Incredible video. I am growing tired of people writing up eren as someone who did the rumbling sorely because of his friends or as a lelouch copy. People need to realize that he is not playing a villan, he IS a villan.
Well, probably because up until the ending, he was. Eren gets retconned, going from a character who cares about freedom to a psychopath who wants to kill all of humanity just because. He knew exactly why he was rumbling, which was to protect Paradis from the rest of the world. In the ending, this is retconned to just wanting all other humans dead, and retconned again, into Eren not knowing why he did the rumbling, and retconned again into not actually wanting to kill everyone, but only 80% so his friends could be seen as heroes.
@@Bridge2110 Except that's always been the type of character that Eren has been. Freedom is merely a manifestation of his will. It's what drives him. But it never truly has been about freedom. Against Annie, or Reiner and Bertholdt, he's shown his true intent of killing the other. Like the scene on the giant trees where he tells Reiner and Bertholdt that he'll murder them. Or when he wakes up after his first transformation back in episode 9 (I think it was episode 9), that he'll kill everyone. Most people chalked that up to him meaning that he'll kill every single Titan. But with hindsight, you'd see that's not the case. Eren always had a darkness inside him. He killed the kidnappers that kidnapped Mikasa. He never even felt sorry that he had to do it in self defense. Eren just, always has been that way. Isayama left enough hints to it. And then Eren finally admitted to himself and Armin. That he did this because he wanted to, in classic Walter White fashion.
@@kakorotskywalker I can't believe you have it so backwards. He wanted to kill Reiner and the rest because they took away his freedom and caused massive suffering for the people of the island, including killing his mom. He didn't want to kill them "just because". He had legitimate reasons to. Feeling that hatred strongly and showing it made sense. It doesn't mean he wants to end all life on the planet... He killed the kidnappers because they took away his freedom. He literally tells us this in the flashback bit with Zeke. He literally spells it out for you, and you're going "Nah, he's just a psychopath". Except Walter White enjoys it, doing something he was good at. Eren breaks down crying because he hates what the situation is forcing him to do. The situations are not at all analogous.
@@Bridge2110 Sorry I didn't see your comment until now. Eren wants to kill humanity because he wants freedom how is that a retcon? I think you might have fumbled eren's motivations because in all honesty, he didn't express jack shit emotion for paradis in the last arc. No eren has been built up from the very episode he sealed up trost to be a character who very much desired to explore a world outside the walls as armin told him. I think people took the "I don't know why" line very seriously and completely ignored the very next sequence showing grisha holding eren telling him he is free, very much indicating that it was his nature to seek freedom. No eren very much wanted to wipe out 100% but at the same time he knew what he was doing was wrong. Him saving his friends and making them out to be heroes is a positive outcome of the path eren took. But yeah much like the person above me said, eren in the last chapter and episode very much did pull a water white: "I did it for me".
@@Bridge2110 I feel like you have erens motivations very much screwed up. Eren is not a character driven by revenge nor does he ever really express concern for paradis. He still doesn't want to kill them just because, he wants to kill them because he believes in a childish dream that he will have freedom once the world is exactly as armins book imagined. He killed his kidnappers because they took away his freedom? He literally struck first with a knife at 8 years of age, if that isn't a psychopath, then I don't know what is lmao. The situations are kind of similar. Its just that eren is self aware of what he is committing which makes him guilty of it.
1:46 I mean I think you’re right and don’t even need to negate yourself here. the American idea of freedom very much did start with Americans turning up here, and systematically exterminating native populations in our progression across the continent. I know it isn’t exact but manifest destiny’s impact on native Americans could parallel to the rumbling. We saw natives as another obstacle to our freedom and were apathetic to their existence.
You're an Eldian living in a post Rumbling nation. And like the show, even that amount of loss was not enough to satiate our lust for blood. @@TubularBellsRequiem6531
What you are talking about is known as "rights and responsibilities". In Europe kids used to be taught about them, always together. You had rights given through laws, but also responsibilities towards society. Unfortunately that lesson has been slowly forgotten over the past 2 decades and with the advent of social media it has become an alien concept for the younger generations. The Americanisation of European culture has caused significant damage.
I wonder if that's part of why it seems like y'all are having a rise of right wing isolationist ideology similar to what we're having here in the states. I hope you can regain a culture of social responsibility, because the lack of care in society without it makes for a worse world.
3:32 I understood that reference But in all seriousness though, I think this is a great video. Freedom means nothing without taking responsibility for oneself and they're community. It can't be properly enjoyed without imposing some restrictions
"My freedom to swing my arm ends where your face begins" As much as people meme on it, we do, in fact, live in a society. Whether you want to or not, the society around you is there, and we HAVE to engage with it. Even attempting to disengage from it is a form of engaging with it. Trying to pretend it doesn't exist or holds no influence over you our of some misguided sense of freedom for freedom's sake is ultimately going to lead you to getting hurt, hurting others, and generally being a miserable person. High quality, dense, well-reasoned, to-the-point, well-edited, and entertaining. I feel like there should be more youtube channels doing bite-sized 5-10 minute philosophy videos like this out there. This is some good stuff.
It's sad this vid only has 5k views. I'm a moderate independent slightly left leaning. You argue your points well on a philosophical and sociological level (couple of my minors are language theory and behavioral development going into neurology of behavioral). With everything in mind, your argument is very well explained. Just a random example I will draw from social psychology, we have lost etiquette (the ability to pretend to be nice in public) the more isolated we have become. We've seen this escalate with the "devices" era of the internet and covid sped it up. To encapsulate your argument I would use a quote from former Supreme Justice Oliver Holmes, ""The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." Very glad I subscribed to you early. With just a little tweaking you are 1m subscriber good. Much love
moreover, it is GOOD to rely on others it is so incredibly inefficient for each person to become an expert in every field to the point of blatant impossibility our true freedom is one granted by our community
@@Dan_Kanerva to be fair, a lot of that is based on this very argument people who think we should be a community and people who think everyone else should fuck off and fend for themselves lol
I definitely think this video needs a lot more context. You bring up 2 works, Man's Search for Meaning (one of the most powerful books I've read) and Attack on Titan (one of the most compelling works of fiction I have watched) and a lot of the ideas you present here almost assumes that the viewer knows both. I've seen both works you are referencing though, so I didn't have that problem. I enjoyed hearing your perspective on this idea, though I think you should've defined "Freedom" and "Responsibility" in this context as those are 2 very loaded words.
You are almost there, the last piece of the puzzle is that freedom and responsibility are the two sides of the one coin that is the power to choose. The easiest way to understand it is parenting: the parents have the freedom to choose whatever they want for their child and have the responsibility to choose what is best for them, therefore the parents have power over their child. It is the same with any other type of power, in fantasy or the real world.
Man's Search for Meaning is one of the greatest books ever written. Don't think I know a single person who has read it and was not affected by it in any way.
I think it makes more sense to compare individual freedom with collective freedom, as the more relevant portion of the video is that your freedom shouldn't come at the cost of someone else.
"Heroism is responsibility" I am now spiritually in love with you, mr. Btw, if you ever read this, here is a good read that I feel you'll enjoy as much as I did. Alice Miller, "For Your Own Good". Keep up the good work
Responsibility is too vague for me, Squam. I mean: there are leaders who wage a war, and their defense is: I'm responsible for the lives / freedom / survival / whatever of my people. So we need to put clauses on that word 'responsibility'. But these should ideally come from the inside, right? Personally, I found much insight in certain eastern philosophies, buddhism in particular. It teaches a practice (consisting of eight 'aspects' of life) to uncover the wholesome application of responsibility. Apart from that, I think that you make great points in your video. I see how responsibly you take the freedom to publish on this platform. Thank you.
I needed way more context to understand this video than you gave. Who is this character? what story is he from? But even without context, it was entertaining, informative, and seemed well argued.
I half agree, responsibility is important and I like how it can make for the opposite of liberty, however there's two things I think require further discussion, responsibility's scope and externally imposed responsibility.
Yup, compelling people to think outside of themselves is precisely how propaganda sweeps people up into becoming ideological soldiers. To be selfless and compassionate must 100% be a choice, given with clear conditions for stepping back from support. Telling people they are selfish unless they partake in what others want only creates a collective compassion that devolves into mindsets of "these ones in this house refuse our shared value" or "this person is going on the list for lacking our shared value".
