The philosophy of Orko

Here I will give a somewhat critical, yet trying to remain humorous account of the philosophy of Orko. Orko errs on the side of science as we shall see, but also has philosophical debates with himself, as he has limited mental challengers in the rest of the cast.

This is a classic picture of Orko contemplating, much like Diogenes under the tree when Alexander came to visit him, or the Buddha as he ventured from society to reach enlightenment.

Uncle Montork: Orko, there are things more important than magic.
Orko: Really, like what?

Are there actually more important things than magic? Uncle Montork isn’t exactly sure and has no answer for him. I suppose Orko is right in the absurdity of life, that the only thing left is magic. What he is talking about however, I will address in the proceeding analysis. He is actually talking about science and the nature of life. Orko is not a mere magician, but a genius scientist. He has to conceal his new innovations constantly as mere magic throughout the show, as his fellow citizens are generally indoctrinated by the totalatarian government of King Randor.

Shadow Weaver: Why, you miserable excuse for a wizard I have half a mind to…
Orko: [interrupting] Yeah, and that’s all you have: half a mind!

Orko’s intelligence is possibly on the level of Plato, Kant, Descartes or other philosophical geniuses who let out their verbal wizardry onto the world. Some were even heretics at the time with their genius. Orko as stated is actually a scientist, and not a wizard at all. The cast of he-man are equivalent to the folks who lived during the Salem Witch Trials in comparison. Orko needs no magic, that is only the perception of the others in the show, he is an Eternian Ben Franklin.

Here is Orko in a typical philosophical debate with Man-At-Arms

Teela: You know, when you open a book, you’re really opening a door to a wonderful world of entertainment and information.
Orko: That’s for sure! I’m finding out all about science, and dragons, and sports, but mostly bodybuilding!
Teela: You have a book on bodybuilding?
Orko: No, but carrying all thse books sure builds my body.

Orko, like Skeletor has a deep appreciation for books. Now, one might say the cartoon was indoctrinating children at the time to want to read vis a vis Reading Rainbow or something of the same caliber. I say no, some of the smartest characters in the episodes were of course Orko and Skeletor, whereas Merman, Man-At-Arms and Man-E-Faces were mental serfs in comparison. Orko had an entire library of books which he retreated to, while Skeletor collected ancient texts and was always on the search for a higher meaning through them.
The first topic mentioned is science, in which Orko as I said before was actually a scientist and not a wizard at all. He stayed cloak to avoid the Eternian clergy in most cases like King Randor, equivalent to Charlemagne.

What would the world be without books? Orko would also like to know.

Orko: Great! Even when I’m right, I’m wrong! And the only reason I’m right is because I’m wrong. And if I’m wrong, it’s because he’s right about me being wrong. Ew! That does it. I’ll show you that I’m right because I’m right!

If I fulfill one side I will be wrong, if the other, still wrong?

The Orkian great debate on logic. Not only was he an outstanding rhetorician, he had an extreme fascination with ethics. What exactly is right or wrong, is it Orko’s own motives, or the decisions made by the oppressive Eterinian monarchy of King Randor? You see, Orko lives in a totalatarian multipolar world, on one side is Castle Grayskull, the other is Snake Mountain. You would have to go into an entirely different dimension to find Hordak and his crew. Given this Orko is always forced to make a choice and side with good and evil, leaving not many choices, he errs on the side of slightly better than the other, as Skeletor is purely evil, while He-Man is actually middle of the road and isn’t always concerned with the moral good as he is made out to be.

Orko would do better in the series to take a more proactive role. If he would dish out his knowledge onto the land more often, Eternia would be a better place and they might have had a great school of Athens, instead of a big Green Castle with pageantry and a monarch ruler.

Until next time…

Philosophy of Skeletor

It seems as if Skeletor was reading a substantial amount of Nietzsche and Machiavelli while pondering on how to rule Eternia.

Here are some select quotes from Skeletor followed by brief analysis, most are selections per imdb and others from videos.

“This inevitable moment will transpire before your eyes, even as He-Man himself bears witness to it. Now. I, Skeletor, am Master of the Universe! YES! Yes… I feel it, the power… fills me. Yes, I feel the universe within me! I am… I am a part of the cosmos! The power flows… Flows through me! Of what consequence are you now? This planet, these people. They are NOTHING to me! The universe is power! Real, unstoppable POWER!”

At this point, Skeletor seems to be transcending reality. He has become one with the universe, quite insightful actually, albeit a bit malevolent.

” … fool, you are no longer my equal, I am more than man, more than life… I am a GOD! “

Skeletor is having a delusions of grandeur, typical of maniacal characters.

” I must possess all, or I possess nothing “

Skeletor with his elitist attitude, certainly a thrash and burn philosophy. Eternia was always a zero sum game for him.

” Tell me about the loneliness of good, He-Man. Is it equal to the loneliness of evil? “

Deep contemplation, is the loneliness of good actually equal to the loneliness of evil? I suppose that would depend how one defines loneliness, separate from being alone. Given one philosophical view from Rousseau concerning the noble savage, one would think that the loneliness of good would be greater than the loneliness of evil. If one takes an Hobbesian account of the situation, Skeletor’s premise would not stand, given there would be more evil people to go around.

