PaleBlue said:AnimageNeby said: It's a slight gripe I have with it too, that it's a bit portrayed over the top, just so people (anime/manga fans watching it) would understand it's 'wrong' and say that Mogamet is evil, or at least 'something is off'. And, as he IS being portrayed, he is 'wrong' or 'evil', to some extend. He sees and treats goi people as another breed (insects, animals) - which, I repeat, doesn't make sense, because magicians (whom he uphold as something dear) ARE BORN from non-magicians as well. Since this is highly illogical, one can either see it as an oversight of the creators of the anime/manga, just to make the moral point they're after - a little plothole for the sake of making the ethical message clear - or, it's deliberately done as to show there is a twist in the mind of Mogameth to the extend that he fails to see the illogic of his handlings himself.
In any case, while this stance of "it's another breed" doesn't make sense, and this will be shown in later episodes to be detrimental in evaluating the morality of what he did or didn't do, I feel this is more done to effectively make the point across that it's wrong (thus, it lessens the ambiguity of it, which I personally like about this arc). Idem with all the foreshadowing that that sort of thinking will 'end the world' by Alladin.
But really, if you look rationally at the arguments themselves, and compare the living standards to the rest of that world/universe as it has been depicted, one can not else than conclude Mogamets way is far better compared to all the rest. The arguments he gave aren't wrong, it's his absolute disposition that is over the top and morally (and logically) wrong.
As I said before: take away his fanatic and illogical division to see non-magical people as another 'breed', and ameliorate the potential flow for the diverse social ranks/statuses, and the system he's talking about is clearly better and superior than anything else there. His ideas and arguments, therefore, have merit, even if his personal expression of it do not. He is basically argumenting for a meritocracy, and as said before; such a system has many good things going for it.
It may be illogical objectively, but in the context of Mogamett's life it makes sense for him to think the way he does because he see's the world through the lens of his own grief. He's constructed an elaborate logical device to justify what he's doing, but the absolute segregation he's trying to enforce is really just his subtle revenge (conscious or subconscious) against the Goi that took his loved ones from him.
True, and I think this was also the purpose of the mangaka in hinting at this. But that only pertains to his own personal view (consciously or unconsciously based on his grief, as you say), in which his irrationality seeps. The logical device/construction itself, however, isn't wrong or irrational on itself, though, even if he personally is (to some degree) using it as a means of revenge.
I see many posts here claiming his arguments are fake (sales-pitch) or morally wrong, but they aren't - at least not in principle. Most of what he said makes sense, and the end result is that he created a society which is far better than anything else in that world (note that even 'enlightened' Laem has slaves). What is 'off' here, is his personal interpretation in the execution of his vision, which is much to absolute and rigid (actually seeing other people as a different breed), but the principles of the matter stand firm. He also is too positive about magicians being not swayed by 'low desires' and only being interested in gaining knowledge - clearly, some are not or less 'noble' than he thinks. That said, he's basically right; all in all, mages will be more prone to take the non-violent route, them being intellectuals and scholars, and they can see the rukh, who is said to determine the fate of people and the world...so, if anything, they ARE better suited to rule than royalty and the masses driven by low desires. There is no denying that the civilisation and society he tries to create is more 'right' than the others around him. This point goes a bit lost because of the 'secret' they have which will 'threaten the world' and his personal and irrational antics that will surface later on (when it's not all that unconscious anymore). But it would never have come to that if Magnostadt wasn't put under pressure by the militaristic conquests of both Laem and the Kou empire in the first place.
So sure, there were some things that weren't right nor perfectly done, and his personal grief and unconscious crave for revenge may have burdened his otherwise wise judgement, but all in all, his speech made sense, and he WAS right in most of it. With some small adjustments to the system, it would have been a place where I would find living pretty good and certainly better than anywhere else in magiworld. The anime/manga obfuscates this a bit by focussing on the 'feeling' it wants to evoke. If, for instance, one would call the goi in the 5th district 'magoi-providers' instead of 'livestock', it would sound far less dramatic. A small amount of magoi to provide each day, to in turn get free lodging, food, women, booze, no taxes, etc... I don't think this is too much to ask. It's like any payment for getting such things, and without the war, it would never have gotten out of hand.
Point is, Mogamets vision isn't all that bad really, and has/had great potential as a meritocracy, if some slight adjustments were made to it. |