@@jjhh320 thank you jjhh and Umbrum for these comments. Honestly, I feel like I'm going crazy when I hear lessons of responsibility and feel I've taken away everything there is to know while simply just feeling more pressure that I can't exercise into anything. I'm definitely an advocate for being responsible and not being apathetic to others, but I just feel conversations about it are just one-sided messaging lacking nuance, ultimately making me feel like I'm not doing enough despite feeling exhausted for seemingly no reason. Yes, I'm only stating my own woes but more because I can't speak on anyone else's behalf, I'm not seeking sympathy here, nor am I blaming anyone specific for those woes. If not ourselves, our actions serve others, and it is through those actions that relationships are established, unconditional or transactional or anywhere in-between, and being uncritical of it all does ultimately devolve into worshipping values that may not even be agreeable to the individual. Overall though, definitely needs further discussion since it is a nuanced and complex subject requiring a delicate approach.
It's a very very blurry line. Complete responsibility doesn't account for failures in systems you're beholden to, and complete freedom doesn't account for other people's rights. Whenever you're talking actual policies rather than philosophy, it's easy to tip the scales too far, even unwittingly.
I disagree with your characterization of Eren as having a distorted idea of freedom which cannot coexist with other free beings. He intentionally does not impede his friends from opposing him. He doesn't seek to destroy his own people, despite there obviously being people from his own side who oppose him and will go on to oppose him even if he succeeded. I think Eren's final characterization in ch. 139 is both not the whole picture and contradictory to the rest of his characterization. What Eren cannot coexist with is *enemies.* And the author set the whole outside world to unambiguously be the enemy, and went out of his way to show his friend's attempts at a peaceful solution as having failed, and ultimately *does* fail with the destruction of Paradise in the ending. In many ways I think Eren is actually a commentary on the duality of selfishness and responsibility, and how the two often become blurred and intersect. He feels responsible to the people of Paradise, and to Historia, but his desire to protect them is also selfish because it's at the expense of the outside world. He opts for the rumbling because the alternative, a partial rumbling, would require Historia and her children to inherit the curse of the titans indefinitely. We see Eren did not *want* to do a full rumbling in ch. 131, but he felt it was the only way.
@@AM17titan The story went out of its way to demonstrate the peace talks were futile from the start. Before Willy's death, Eren and co. took on Marleyan prisoners. The story tells us the majority of these prisoners were rotting in jail to the very end, despite being given the option of becoming volunteers, because they were stuck in their hate. Even those that let go of their hate for Eldians only did so under the pretense of helping their own nations be free of Marley; they hated Marley more than Eldians. That is no guarantee they wouldn't set their sights on Paradise next. Even many of the volunteers are revealed to have been pro-g3n0c1de infiltrators via Zeke's euthanization plan. Later, Eren and co. infiltrate Marley and even attend pro-Eldian rights talks. In these talks they see even those most radical pro-Eldians of the outside world saw Paradis as needing to be destroyed. At that point Eren left, and burdened by memories of the future, lamented how he would kill those around him. He then lived amongst the enemy, saw they were truly no different to him, and only when Willy declared war amongst world leaders who cheered and applauded his call to g3n0c1de did Eren strike. People don't sympathize with Eren because of this caricature of a twisted naive sociopathic idiot some people make him out to be. The ending recontextualizes him to be that, but it flies in the face of all previous characterization of Eren as a tortured young man who was put in an impossible situation with the will and power to change things for his people, but only at the cost of his own humanity and the lives of the whole outside world.
@@chosenrubric7308 where was it stated that majority was rotting in jail? some prisoners literally build paradise a port and a ship HAPPILY WITHOUT SHOWING ANY VIOLENCE those pro eldian talks dont matter because people were afraid karl fritz was going to initiate the rumbling but willy revealed the truth to them and what was people's thoughts? 'if paradise isnt a threat to us why they are telling us we should eradicate them?' what about olyankapons homeland? didnt he literally told he wanted to side with eldians and wasnt part of yelena? you ignore him now? and yea willy did wrong by putting genocide on them with countless innocents in paradise BUT WHAT IS EREN DOING? he is freaking continuing the cycle of violence lol what did historia said? there will be countless people LIKE YOUR MOTHER who wont know why they are being killed if a child (who didnt knew anything about eldia-marley conflict) parents die from the rumbling but he somehow survive wouldnt he literally become like eren ?
@@chosenrubric7308 where was it stated that majority was rotting in jail? some prisoners literally build paradise a port and a ship HAPPILY WITHOUT SHOWING ANY VIOLENCE those pro eldian talks dont matter because people were afraid karl fritz was going to initiate the rumbling but willy revealed the truth to them and what was people's thoughts? 'if paradise isnt a threat to us why they are telling us we should eradicate them?' what about olyankapons homeland? didnt he literally told he wanted to side with eldians and wasnt part of yelena? ignore him now? and yea willy did wrong by putting genocide on them with countless innocents in paradise BUT WHAT IS EREN DOING? he is freaking continuing the cycle of violence lol what did historia said? there will be countless people LIKE his MOTHER who wont know why they are being killed if a child (who didnt knew anything about eldia-marley conflict) parents die from the rumbling but he somehow survive wouldnt he literally become like eren ?
Eren Yeager is Blackbeard's idea of freedom. America is Luffy's. And I really hope you've read One Piece, because I lack the requisite literary degrees to properly explain this otherwise.
What are you on about, the US is a place that exists due to the genocide of its indigenous population, who's place as a hegemon was earned through the exploitation of other countries and who's only current export is "democracy" in the form of drones that kill dissidents and anyone who might be one. Much like the American dream itself you must be asleep to compare Luffy, who's whole stick is siding with the oppressed people wherever he goes to the US.
eren = freedom mikasa = responsibleness (obsession over making sure eren is safe and happy even to her own detriment) armin = both? that's an interesting way to look at it! i dont know if isayama intended to invoke these specific terms, but armin being the counterbalance to eren's unadulterated freedom is obvious. but armin being a representation of our responsibilities to others in society, even if that means impeding our own freedoms, is interesting! nice stuff
Thats not at all what I understand from AoT. Since Season 4, Eren didnt necessarily do anything wrong. He saw the future and acted to the limit of his physical and psychological abilities to achieve a future where his people can survive, and he even managed to not eradicate all other people
I don't know if I would say that America was ever at the forefront of Progressive Social movements, they were some of the last to *partially outlaw involuntary labor, their treatment of African-americans were so oppressive it served as inspiration for Germany, and women's suffrage got started elsewhere a lot earlier. Honestly, the USA seems to get talked about in these discussions more because stuff was, and still is bad there, than as a particular bright spot. *Note: Involuntary labor is still legal in the USA according to an exception present in the 13th amendment.
This was a start on a path to something. While I disagree with your assessment of western freedom, I think your conclusion is accurate for any chaotic situation. Responsibility creates order. It may be because of your age or because of the way you were raised. Not a bad thing, it's just not the same way I was raised. So Were not going to see things the same way. To me, what you are describing isn't the western idea of freedom, it's a mix of entitlement, selfishness and apathy. In Eren's case, It's the idea that the ends justify the means. It's interesting you saw this in the western idea of freedom and not the western idea of equity. Western freedom is all about opportunity to achieve greatness. Not the expectation of it. That includes treating each person is an individual and not as a part of a group. They are not their income, skin color, gender ..etc. The "I exist to serve only me" idea that you describe is just one method of perusing your goals. A selfish unapologetic path that may or may not result in greatness. But it's one method of living that you can find in all cultures and isn't the exclusive way you can get ahead in western countries. In fact, I'd say more than not, it's a terrible way to achieve your goals. You can achieve your goals faster and easier with cooperation with others and it's why we as humans have been so successful at surviving. That is why it seems like you only scratched the surface of this idea. There are many factors to why westerners have become entitled, selfish and apathetic and they have nothing to do with the western idea of freedom. It's the western idea that, because of their group, they are free from responsibility. any who, keep on making videos like these!
