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Meaford, ON, Canada
A big lover of all types of media, from Movies to Video Games, Books to Music, Television to Stage.

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Okay, here's the deal: Blogger has been having problems with their counters as of late, specifically with those blogs marked as having adult content. Now, this particular blog was marked as adult content since it is written as a train of thought, including all the rotten language that flows through my head constantly :) As a result, I marked it adult for that, not for having pornographic photos all over the place. So, simply put, be aware that there is language on this blogsite, and if you are offended don't bother complaining because I wrote this so that you'd know it before reading, and it is your fault if you don't believe me and decide to possibly get offended anyway. If language of a vulgar nature might make you upset, go read something by Disney.

12/17/10

2nd BGJ Blog Entry

Philosophy And The Matrix - February 13, 2005 - 07:54 AM.

Lately, I've been watching the Matrix movies again. I only just got them back after selling them a few months ago, and the cost of the special set I purchased kept me from having them for a while. Hell, I still haven't picked up my copy of Return Of The King yet for the same reason. Anyway, I have been taking my time watching the movies and perusing the special features, and yesterday I started watching a documentary on one of the discs about the philosophical questions behind the three movies. After about a quarter of it, I stopped it in order to watch it with Scott at some point, but before I switched it off, I saw enough to get me thinking about the questions that draw people to the field of philosophy and what life must be like for them.
The first thing that I came to realize is that philosophers as a group must be some of the most irritating fuckers on the planet. I mean, all they do is ask each other questions without answers, and then sit around amongst themselves pondering what the answers could be without ever having a definative result that can lay arguments to rest. Then you have the boredom issue, since philosophers can't really carry on a normal conversation with anyone who isn't a philosopher since discussions always end up leading to those unanswerable fucking questions, and anyone with a simplistic view of the world in which they live (read as 'most of us') gets the wonderful opportunity to feel like a real dumbass as a result. On top of that, just what kind of a job is 'philosopher?' I mean, aside from being overly pretentious and teaching in a college or university setting, how do these people make money? Now, that might be one of those unanswerable questions, because I don't see a lot of world-renowned philosophers doing the lecture circuit like Kevin Smith, and I don't think many of them can make a guitar sing, so that rules out concerts. Other than professorships, where is the money in it?
 
That's not the part that bugs me the most though. No, the part that really gets my nipples in a twist are those damn questions. Questions like, "Why are we here?" and, "How did we get here?" These are the real big questions, the whys and the hows. And most people don't have an answer that lends itself to very many other people. Sure, I have my own personal thoughts on the subjects, as do most others, but how many people can actually say that they 100% agree with anyone else's view?
 
And these are the basic questions, the ones that the entire field circles around, but there are other questions too, big ones, like, "Is it possible to make a mistake?" That's a party favourite, isn't it? Which leads to the next big one, "Is there such a thing as fate?" This question doesn't get invited to parties much, mainly due to the fact that it likes to skulk into a corner and throw cocktail weiners at anyone who passes by. The two main thoughts on this one are of course yes and no, yes being derived from the idea that we are controlled and can't choose our own path in life. Karma and the question of a soul that lies partly independently from the meatbag it is contained in enter the door at that point, grab all the liquor, and start making fun of the guy with a lampshade on his melon. After that, the party just sort of winds down, because who invited the damn philosophers anyway?
 
The Matrix films don't try to answer any of these questions, but instead pose them in interesting ways. Of course, if you watch the movies with anyone who has participated in discussing them online, such as myself, you'll either be bored by the many references to different beliefs and philosophies being pointed out to you, or simply stop watching the movie because the discussion gets loud enough that you can't hear Morpheus spouting even more questionable ideas over what you are currently discussing.
 
Either way, philosophy is the one subject that cuts through politics, religion, and economics, and really gets down to the important stuff (- insert laugh here -) and the Matrix movies at least make the ideas more entertaining, so you can enjoy a good action film whilst patiently waiting for your head to explode when the Galactic Overseer decides you've thought about whether you actually exist or not one too many times, and answers you by pressing the big red button.

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