Sunday, May 14, 2006
This blog is mostly in reference to Gundam Seed and is probably long overdue, considering the fact that the Gundam Seed series ended on September 27 2003, but this blog believes in the adage that its better late than never.
Clotho Buer: What's the deal with you two anyway?! Why are you fighting so desperately?!
Athrun: I want to ask you the same thing. What do you guys think you're fighting for?!
Clotho Buer: Don't ask me, I don't really know. I hate losing, that's my only reason!
In so many ways, the actions of Clotho Buer and crew reflect the actions and motivation of people. To broaden the perspective of the argument beyond the immediate relationship to the anime series, this can be applied to so many aspects of life and society. Running round and around in an endless rat race of life, so many forget what life is about. We fight tooth and nail for survival, but forget what we are living for.
So what exactly are we living for? The most simplistic and indeed most powerful answer is that we are living to die. Depending on what we achieve in the 70 or so years between birth and death, we may end up in heaven or hell. This is an extremely potent mix of intoxicating notions, that we can determine eternity with present actions. Witness the Jihadist and suicide bombers. Clearly this notion of life is not a very accurate picture to paint.
The utilitarian view is that we should live to enjoy ourselves. Put in a different manner, we will try to maximize our happiness. However, the means with which we are trying to increase the total happiness in society is questionable. According to a BBC survey, the GDP per capita in the UK has increased 3 times since the 50's, while the level of happiness is effectively constant. Does this imply that more money is not necessarily better? Should the aim of the government then be to look into the welfare of her people, as opposed to the senseless and mindless pursuit of more and more wealth? Of course this argument do not apply to the poorest of nations, but in countries like Singapore, which are developed and already enjoying high GDP, will the best progress path be the same as the Industrialized countries? Or is it better to trade slower growth for a better standard of living?
In a parallel sense, Lacus Clyne asks several pertinent but rhetorical questions: Possibly humans can exist without actually having to fight. But, many of us have chosen to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we kill people to protect ourselves and this future then what sort of future is it and what will we have become? There is no future for those who have died. And what of those who did the killing? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with blood stained hands?
This blog cannot provide the answers to most of the questions raised. Is happiness and growth compatible? Is fighting to protect an oxymoron? What are we really doing in this small outpost of a blue planet in a remote part of the Milky Way? Perhaps someday, someone can provide some answers.
As an end-note, this blog found Gundam Seed highly entertaining and interesting although at times improbable with its odd looking humanoid robots. While critics will suggest that there are better shows out there, you can do much worse than Gundam Seed.
1:48 AM