A Hero will sacrifice you to save the world. A Villain will sacrifice the world to save you. I like that quote, accurate or not. I personally don't see Eren as the villain, though I do understand why he is characterized by others to be so. I see him as a tragic figure. I feel the Marleyan government to be the true villains of the show. Had they left Paradis alone, how different would things have been? They continually set Titans upon the island over the years. The power used to wipe the Eldian's memories on Paradis left them without a desire for war or supremecy over ownership of the 9. And yet, Marley used the Titans in their possession to propegate war for their own selfish interests. In the third and fourth seasons, we see their political desires for warmongering and supremecy as other nations aim against Marley for continuing to use Titans. They went so far as to unite the world against Paradis by claiming the Eldians, who didn't even remember there was an outside world nor would have had Marley not gone after the Founder, were still barbaric, villianous subjects of Ymir they had always been. Regardless of who the villain was, Eren's actions removed the Titan ability from the world, and set Ymir free. What other options would have made that possible? Better to wipe all Eldians from existance hoping that would remove Titans? What of Ymir stuck in the Paths?
As at least one other person mentioned: 'responsibility' is way too vague. WAY too vague. What're you responsible for? Who defines that? You can easily throw in the idea of 'your people vs the others' as a 'fact of the world' into your understanding and suddenly monstrous options are back on the table. Heck, you can define the 'responsibility' as one only to yourself (and maybe a few people you care about) and wind up back at square one. Also, if a dictator comes into power, do you have a responsibility to obey them? Why not? Where do you draw the line between justifiable and unjustifiable government. What if you're a minority and people around you hate you? What if people around you simply let a sociopath be in charge because they don't understand the consequences? Anything you throw into the mix can redefine 'responsibility' into uselessness or active harm. So with that in mind, I'd like to juxtapose the 'negative freedom' (freedom from any and all restrictions) with 'positive freedom' (the ability to meaningfully do what you want). The problem with 'too much freedom' is too much NEGATIVE freedom and not minding the tolerance paradox (tolerating absolutely everything means you'd tolerate intolerant people taking over). In other words, if I want maximum amount of freedom for the maximum number of people, I must restrict the negative freedoms to some extent, because negative freedom lands you in either a 'last survivor' situation, or 'whoever has the most power, has all the freedom, while the rest get nothing' - some kinda feudal / dictatorial state. If you're not allowed to kill, you're free(ish) from being killed. If you're forced to respect property rights, you're free to not hire armed guards or hide everything you own all the time. If you're not allowed to snowball in power in a society, you're also free from living under the wims of whoever happened to snowball into a position where no one can stop them anymore.
From what I got based on the video and my thoughts in general, the exactly defining the idea of "responsibility" was more tangential to the point. Rather it was more of a "theme word" to convey the major point of the lack of empathy for others we see in Western culture. I digress, all responsibility really means in this context is the idea of taking the fall for the consequences of the existence of the world you enjoy. As an example, if your country forced a dictator into power in a foreign country, based on this philosophy you are inherently responsible (at least in part) for that. In short, the age old axiom of "there's a price to freedom". Sure you are free to live a self-serving life under the ideal of "freedom", but you will be responsible for being a bystander to problems caused by the system which allows for your freedoms. As for the "negative"/"positive" freedom, I feel that oversimplifies the real-life complex issue into black and white terms. "Negative freedom" can be seen as describing some freedoms as inherently bad, whereas the actual thing being judged is the method by which is attained or used in any given scenario.
@@lmaillefer7877 I don't disagree with most of this. The video gets the broad point across and it's not required to dive into the nitty gritty of "practically, how?". I'll note that empathy isn't that great for details either, but.. yea. My comment was mostly meant as a "here might be a good direction for the next step" As for positive / negative freedoms, they're not called those as a moral judgement. Negative is simply "freedom from" - you are NOT restricted by ___ - whereas positive is just "freedom TO DO ___".
I don't know if I would say that America was ever at the forefront of Progressive Social movements, they were some of the last to *partially outlaw slavery, their race politics were so oppressive it served as inspiration for WW2 Germany, and women's suffrage got started elsewhere a lot earlier. Honestly, the USA seems to get talked about in these discussions more because stuff was, and still is bad there, than as a particular bright spot.
what a trully amazing video!!!!!!!!! attack on titan is my favorite show (together with eva and vinland saga), i really disliked some points of the ending where some characters were kind of broken but your vision on it kind of turned around me seeing it as one of the worst endings ever to it just reducing the shows greatness a little you should watch and read vinland saga if you havent!! its a incredible show about the cycle of hatred and vengeance, the first season is the prologue
I think his reading of the ending is flatly incorrect and doesn't address how Eren's characterization is completely alien in the end to his characterization in all his other POV chapters.
I feel like this is the intro to a bigger piece on positive and negative freedoms. Positive freedom is your ability to control what you do. The addict has less positive freedom than the non addict. Negative freedom is the lack of obstacles in your path. A man in prison has less negative freedom than the guard. Also, I've never watched Attack on Titan so I wasn't able to follow your references. It would be good to have a disclaimer at the start or a bit more background on the events in question or pick something a bit more mainstream to reference or just leave the references out all together.
Several points amiss about Eren here. 1. His issue wasn't "other free people", but rather "other people who openly sought genocide against his people". The attack on Liberio commenced on the declaration of war. 2a. In the end he wasn't having a breakdown over the consequences of his actions - he was crying over not knowing what else to do. He hated all of it. 2b. Eren tried many times to save his people another way, but openly called himself out on being too stupid to find a better answer. 3. His friends beating him was part of his plan. His entire plan was to crush the powers that could end his people, be stopped by his friends before completely ending the world so they could be heroes, and finally destroy the power that made the world fear and hate his people. Eren was a tragic figure. The great antagonist of AoT was fear turning to hatred in an endless cycle. Eren was just the idiot given great power who couldn't see a better solution than to take all the hate on himself by tearing everything down.
@@Squampopulous "he wasn't killing people in defense of his own. He was killing people because he wanted a flattened world". We could say the same about Mao, LOL
@@Squampopulous What makes you think he was killing people because he wanted a flattened world? The single line in chapter 139? What about when he explicitly says he can't accept the military's plan of a partial rumbling? Does he say, in his internal monologue, it's because he wants to flatten the world? Or does he say its because he wants to protect Historia? It's the latter, he unambiguously says that. When he says, in his internal monologue, that the rest of the world wants to destroy them, but he won't allow that, it's because he just really wants to kill them all? Or does he say that because he will stop anyone who tries to take his freedom? It's the latter, he unambiguously says that. When he shows remorse, breaking down in tears, in chapter 131, why is that? It's because he doesn't *want* to do the rumbling, but given his other desires: to protect Historia, and not see his homeland razed to the ground by a world that hates them, he feels he has no other option. In Chapter 131, what's at the fore of Eren's mind? It's how Paradise *wouldn't find a way to survive.* How "anything and everything will be lost" and how the outside world decided "us Eldian people are the ones who must die". He's not thinking about whatever twisted idea of freedom you've imposed on his character during his inner monologues. He's thinking about his people and his home.
@@chosenrubric7308point of clarification: a characters statements about their own rationale is only true within that characters head. Any villain would claim they only had one option, and were doing the right thing.
@@asspills Yes, this is true. But it's also supported by the narrative. They tried to befriend outsiders they captured on Paradise and most clung to their hate, a few decided to help, but many did so as a facade to help Zeke in his euthanization ('ethical' Gen0c1de) of Eldians. The pro-peace Eldians attempted alliance and only found it in the greed of Hizuru. They tried peace talks and only found the hate for Paradis. If Isayama wanted to show Eren had an incomplete perspective he could have shown other character's POVs showing a more nuanced and divided outside world - one that hated Marley enough to ally with Eldia and gives an "in" for actual peace talks. The ending had no moral message and had many elements of self inserting because ultimately Isayama is nihilistic.
I am confused. You say that looking out for each other is the same recipe that people have followed for thousands of years. Then you say that if we follow the same path thus far, then we are doomed. How are we doomed if that path thus far has worked for thousands of years? What changed?
