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danhakimi

A new approach to "I spend a lot of time thinking about."

Edit: Okay, so it's terrible, got it. Everything I could possibly say on okcupid is terrible. My facebook friends liked it, but fuck them right?

I spend a lot of time thinking about... a lot of things. Which things wouldn't really explain anything about me -- but how I think about them would. So I figured I'd share one random musing that I found to be exemplary of my thought process. So my answer to the question is now the below:

A lot of things, but as an example, here's a random musing I once posted on Facebook:

Simba was a good king, but why? It's clear that Scar was a terrible king due to his motivations -- he became king out of jealousy (and hurt feelings from his brother's disrespect, of course), and at no point had any interest in anybody but himself. But Simba's a lot harder to figure out.

Was it because he was born to the king? That's what makes most kings, yet it has no relation to any moral or otherwise virtuous quality at all -- which is part of the reason we have done away with monarchy, if not, as I would argue, the main reason. Perhaps it is because of Mufasa's brilliant parenting. But, while I do not doubt that Mufasa was a good father, and a good king, Simba clearly had not learned very much in the time (spoiler alert) he was alive -- at least not enough to have learned to become a good king. Is it the grief of Mufasa's death that finally taught him a lesson? Well, of course not, it causes him to run away.

You might be quick to dismiss his time with Timon and Pumba, thinking that "hakuna matata" could not possibly be a good lesson for a king, and you might be right. After all, it's what delays his return. But perhaps the "no worries" mindset taught him to not worry, but to act. Eventually, perhaps he turned it into: I will think and make the correct decision, and at no point let the difficulty of the option weigh me down. And perhaps that is a good virtue in a king -- but perhaps not.

Is it Nala's love, or her urging that Simba return to protect his kingdom? Perhaps. We are shown relatively little of this, but perhaps that is the point -- perhaps we learn through this that Simba's love for Nala -- or his need to get laid -- is so great that he returns and rules only for her, which is at least better than returning for himself. And once he has Nala's love, he is complete, and does not need to be the selfish King scar is. But I trust there is more to a good king than intent and selflessness. A good king must have some knowledge, some wisdom, no? Where does he find this? Perhaps it comes through a life of so many varied experiences. Perhaps it is merely the combination of all the above, developed over time.

Or perhaps it was nothing but Disney magic.

How do we feel about this approach?

Posted Apr 15, 2016, 1:59 AM UTC · edited

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