senses, you have begun to see it vis à vi intellectual thought, which was brought on by your having watched the film.
Then there is Plato's idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves
Here too you have broken from what is said, and displayed for mass consumption, into actually facing what is "real and important". You have turned your mind from the "shadows" to the light asking why does this happen?
Plato also has faith that the universe ultimately is good
This is where you have come away from Plato. You have to realize that yes, there are evils in this world that reek havoc on societal norms and values. But on a whole man is good, unfortunately week willed, but good. On a whole fear takes over, and someone rises up from this saying they can lead them. Most people are not leaders they are followers, and when a leader arises they willing go and do...These followers are told that this is done for the good of (insert nation/cause/race/religion here), so many of them think they are in fact still acting in a manner parallel to their goodness/morality. Why b/c they are told so.
Plato's conviction that enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society, and that a good society must be one in which the truly wise the Philosopher-Kings/Queens are the rulers.
That means you and I my friend, while not exactly Plato's def of Philosopher-Kings/Queens [i added the queens, b/c of my Philosophy Prof. Dr. Morales], we are enlightened individuals. We are are set aside from the rest of society because we have spent time seeking an education beyond High School...We know that the American Media cannot be all that there is, diversify our sources of information, I myself listen to not only the BBC by RFI (Radio France International) in French to hear other perspectives. We read, most Americans do not read the paper, they look @ the DAMN TV! So, indeed it is our job to get people to understand that things like this are not ok...its not ok to go around liquidating towns, exterminating (insert noun) because they are different.
That is why movies like Hotel Rwanda, books like This way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeuzs Borowski, Wartime Lies by Louis Begley (the same author of About Schmidt). There is something that you can learn about from all these stories, the fragility of the Human Spirit. For most it ultimately will break, and that is why the Holocaust et al. are so horrific. Many people lost the will to live, they were so burdened that they could not bear it any longer, they gave up their spirit and were for all intents and purposes zombies. There are those few who were hopeful, but their hope was not without cost, even they were broken down in some ways, yet looked on and tried to invigorate those around them.
The Allegory of the Cave is from Book VII of Plato's Republic
However, this situation is like Plato's The Allegory of the Cave, and here's why:
Plato believed that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually.
So in this, you are in some manner beginning to see the world not through senses, you have begun to see it vis à vi intellectual thought, which was brought on by your having watched the film.
Then there is Plato's idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves
Here too you have broken from what is said, and displayed for mass consumption, into actually facing what is "real and important". You have turned your mind from the "shadows" to the light asking why does this happen?
Plato also has faith that the universe ultimately is good
This is where you have come away from Plato. You have to realize that yes, there are evils in this world that reek havoc on societal norms and values.
But on a whole man is good, unfortunately week willed, but good. On a whole fear takes over, and someone rises up from this saying they can lead them. Most people are not leaders they are followers, and when a leader arises they willing go and do...These followers are told that this is done for the good of (insert nation/cause/race/religion here), so many of them think they are in fact still acting in a manner parallel to their goodness/morality. Why b/c they are told so.
Plato's conviction that enlightened individuals have an obligation to the rest of society, and that a good society must be one in which the truly wise the Philosopher-Kings/Queens are the rulers.
That means you and I my friend, while not exactly Plato's def of Philosopher-Kings/Queens [i added the queens, b/c of my Philosophy Prof. Dr. Morales], we are enlightened individuals. We are are set aside from the rest of society because we have spent time seeking an education beyond High School...We know that the American Media cannot be all that there is, diversify our sources of information, I myself listen to not only the BBC by RFI (Radio France International) in French to hear other perspectives. We read, most Americans do not read the paper, they look @ the DAMN TV! So, indeed it is our job to get people to understand that things like this are not ok...its not ok to go around liquidating towns, exterminating (insert noun) because they are different.
That is why movies like Hotel Rwanda, books like This way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeuzs Borowski, Wartime Lies by Louis Begley (the same author of About Schmidt). There is something that you can learn about from all these stories, the fragility of the Human Spirit. For most it ultimately will break, and that is why the Holocaust et al. are so horrific. Many people lost the will to live, they were so burdened that they could not bear it any longer, they gave up their spirit and were for all intents and purposes zombies. There are those few who were hopeful, but their hope was not without cost, even they were broken down in some ways, yet looked on and tried to invigorate those around them.
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