Not bad. I do find that I use the word freedom a lot less now after watching aot. However, I'm still very individualist simply because I believe that negative moral ideals (eg don't steal) should be prioritized over positive moral ideals (eg go out of your way to help others in need). I think a lot of people would say they agree with this but then suggest a layer of collectivism, perhaps suggesting that some type of collective entity (such as a government) has special permission to ignore certain negative moral ideals, which I disagree with.
It's not the "Freedom" Part that is drifting society apart, it's a disagreement in what Responsability Constitutes. Being responsible for your fellow man could mean a plethora of different things. Am i repsonsible for the suffering of someone on the other side of the planet? Am i responsible for the actions of other individuals who are completely unrelated to me? Every mature being knows Responsability is the path to freedom, but "Yanning without Ying" is just social enslavement that leads you to follow endless rules and dictations enforced by people who will not reciprocate. Freedom without Responsability does not exist, but Responsability without freedom definetly does. And we see it every day with people being ostracized and hunted down for not adhering to ever changing, unstable laws configured and built up by people who do not care for you, that's why throught human history we took responsability for those close to us, our family & friends, trying to care for "Everyone" or "your fellow man" is as much of a dream as "living in true freedom"
This only applies to the ending retcon of Eren where he rumbles just because (after being retconned to not know why he was doing it, after being retconned to not wanting everyone dead but to have his friends stop him), as opposed to doing it because the situation is forcing his hand.
It's interesting how I agree with a lot of what you're saying, however, I feel that you yourself are in a similar position to Eren. Believing that the only way you know how to solve a problem (politically) is the only way to solve it. I think responsibility is absolutely key to one's individual self-concept and the correct exercising of freedom. There's a lot of propaganda that paints anyone who leans right as freedom over responsibility, however, the massive following of Jordan Peterson directly shows that's untrue. The responsibility to be intentional and considerate with your freedom is the true heart of those who value it by understanding the painful consequences and not giving in to the trauma of having freedom denied, and thus inflicting it on others. I see large corporate entities push for less freedom and more control over individuals, which is taking the stance of Eren. Believing that others lack the ability to consciously make the correct decisions, and thus forcing them to do so through your overwhelming power is how I see the moralists, not those who are value based, align with the ultimately "common people sacrificing" current state of the left leaning side of politics. I readily agree that this was not always the way, but once I saw how things have changed and how peoples attention is being misdirected from the hands pulling the strings, my political leanings shifted. I would love to sit down one evening around a fire under the stars and discuss the world with you, my friend. I bet it would be a fascinating discussion 🙏✨️
In particular recognize that you - and the freedoms you have - are the product of millennia of human investment. You are your mother’s work. Her survival and safety while creating you was the work of others. All of us are built on top of everyone who came before us and everyone who still supports us now. Imagine forming a human pyramid with just one person by both of you leaning into each other past an angle that you could stand on your own. That’s society. We are apex predators who have annihilated almost every other species we have encountered and completely spoiled whatever environment we occupied. We do the same to each other at every opportunity. Civilization is constructed from our knowing that we can do better, but in order to be better we have to depend on each other.
My God, I hate Eren so much. He's so goddamn stupid and scams readers/watchers/fans into thinking his motivations are "deep" when actually, he's simply so stupid it hurts. HIs whole motivation stems from wanting to "protect" his friends. That is where everything stems from. His "freedom" is just a cope. A stupid fake cope, like someone trying to fake a "deeper" meaning to justify their stupid and hasty actions made emotionally. So in that way, he is a well-written character. But I hate how people think Eren is genius or has a good point or even is cool. And all of the people I've met that say that are either teens or novice writers. Once a guy wanted advice on how to make the motivations of the villain of their own story to "eradicate all living things" make sense, with him quoting his main inspiration being Eren Yaeger, with constantly saying "I kinda wanna do like this, kinda like Eren."
Everyone serves themselves, you should have shown a video of a blm protest or antifa razing a city to the ground. Also an example of a country or community or ideology promoting valuing others first, something to compare the American dream to. Please do another video diving deeper into this, what’s the antidote to American individualism, I’m just curious. I wouldn’t say American freedom is without responsibility, in fact the opposite. I enjoyed your other videos, how you pointed out what was wrong, what was right, how it should be done, so please if you read this do make a longer video, i know it’s just your opinion but I like your opinions, I don’t like this one but speak more about it I’m not satisfied with this 5 min video. Like you said your freedom is dependent on others constraints then showed a video of slave child labour in maybe an Asian country, what are you trying to imply here, outsourcing is the only thing that comes to mind and I’m sure an American individualist doesn’t support that, maybe you mean becoming richer makes someone poorer, if that’s the case would you touch more on that so I can at least point and say that’s not true.
What would you call the latter half? I think it goes downhill rapidly after the rumbling, ruining characterizations, but latter half seems to mean much earlier?
@@Bridge2110 Maybe a slight exaggeration, but season 4 was hella long so maybe it is half? idk. It was a big downturn for me. For multitude of reasons. My spidey sense started tingling at its first episode. Same with Game of thrones, I felt something was very wrong at beginning of season 5. Really tortured myself sitting to the end of both series even though I knew it was going to be massive disappointment.
@@Alaric-r9g This is after learning they weren't alone in the world, and after a timeskip, so some change is fine, especially in the direction of being less fierce and trying to be understanding. I don't like how they fight for their own extinction against Eren, how Levi, for example, seems to have no problem with Annie, how Mikasa seems to revel in killing her own people on the docks, etc, but before that, it's not bad.
Title and thumbnail does huge disservice for this video. I as a maga supporter didn't click this video because I am tired of the political bullshit. I only see it because of autoplay.
Maybe "the political bullshit" is so popular because people's rights are at stake. You don't get to police whether or not people talk about politics, because they're also talking about the context in which they exist. You vote for a convicted felon who seeks to fuck every woman, person of color, and queer person over, you don't get to complain about things being "political". At this point, it's not even political, it's basic human rights.
Being "tired of political bullshit" is a position of privilege. Also not sure how you can call yourself a "maga supporter" and in the same sentence try to distance yourself from politics. What is it you're supporting, if not the politics of Trump?
I will say “yinning with no Yang” would be fire as a t shirt
Incredible video. I am growing tired of people writing up eren as someone who did the rumbling sorely because of his friends or as a lelouch copy. People need to realize that he is not playing a villan, he IS a villan.
Well, probably because up until the ending, he was. Eren gets retconned, going from a character who cares about freedom to a psychopath who wants to kill all of humanity just because. He knew exactly why he was rumbling, which was to protect Paradis from the rest of the world. In the ending, this is retconned to just wanting all other humans dead, and retconned again, into Eren not knowing why he did the rumbling, and retconned again into not actually wanting to kill everyone, but only 80% so his friends could be seen as heroes.
@@Bridge2110 Except that's always been the type of character that Eren has been. Freedom is merely a manifestation of his will. It's what drives him. But it never truly has been about freedom.
Against Annie, or Reiner and Bertholdt, he's shown his true intent of killing the other. Like the scene on the giant trees where he tells Reiner and Bertholdt that he'll murder them. Or when he wakes up after his first transformation back in episode 9 (I think it was episode 9), that he'll kill everyone. Most people chalked that up to him meaning that he'll kill every single Titan. But with hindsight, you'd see that's not the case.
Eren always had a darkness inside him. He killed the kidnappers that kidnapped Mikasa. He never even felt sorry that he had to do it in self defense.
Eren just, always has been that way. Isayama left enough hints to it. And then Eren finally admitted to himself and Armin. That he did this because he wanted to, in classic Walter White fashion.
@@kakorotskywalker I can't believe you have it so backwards. He wanted to kill Reiner and the rest because they took away his freedom and caused massive suffering for the people of the island, including killing his mom.
He didn't want to kill them "just because". He had legitimate reasons to. Feeling that hatred strongly and showing it made sense. It doesn't mean he wants to end all life on the planet...
He killed the kidnappers because they took away his freedom. He literally tells us this in the flashback bit with Zeke. He literally spells it out for you, and you're going "Nah, he's just a psychopath".
Except Walter White enjoys it, doing something he was good at. Eren breaks down crying because he hates what the situation is forcing him to do. The situations are not at all analogous.