 

“It is my destiny! It is my right! NOTHING shall deter me from it! “

Here we have Skeletor showing a will to power.

“Beast Man: If Batros is so smart, how come he stole the books instead of the gold and the jewels?
[chuckles]
Skeletor: Because unlike you, Batros has a brain. What he has taken is more precious than gold or jewels.
Beast Man: Books?
Skeletor: Of course, you worthless hunk of fur. Books are the real treasures of the world. “

Skeletor was a bit of a humanist it seems. His causes were noble, and he clearly shows his Marxist thought against material wealth.

“Colonel Mark Blaze: [gazing upon Snake Mountain] Would you look at that. It looks like something out of a horror movie. It looks like some kind of monument to evil.
Skeletor: [cackles] A slight correction, intruder: it is a monument to greatness!”

Clearly Skeletor knew about the trappings of pageantry and aesthetics. Of course he never won the final battle, but a conquering country would have some nice city walls, monuments and such.

“Skeletor: Raven, raven, fly to me. Raven, raven, what did you see?
Raven: [squawks] To save theselves, I did learn, inside Mount Eternia they return. And find the chamber at all cost, revealing secrets that were lost.
Skeletor: Aha! The legendary lost secrets, well, I shall find them first! “

Edgar Allen Poe much? He-man is littered with references to poets and philosophers. Quote Batros, nevermore.

“When are you goody-goody fools going to understand? I am completely and utterly evil. I live to be bad! I care for no one and no one cares for me.”

People are still studying the effects of evil, but what is evil? Going back to the loneliness of evil, I believe Skeletor was actually right, apparently the loneliness of evil is the harder path, who are the socialites of Eternia to judge him? I think it is time we gave Skeletor more credit than what his due was. He had a love of great books, aesthetic art, and possibly a peculiar inkling of a heart. 

Until next time…

Back in Florida

I have been back in Florida for a few days and it is not nearly as hot as I thought it might be, albeit particularly sticky.

Now what to do? I am not surrounded by instantaneous access anymore, so my body is going through an adjustment of everything having to be a bit slower, but my mind is still running on super speed.

This could turn out to be a good thing and get a lot of things done in my more isolated state now, or, could just end up driving everybody mad.

Still haven’t quite adjusted and settled in though, probably need a few more days to get in gear and get some stuff going.

Today’s Observations

I went on a break from my cube at work today around 11 and thought I had stepped out into the planet of the apes. I realized I didn’t need to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo to observe some kind of inferior caged planetary zone, I was already in the natural habitat of the monkeys in the chicago loop!

I contemplated on this for a few hours, then took my lunch break.

I went around their environment at lunch today and observed, I was wrong with my initial observations. They are actually some form of pre-ape sub-mongoloid creatures. I tried to interact with one of them but I did not detect much mental functioning with it. I tried to interact with a second one, and he was trying to give me away something I didn’t need. It was a paper called the redeye, but looking at the front page in horror, I decided I needed to leave before this man ended up with an eye of a different shade for peddling a society tabloid.
A third man with paper in hand, whistling a tune about some nonsense in rhyme was trying to sell me the news of the streets. Now this I thought might be some real journalism, straight from the folks who live in the crevices, alleys and dumpsters of society. They will know what is going on the street, the things the masses paper of the Trib and Sun couldn’t possibly have first hand knowledge of.
They had a story of how Larry’s box was stolen, and Larry had a full description of the theif who commited the crime, down to the color of his eyes, skin and what clothes he was wearing. Imagine that, actually revealing the description of a common criminal! I am amazed with the inability of the leading papers to actual reveal these somehow taboo facets of life.
After all was done, I decided to come back to my cube for now where I am safe.

My operating system isn’t loaded yet.

Maybe I should try to find another operating system, for my brain.

The one I have now needs too many speed boosts from coffee upgrades, which have to be replenished, like a leaky water cooled system.

This morning in the office as I was walking to the kitchen to put in my sandwich, sandwich in one hand, card ID in the other… I attempted to open the door with my sandwich.
As it would normally be expected, the sandwich did not gain entry into the kitchen.
But what if it did?
This got me to thinking of government plots to put RFID chips into our food, that if you swallowed them would be able to track you.
That is why I stay away from too many processed items and try to purchase no preservative, no artificial flavor, organic, local, non GMO, and non RFID turkey.

I have never been a morning person,and probably never will… 11am is my morning, and if the sun isn’t out well… I just skip that day and stay in.

Anyway, it has been a long time since I was last blogging, probably when I went to Africa… I’ve had to have about a dozen blogs over the years, only to stop them or forget what they are even called!

I think I will try to keep up with this one… maybe by registering a domain for myself and bringing the wordpress over to my server. It will force me to write, knowing I am wasting money on the domain if I don’t produce some good blog material.

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