@@Bridge2110 Sorry I didn't see your comment until now. Eren wants to kill humanity because he wants freedom how is that a retcon? I think you might have fumbled eren's motivations because in all honesty, he didn't express jack shit emotion for paradis in the last arc. No eren has been built up from the very episode he sealed up trost to be a character who very much desired to explore a world outside the walls as armin told him. I think people took the "I don't know why" line very seriously and completely ignored the very next sequence showing grisha holding eren telling him he is free, very much indicating that it was his nature to seek freedom. No eren very much wanted to wipe out 100% but at the same time he knew what he was doing was wrong. Him saving his friends and making them out to be heroes is a positive outcome of the path eren took. But yeah much like the person above me said, eren in the last chapter and episode very much did pull a water white: "I did it for me".
@@Bridge2110 I feel like you have erens motivations very much screwed up. Eren is not a character driven by revenge nor does he ever really express concern for paradis.
He still doesn't want to kill them just because, he wants to kill them because he believes in a childish dream that he will have freedom once the world is exactly as armins book imagined.
He killed his kidnappers because they took away his freedom? He literally struck first with a knife at 8 years of age, if that isn't a psychopath, then I don't know what is lmao.
The situations are kind of similar. Its just that eren is self aware of what he is committing which makes him guilty of it.
1:46 I mean I think you’re right and don’t even need to negate yourself here. the American idea of freedom very much did start with Americans turning up here, and systematically exterminating native populations in our progression across the continent. I know it isn’t exact but manifest destiny’s impact on native Americans could parallel to the rumbling. We saw natives as another obstacle to our freedom and were apathetic to their existence.
I agree
So basically you're saying as an American I am literally Eren?
You're an Eldian living in a post Rumbling nation. And like the show, even that amount of loss was not enough to satiate our lust for blood.
@@TubularBellsRequiem6531
@@TubularBellsRequiem6531 Nope. Is thinking hard for you?
@wildanimal3737 lol do you not have friends? 😂
What you are talking about is known as "rights and responsibilities".
In Europe kids used to be taught about them, always together. You had rights given through laws, but also responsibilities towards society.
Unfortunately that lesson has been slowly forgotten over the past 2 decades and with the advent of social media it has become an alien concept for the younger generations.
The Americanisation of European culture has caused significant damage.
Blame it on 60's Counter Culture. That was when personal responsibility was flushed down the toilet en masse.
I wonder if that's part of why it seems like y'all are having a rise of right wing isolationist ideology similar to what we're having here in the states. I hope you can regain a culture of social responsibility, because the lack of care in society without it makes for a worse world.
3:32 I understood that reference
But in all seriousness though, I think this is a great video. Freedom means nothing without taking responsibility for oneself and they're community. It can't be properly enjoyed without imposing some restrictions
"My freedom to swing my arm ends where your face begins" As much as people meme on it, we do, in fact, live in a society. Whether you want to or not, the society around you is there, and we HAVE to engage with it. Even attempting to disengage from it is a form of engaging with it. Trying to pretend it doesn't exist or holds no influence over you our of some misguided sense of freedom for freedom's sake is ultimately going to lead you to getting hurt, hurting others, and generally being a miserable person.
High quality, dense, well-reasoned, to-the-point, well-edited, and entertaining. I feel like there should be more youtube channels doing bite-sized 5-10 minute philosophy videos like this out there. This is some good stuff.
really glad you enjoy :)
Mine doesn't
“I’ve been getting into reading because I’m smarter and better than you” I LAUGHED OUT LOUD LOVE THIS GUY
Hahaha
"With great power (freedom), there must also come great responsibility."
~ Spider-Man
It's sad this vid only has 5k views. I'm a moderate independent slightly left leaning. You argue your points well on a philosophical and sociological level (couple of my minors are language theory and behavioral development going into neurology of behavioral). With everything in mind, your argument is very well explained. Just a random example I will draw from social psychology, we have lost etiquette (the ability to pretend to be nice in public) the more isolated we have become. We've seen this escalate with the "devices" era of the internet and covid sped it up. To encapsulate your argument I would use a quote from former Supreme Justice Oliver Holmes, ""The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins."
Very glad I subscribed to you early. With just a little tweaking you are 1m subscriber good. Much love
Surprised you mentioned responsibility and heroism without Spiderman, especially as he initially started off pursuing freedom without responsibility
moreover, it is GOOD to rely on others
it is so incredibly inefficient for each person to become an expert in every field to the point of blatant impossibility
our true freedom is one granted by our community
try teaching that to the modern Twitter brain "my politic enemy" person
@@Dan_Kanerva to be fair, a lot of that is based on this very argument
people who think we should be a community and people who think everyone else should fuck off and fend for themselves lol
I definitely think this video needs a lot more context. You bring up 2 works, Man's Search for Meaning (one of the most powerful books I've read) and Attack on Titan (one of the most compelling works of fiction I have watched) and a lot of the ideas you present here almost assumes that the viewer knows both.
I've seen both works you are referencing though, so I didn't have that problem. I enjoyed hearing your perspective on this idea, though I think you should've defined "Freedom" and "Responsibility" in this context as those are 2 very loaded words.
I'm learning something new from every one of your videos so far!
My only criticism of this video is that I wish it was longer. Great work mate
You are almost there, the last piece of the puzzle is that freedom and responsibility are the two sides of the one coin that is the power to choose. The easiest way to understand it is parenting: the parents have the freedom to choose whatever they want for their child and have the responsibility to choose what is best for them, therefore the parents have power over their child. It is the same with any other type of power, in fantasy or the real world.
I wish to have power over all of reality
even though I do not agree with everything you said, I will say you got the point, and also very well put together you did a great job
The courage it takes to make this connection man, you're real af bro.
Man's Search for Meaning is one of the greatest books ever written. Don't think I know a single person who has read it and was not affected by it in any way.
i think it should be required reading
One of my favorite songs has the lyric, “this ain’t my American dream, I wanna live and die for bigger things. I’m tired of fighting for just me.”
Wow, this was truly inspiring. It helped put into context a lot of my own actions and decision making. It makes perfect sense too.
I think it makes more sense to compare individual freedom with collective freedom, as the more relevant portion of the video is that your freedom shouldn't come at the cost of someone else.
"Heroism is responsibility"
I am now spiritually in love with you, mr.
Btw, if you ever read this, here is a good read that I feel you'll enjoy as much as I did. Alice Miller, "For Your Own Good".
Keep up the good work
I think that Freedom is not given to do whatever we want. Freedom is given so that you can do what is right.
Responsibility is too vague for me, Squam. I mean: there are leaders who wage a war, and their defense is: I'm responsible for the lives / freedom / survival / whatever of my people. So we need to put clauses on that word 'responsibility'. But these should ideally come from the inside, right? Personally, I found much insight in certain eastern philosophies, buddhism in particular. It teaches a practice (consisting of eight 'aspects' of life) to uncover the wholesome application of responsibility.
Apart from that, I think that you make great points in your video. I see how responsibly you take the freedom to publish on this platform. Thank you.
Amazing video! Love me a good essay that touches on meaning and purpose.
Also love the soundtrack choice. What's the name of the song?
I needed way more context to understand this video than you gave. Who is this character? what story is he from? But even without context, it was entertaining, informative, and seemed well argued.
yea i dont know why i thought every fan of this show would magically find this video lol. but thanks for the support!
"Apathy is death"
- Kreia/Darth Traya in Kotor 2
For some reason I was expecting the Vsauce music to kick in. Nice vid.
Humanity is an intelligent species, capable of acting on its own free will . . .
or _IS_ it?
I half agree, responsibility is important and I like how it can make for the opposite of liberty, however there's two things I think require further discussion, responsibility's scope and externally imposed responsibility.
Yup, compelling people to think outside of themselves is precisely how propaganda sweeps people up into becoming ideological soldiers. To be selfless and compassionate must 100% be a choice, given with clear conditions for stepping back from support. Telling people they are selfish unless they partake in what others want only creates a collective compassion that devolves into mindsets of "these ones in this house refuse our shared value" or "this person is going on the list for lacking our shared value".
@@jjhh320 thank you jjhh and Umbrum for these comments. Honestly, I feel like I'm going crazy when I hear lessons of responsibility and feel I've taken away everything there is to know while simply just feeling more pressure that I can't exercise into anything. I'm definitely an advocate for being responsible and not being apathetic to others, but I just feel conversations about it are just one-sided messaging lacking nuance, ultimately making me feel like I'm not doing enough despite feeling exhausted for seemingly no reason. Yes, I'm only stating my own woes but more because I can't speak on anyone else's behalf, I'm not seeking sympathy here, nor am I blaming anyone specific for those woes. If not ourselves, our actions serve others, and it is through those actions that relationships are established, unconditional or transactional or anywhere in-between, and being uncritical of it all does ultimately devolve into worshipping values that may not even be agreeable to the individual. Overall though, definitely needs further discussion since it is a nuanced and complex subject requiring a delicate approach.
It's a very very blurry line. Complete responsibility doesn't account for failures in systems you're beholden to, and complete freedom doesn't account for other people's rights. Whenever you're talking actual policies rather than philosophy, it's easy to tip the scales too far, even unwittingly.
Great analysis
I disagree with your characterization of Eren as having a distorted idea of freedom which cannot coexist with other free beings. He intentionally does not impede his friends from opposing him. He doesn't seek to destroy his own people, despite there obviously being people from his own side who oppose him and will go on to oppose him even if he succeeded. I think Eren's final characterization in ch. 139 is both not the whole picture and contradictory to the rest of his characterization.
What Eren cannot coexist with is *enemies.* And the author set the whole outside world to unambiguously be the enemy, and went out of his way to show his friend's attempts at a peaceful solution as having failed, and ultimately *does* fail with the destruction of Paradise in the ending.
In many ways I think Eren is actually a commentary on the duality of selfishness and responsibility, and how the two often become blurred and intersect. He feels responsible to the people of Paradise, and to Historia, but his desire to protect them is also selfish because it's at the expense of the outside world. He opts for the rumbling because the alternative, a partial rumbling, would require Historia and her children to inherit the curse of the titans indefinitely. We see Eren did not *want* to do a full rumbling in ch. 131, but he felt it was the only way.
Thank you
#AoTnoRequim
he didnt had any other way?
when eren declared war on willy he doomed every peaceful talk paradise could ever have
@@AM17titan The story went out of its way to demonstrate the peace talks were futile from the start.
Before Willy's death, Eren and co. took on Marleyan prisoners. The story tells us the majority of these prisoners were rotting in jail to the very end, despite being given the option of becoming volunteers, because they were stuck in their hate. Even those that let go of their hate for Eldians only did so under the pretense of helping their own nations be free of Marley; they hated Marley more than Eldians. That is no guarantee they wouldn't set their sights on Paradise next. Even many of the volunteers are revealed to have been pro-g3n0c1de infiltrators via Zeke's euthanization plan.
Later, Eren and co. infiltrate Marley and even attend pro-Eldian rights talks. In these talks they see even those most radical pro-Eldians of the outside world saw Paradis as needing to be destroyed.
At that point Eren left, and burdened by memories of the future, lamented how he would kill those around him. He then lived amongst the enemy, saw they were truly no different to him, and only when Willy declared war amongst world leaders who cheered and applauded his call to g3n0c1de did Eren strike.
People don't sympathize with Eren because of this caricature of a twisted naive sociopathic idiot some people make him out to be. The ending recontextualizes him to be that, but it flies in the face of all previous characterization of Eren as a tortured young man who was put in an impossible situation with the will and power to change things for his people, but only at the cost of his own humanity and the lives of the whole outside world.
@@chosenrubric7308 where was it stated that majority was rotting in jail?
some prisoners literally build paradise a port and a ship HAPPILY WITHOUT SHOWING ANY VIOLENCE
those pro eldian talks dont matter because people were afraid karl fritz was going to initiate the rumbling but willy revealed the truth to them and what was people's thoughts?
'if paradise isnt a threat to us why they are telling us we should eradicate them?'
what about olyankapons homeland? didnt he literally told he wanted to side with eldians and wasnt part of yelena? you ignore him now?
and yea willy did wrong by putting genocide on them with countless innocents in paradise BUT WHAT IS EREN DOING? he is freaking continuing the cycle of violence lol
what did historia said? there will be countless people LIKE YOUR MOTHER who wont know why they are being killed
if a child (who didnt knew anything about eldia-marley conflict) parents die from the rumbling but he somehow survive wouldnt he literally become like eren ?
@@chosenrubric7308 where was it stated that majority was rotting in jail?
some prisoners literally build paradise a port and a ship HAPPILY WITHOUT SHOWING ANY VIOLENCE
those pro eldian talks dont matter because people were afraid karl fritz was going to initiate the rumbling but willy revealed the truth to them and what was people's thoughts?
'if paradise isnt a threat to us why they are telling us we should eradicate them?'
what about olyankapons homeland? didnt he literally told he wanted to side with eldians and wasnt part of yelena? ignore him now?
and yea willy did wrong by putting genocide on them with countless innocents in paradise BUT WHAT IS EREN DOING? he is freaking continuing the cycle of violence lol
what did historia said? there will be countless people LIKE his MOTHER who wont know why they are being killed
if a child (who didnt knew anything about eldia-marley conflict) parents die from the rumbling but he somehow survive wouldnt he literally become like eren ?
Nice essay.
You should give a little bit of context. We don't all know AoT (which I found out about from your other videos...)
Eren Yeager is Blackbeard's idea of freedom. America is Luffy's. And I really hope you've read One Piece, because I lack the requisite literary degrees to properly explain this otherwise.
What are you on about, the US is a place that exists due to the genocide of its indigenous population, who's place as a hegemon was earned through the exploitation of other countries and who's only current export is "democracy" in the form of drones that kill dissidents and anyone who might be one.
Much like the American dream itself you must be asleep to compare Luffy, who's whole stick is siding with the oppressed people wherever he goes to the US.
eren = freedom
mikasa = responsibleness (obsession over making sure eren is safe and happy even to her own detriment)
armin = both?
that's an interesting way to look at it! i dont know if isayama intended to invoke these specific terms, but armin being the counterbalance to eren's unadulterated freedom is obvious. but armin being a representation of our responsibilities to others in society, even if that means impeding our own freedoms, is interesting! nice stuff
i considered this and i think it does hold up!
The Gojo comparison made me laugh
Thats not at all what I understand from AoT.
Since Season 4, Eren didnt necessarily do anything wrong. He saw the future and acted to the limit of his physical and psychological abilities to achieve a future where his people can survive, and he even managed to not eradicate all other people
I don't know if I would say that America was ever at the forefront of Progressive Social movements, they were some of the last to *partially outlaw involuntary labor, their treatment of African-americans were so oppressive it served as inspiration for Germany, and women's suffrage got started elsewhere a lot earlier. Honestly, the USA seems to get talked about in these discussions more because stuff was, and still is bad there, than as a particular bright spot.
*Note: Involuntary labor is still legal in the USA according to an exception present in the 13th amendment.
This was a start on a path to something. While I disagree with your assessment of western freedom, I think your conclusion is accurate for any chaotic situation. Responsibility creates order.
It may be because of your age or because of the way you were raised. Not a bad thing, it's just not the same way I was raised. So Were not going to see things the same way.
To me, what you are describing isn't the western idea of freedom, it's a mix of entitlement, selfishness and apathy. In Eren's case, It's the idea that the ends justify the means. It's interesting you saw this in the western idea of freedom and not the western idea of equity.
Western freedom is all about opportunity to achieve greatness. Not the expectation of it. That includes treating each person is an individual and not as a part of a group. They are not their income, skin color, gender ..etc.
The "I exist to serve only me" idea that you describe is just one method of perusing your goals. A selfish unapologetic path that may or may not result in greatness. But it's one method of living that you can find in all cultures and isn't the exclusive way you can get ahead in western countries. In fact, I'd say more than not, it's a terrible way to achieve your goals. You can achieve your goals faster and easier with cooperation with others and it's why we as humans have been so successful at surviving.
That is why it seems like you only scratched the surface of this idea.
There are many factors to why westerners have become entitled, selfish and apathetic and they have nothing to do with the western idea of freedom. It's the western idea that, because of their group, they are free from responsibility.
any who, keep on making videos like these!
A Hero will sacrifice you to save the world. A Villain will sacrifice the world to save you.
I like that quote, accurate or not.
I personally don't see Eren as the villain, though I do understand why he is characterized by others to be so. I see him as a tragic figure. I feel the Marleyan government to be the true villains of the show.
Had they left Paradis alone, how different would things have been? They continually set Titans upon the island over the years. The power used to wipe the Eldian's memories on Paradis left them without a desire for war or supremecy over ownership of the 9. And yet, Marley used the Titans in their possession to propegate war for their own selfish interests.
In the third and fourth seasons, we see their political desires for warmongering and supremecy as other nations aim against Marley for continuing to use Titans. They went so far as to unite the world against Paradis by claiming the Eldians, who didn't even remember there was an outside world nor would have had Marley not gone after the Founder, were still barbaric, villianous subjects of Ymir they had always been.
Regardless of who the villain was, Eren's actions removed the Titan ability from the world, and set Ymir free. What other options would have made that possible? Better to wipe all Eldians from existance hoping that would remove Titans? What of Ymir stuck in the Paths?
As at least one other person mentioned: 'responsibility' is way too vague. WAY too vague. What're you responsible for? Who defines that? You can easily throw in the idea of 'your people vs the others' as a 'fact of the world' into your understanding and suddenly monstrous options are back on the table. Heck, you can define the 'responsibility' as one only to yourself (and maybe a few people you care about) and wind up back at square one. Also, if a dictator comes into power, do you have a responsibility to obey them? Why not? Where do you draw the line between justifiable and unjustifiable government. What if you're a minority and people around you hate you? What if people around you simply let a sociopath be in charge because they don't understand the consequences? Anything you throw into the mix can redefine 'responsibility' into uselessness or active harm.
So with that in mind, I'd like to juxtapose the 'negative freedom' (freedom from any and all restrictions) with 'positive freedom' (the ability to meaningfully do what you want). The problem with 'too much freedom' is too much NEGATIVE freedom and not minding the tolerance paradox (tolerating absolutely everything means you'd tolerate intolerant people taking over). In other words, if I want maximum amount of freedom for the maximum number of people, I must restrict the negative freedoms to some extent, because negative freedom lands you in either a 'last survivor' situation, or 'whoever has the most power, has all the freedom, while the rest get nothing' - some kinda feudal / dictatorial state.
If you're not allowed to kill, you're free(ish) from being killed. If you're forced to respect property rights, you're free to not hire armed guards or hide everything you own all the time. If you're not allowed to snowball in power in a society, you're also free from living under the wims of whoever happened to snowball into a position where no one can stop them anymore.
From what I got based on the video and my thoughts in general, the exactly defining the idea of "responsibility" was more tangential to the point. Rather it was more of a "theme word" to convey the major point of the lack of empathy for others we see in Western culture.
I digress, all responsibility really means in this context is the idea of taking the fall for the consequences of the existence of the world you enjoy. As an example, if your country forced a dictator into power in a foreign country, based on this philosophy you are inherently responsible (at least in part) for that. In short, the age old axiom of "there's a price to freedom". Sure you are free to live a self-serving life under the ideal of "freedom", but you will be responsible for being a bystander to problems caused by the system which allows for your freedoms.
As for the "negative"/"positive" freedom, I feel that oversimplifies the real-life complex issue into black and white terms. "Negative freedom" can be seen as describing some freedoms as inherently bad, whereas the actual thing being judged is the method by which is attained or used in any given scenario.
@@lmaillefer7877 I don't disagree with most of this. The video gets the broad point across and it's not required to dive into the nitty gritty of "practically, how?". I'll note that empathy isn't that great for details either, but.. yea. My comment was mostly meant as a "here might be a good direction for the next step"
As for positive / negative freedoms, they're not called those as a moral judgement. Negative is simply "freedom from" - you are NOT restricted by ___ - whereas positive is just "freedom TO DO ___".
3:27 this light makes the Ying and Yang symbol look really backwards.
Good video
good video 👍
I don't know if I would say that America was ever at the forefront of Progressive Social movements, they were some of the last to *partially outlaw slavery, their race politics were so oppressive it served as inspiration for WW2 Germany, and women's suffrage got started elsewhere a lot earlier. Honestly, the USA seems to get talked about in these discussions more because stuff was, and still is bad there, than as a particular bright spot.
what a trully amazing video!!!!!!!!! attack on titan is my favorite show (together with eva and vinland saga), i really disliked some points of the ending where some characters were kind of broken but your vision on it kind of turned around me seeing it as one of the worst endings ever to it just reducing the shows greatness a little
you should watch and read vinland saga if you havent!! its a incredible show about the cycle of hatred and vengeance, the first season is the prologue
i have watched season 1 and 2 of vinland, i think i need to revisit it!
I think his reading of the ending is flatly incorrect and doesn't address how Eren's characterization is completely alien in the end to his characterization in all his other POV chapters.
i think you'd enjoy Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States
Thanks for the rec!
Im curious how you feel about one pieces portrayal of freedom now
Star Trek utopia, everyone is free, nothing is flattened. This requires reasonable, logical humans.
star trek has magic replicators.
it's easy to be saint in paradise
@@AmirDarkOne You're probably right, we'll need a post scarcity society to really make it possible.
I feel like this is the intro to a bigger piece on positive and negative freedoms. Positive freedom is your ability to control what you do. The addict has less positive freedom than the non addict. Negative freedom is the lack of obstacles in your path. A man in prison has less negative freedom than the guard.
Also, I've never watched Attack on Titan so I wasn't able to follow your references. It would be good to have a disclaimer at the start or a bit more background on the events in question or pick something a bit more mainstream to reference or just leave the references out all together.
read "What We Owe To Eachother" by T.M Scanlon
Several points amiss about Eren here.
1. His issue wasn't "other free people", but rather "other people who openly sought genocide against his people". The attack on Liberio commenced on the declaration of war.
2a. In the end he wasn't having a breakdown over the consequences of his actions - he was crying over not knowing what else to do. He hated all of it.
2b. Eren tried many times to save his people another way, but openly called himself out on being too stupid to find a better answer.
3. His friends beating him was part of his plan. His entire plan was to crush the powers that could end his people, be stopped by his friends before completely ending the world so they could be heroes, and finally destroy the power that made the world fear and hate his people.
Eren was a tragic figure. The great antagonist of AoT was fear turning to hatred in an endless cycle. Eren was just the idiot given great power who couldn't see a better solution than to take all the hate on himself by tearing everything down.
i disagree but respect ur opinion. he wasnt killing people in defense of eldia. he was killing people because he wanted a flattened world.
@@Squampopulous "he wasn't killing people in defense of his own. He was killing people because he wanted a flattened world". We could say the same about Mao, LOL
@@Squampopulous What makes you think he was killing people because he wanted a flattened world? The single line in chapter 139?
What about when he explicitly says he can't accept the military's plan of a partial rumbling? Does he say, in his internal monologue, it's because he wants to flatten the world? Or does he say its because he wants to protect Historia? It's the latter, he unambiguously says that.
When he says, in his internal monologue, that the rest of the world wants to destroy them, but he won't allow that, it's because he just really wants to kill them all? Or does he say that because he will stop anyone who tries to take his freedom? It's the latter, he unambiguously says that.
When he shows remorse, breaking down in tears, in chapter 131, why is that? It's because he doesn't *want* to do the rumbling, but given his other desires: to protect Historia, and not see his homeland razed to the ground by a world that hates them, he feels he has no other option.
In Chapter 131, what's at the fore of Eren's mind? It's how Paradise *wouldn't find a way to survive.* How "anything and everything will be lost" and how the outside world decided "us Eldian people are the ones who must die". He's not thinking about whatever twisted idea of freedom you've imposed on his character during his inner monologues. He's thinking about his people and his home.
@@chosenrubric7308point of clarification:
a characters statements about their own rationale is only true within that characters head. Any villain would claim they only had one option, and were doing the right thing.
@@asspills Yes, this is true. But it's also supported by the narrative.
They tried to befriend outsiders they captured on Paradise and most clung to their hate, a few decided to help, but many did so as a facade to help Zeke in his euthanization ('ethical' Gen0c1de) of Eldians. The pro-peace Eldians attempted alliance and only found it in the greed of Hizuru. They tried peace talks and only found the hate for Paradis.
If Isayama wanted to show Eren had an incomplete perspective he could have shown other character's POVs showing a more nuanced and divided outside world - one that hated Marley enough to ally with Eldia and gives an "in" for actual peace talks.
The ending had no moral message and had many elements of self inserting because ultimately Isayama is nihilistic.
I am confused.
You say that looking out for each other is the same recipe that people have followed for thousands of years.
Then you say that if we follow the same path thus far, then we are doomed.
How are we doomed if that path thus far has worked for thousands of years? What changed?
Not bad. I do find that I use the word freedom a lot less now after watching aot. However, I'm still very individualist simply because I believe that negative moral ideals (eg don't steal) should be prioritized over positive moral ideals (eg go out of your way to help others in need). I think a lot of people would say they agree with this but then suggest a layer of collectivism, perhaps suggesting that some type of collective entity (such as a government) has special permission to ignore certain negative moral ideals, which I disagree with.
It's not the "Freedom" Part that is drifting society apart, it's a disagreement in what Responsability Constitutes. Being responsible for your fellow man could mean a plethora of different things. Am i repsonsible for the suffering of someone on the other side of the planet? Am i responsible for the actions of other individuals who are completely unrelated to me? Every mature being knows Responsability is the path to freedom, but "Yanning without Ying" is just social enslavement that leads you to follow endless rules and dictations enforced by people who will not reciprocate.
Freedom without Responsability does not exist, but Responsability without freedom definetly does. And we see it every day with people being ostracized and hunted down for not adhering to ever changing, unstable laws configured and built up by people who do not care for you, that's why throught human history we took responsability for those close to us, our family & friends, trying to care for "Everyone" or "your fellow man" is as much of a dream as "living in true freedom"
No spoiler alerts really, fine I should've just watched it 2 years ago but bruh
This only applies to the ending retcon of Eren where he rumbles just because (after being retconned to not know why he was doing it, after being retconned to not wanting everyone dead but to have his friends stop him), as opposed to doing it because the situation is forcing his hand.
Anyone think of Senator Armstrong around 2:00?
It's interesting how I agree with a lot of what you're saying, however, I feel that you yourself are in a similar position to Eren.
Believing that the only way you know how to solve a problem (politically) is the only way to solve it.
I think responsibility is absolutely key to one's individual self-concept and the correct exercising of freedom.
There's a lot of propaganda that paints anyone who leans right as freedom over responsibility, however, the massive following of Jordan Peterson directly shows that's untrue.
The responsibility to be intentional and considerate with your freedom is the true heart of those who value it by understanding the painful consequences and not giving in to the trauma of having freedom denied, and thus inflicting it on others.
I see large corporate entities push for less freedom and more control over individuals, which is taking the stance of Eren.
Believing that others lack the ability to consciously make the correct decisions, and thus forcing them to do so through your overwhelming power is how I see the moralists, not those who are value based, align with the ultimately "common people sacrificing" current state of the left leaning side of politics.
I readily agree that this was not always the way, but once I saw how things have changed and how peoples attention is being misdirected from the hands pulling the strings, my political leanings shifted.
I would love to sit down one evening around a fire under the stars and discuss the world with you, my friend. I bet it would be a fascinating discussion 🙏✨️
So... Don't hurt people? Yeah
In particular recognize that you - and the freedoms you have - are the product of millennia of human investment. You are your mother’s work. Her survival and safety while creating you was the work of others.
All of us are built on top of everyone who came before us and everyone who still supports us now.
Imagine forming a human pyramid with just one person by both of you leaning into each other past an angle that you could stand on your own. That’s society.
We are apex predators who have annihilated almost every other species we have encountered and completely spoiled whatever environment we occupied. We do the same to each other at every opportunity. Civilization is constructed from our knowing that we can do better, but in order to be better we have to depend on each other.
My God, I hate Eren so much. He's so goddamn stupid and scams readers/watchers/fans into thinking his motivations are "deep" when actually, he's simply so stupid it hurts.
HIs whole motivation stems from wanting to "protect" his friends. That is where everything stems from. His "freedom" is just a cope. A stupid fake cope, like someone trying to fake a "deeper" meaning to justify their stupid and hasty actions made emotionally. So in that way, he is a well-written character.
But I hate how people think Eren is genius or has a good point or even is cool. And all of the people I've met that say that are either teens or novice writers. Once a guy wanted advice on how to make the motivations of the villain of their own story to "eradicate all living things" make sense, with him quoting his main inspiration being Eren Yaeger, with constantly saying "I kinda wanna do like this, kinda like Eren."
Protecting the freedom of his friends, yeah... How does he not have a point? Is protecting your friends not having a point?
Has bro not read 122 where he single handedly freed a girl enslaved over 2000 years by his sheer will to find freedom?
Nosferatu from Spongebob
Peak
Everyone serves themselves, you should have shown a video of a blm protest or antifa razing a city to the ground. Also an example of a country or community or ideology promoting valuing others first, something to compare the American dream to. Please do another video diving deeper into this, what’s the antidote to American individualism, I’m just curious. I wouldn’t say American freedom is without responsibility, in fact the opposite. I enjoyed your other videos, how you pointed out what was wrong, what was right, how it should be done, so please if you read this do make a longer video, i know it’s just your opinion but I like your opinions, I don’t like this one but speak more about it I’m not satisfied with this 5 min video. Like you said your freedom is dependent on others constraints then showed a video of slave child labour in maybe an Asian country, what are you trying to imply here, outsourcing is the only thing that comes to mind and I’m sure an American individualist doesn’t support that, maybe you mean becoming richer makes someone poorer, if that’s the case would you touch more on that so I can at least point and say that’s not true.
The comment on freedom and responsibility - chef kiss
Completely disregarding every Eren scene to degrade his character to a maniac - 0/10
Yes, not everyone should have the right to vote. Be like Rhodesia.
🥊🥰🦅🧍♂️💍💀🙏
Hopefully, society will one day develop a proper system to combat unliteracy.
attack of titan latter half was trash. Idk why a person who understands stories deeply likes it.
What would you call the latter half? I think it goes downhill rapidly after the rumbling, ruining characterizations, but latter half seems to mean much earlier?
@@Bridge2110 Maybe a slight exaggeration, but season 4 was hella long so maybe it is half? idk. It was a big downturn for me. For multitude of reasons. My spidey sense started tingling at its first episode. Same with Game of thrones, I felt something was very wrong at beginning of season 5. Really tortured myself sitting to the end of both series even though I knew it was going to be massive disappointment.
@@dav9104 Can I ask what reasons? I think season 4 was great up until the rumbling, when it started having problems, primarily the alliance.
@@Bridge2110season 4 has troubles before the rumbling, the entire survey corps feels like hollow shells of the fierce people they were
@@Alaric-r9g This is after learning they weren't alone in the world, and after a timeskip, so some change is fine, especially in the direction of being less fierce and trying to be understanding. I don't like how they fight for their own extinction against Eren, how Levi, for example, seems to have no problem with Annie, how Mikasa seems to revel in killing her own people on the docks, etc, but before that, it's not bad.
Title and thumbnail does huge disservice for this video. I as a maga supporter didn't click this video because I am tired of the political bullshit. I only see it because of autoplay.
thanks for feedback
Maybe "the political bullshit" is so popular because people's rights are at stake. You don't get to police whether or not people talk about politics, because they're also talking about the context in which they exist.
You vote for a convicted felon who seeks to fuck every woman, person of color, and queer person over, you don't get to complain about things being "political". At this point, it's not even political, it's basic human rights.
@@Squampopulous I love that this is not for everyone! Great work
Being "tired of political bullshit" is a position of privilege. Also not sure how you can call yourself a "maga supporter" and in the same sentence try to distance yourself from politics. What is it you're supporting, if not the politics of Trump?
A maga supporter who is "tired of the political bullshit." How precious xD