From 275bec94f9f9e221bfddeb06ca7d5b87068eb7a0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kaiden Fey Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2020 13:09:08 +0200 Subject: Renaming article and publishing it --- content/blog/118_the_good_place.md | 232 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 232 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/118_the_good_place.md (limited to 'content/blog/118_the_good_place.md') diff --git a/content/blog/118_the_good_place.md b/content/blog/118_the_good_place.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2359cf6 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/118_the_good_place.md @@ -0,0 +1,232 @@ +Title: "The good place" vs. the ethics of society +Category: Blog +Date: 2020-09-20 +Tags: culture, politics, philosophy + +A few months ago I was bored and I decided to watch "The good place". +It's a show that had been introduced to me before, and I even watched +about half of the first season, before I kinda forgot about it. It +had left me feeling mostly irritated, and uninterested, and so I moved +on with my life. Up to the point where I felt _really_ bored, and I +started watching it again. + +I don't really wanna talk about the show from an art criticism +perspective. It's quite fun to watch at times, the premise is quirky +and all the characters have something to set them apart that makes +them recognisable for someone who's bad at differentiating people. +But it's a comedy at it's core, and most of the "humour" left me +feeling kinda cold. It didn't so much have jokes as much as just +vague references at jokes. + +Really, the show wasn't special, funny, or even bad enough for me to +really care about it too much. There was however something in the +moral text, and subtext of the show that bothered me, that I've kept +thinking about. And that's what this post is going to be about. + + +## Good vs Evil + +The main premise of the show is centred around the idea of "good +people" vs "bad people" (the good place vs the bad place). It mirrors +heaven and hell, without putting a precise theological term on it, +because this concept has existed in various faiths throughout the +ages. + +The story follows a woman who gets sent to the good place even though +she's a horrible person. Most of the first season is dedicated to +this mystery. At first she thinks this is a mistake, until it becomes +apparent, that bad people being put into a fake "good place" is part +of a weird psychological punishment system in the bad place. They are +in fact in the bad place. When they find out about this, their +memories get wiped, and it starts from the beginning, with slight +alterations. But the group figures out that they aren't in their +personal paradise again and again, and so their memories get wiped +again, and again. + +The show wants to demonstrate that people can get better, seeing as a +group of "bad people" were sent to a fake "good place", and improved +as people. The permanence of "good people" and "bad people" is called +into question. Some stuff happens, and the group of four people, and +one daemon who started taking a liking to them end up on the run. + +Throughout the plot it becomes apparent that the system is broken in +more subtle ways too: nobody gets to go to the good place anymore. +Nobody is good enough; too high are the standards of what counts as a +"good person". Furthermore, when they manage to get into the good +place, it becomes clear that eternal bliss with no ups and downs, and +no end in sight is just a different type of hell. + +The show concludes by restructuring the system, making the "bad place" +not into a torturous nightmare, but a place where your actions and +emotions are being tested, and called into question. The idea being +that there is no such thing as a "bad person", and that everybody +could go to the "good place", if they accepted that they have flaws, +and worked on them. + +They also mildly restructure the "good place" to have "an end", which +is death. Isn't that nice, everybody gets to live their perfect life +in heaven, then they die. + + +## Good people & bad people? + +So that was the plot. As I said, I'm not gonna criticise the show for +it's scene-to-scene writing, or even the overarching plot. It mostly +tries (and manages) to be wholesome. Although it has issues +throughout, that are rooted in a very flawed understanding of +philosophy and morality. + +The moral compass of the show is a character called Chidi, a professor +of moral philosophy who died and was sent to the "bad place". He was +deemed a bad person because of his indecisiveness. It is shown that +he tried to be a good person, but got too caught up in the details of +what that meant, which caused great pain to the people around him (and +which got him killed). + +Throughout the show he quotes Kant a lot, with some other racist white +men from history sprinkled in there. His understanding of philosophy +isn't very deep, or nuanced. Either he was supposed to be bad at his +job, at which point the show didn't really take the time to develop +this enough to be poignant, or it just demonstrates that the show was +written by people with basically no knowledge in this field. + +I argue that the way that "the good place" portrays philosophy and +moral choices in philosophical frameworks is very representative of +how our society works, and how people think about "good vs bad". + +But let's back up a bit. For most of the show (if you watched it/ +will) the thoughts it is trying the hardest to communicate are +"there's no bad people", "hell is a bad concept", etc. This becomes +pretty obvious. However, the larger system of afterlife remains +pretty much entirely un-examined. Why is there an afterlife, and why +do we need one, these are questions the show never asks, or attempts +to answer. Any critism against the system is phrased in a coy way, +that will lead to reform of it, not abolishment, i.e. changing what +the "good place" and "bad place" means, not their existence. + + +## Moral individualism + +I said the show is representative of how people think about morality, +and this doesn't just start and end at "what is a good person". It +also applies to how the show deals with individualism. + +What is individualism you may ask? I'm glad you did (not really, now +this post has to be longer...). Individualism is one of the axiomatic +philosophies that the western world is built on. It's the idea that +each individual is responsible for their own destiny, and identity. + +Used in a (mostly) harmless way it's used to sell things to people +that can be "customised" to fit your "own personal style" (without +_really_ giving you any autonomy), whereas on a higher and more +sinister level it is used to justify the horrors of society. As an +out of context Margaret Thatcher would say "there's no such thing as +society, only people". After all, society is just men, women and +those damn enbies, that all make their own free choices, and if +society is bad, then that's just a representation of how people are +bad. + +This is an over-simplification of course, but it digs at the core of +what individualism means to us. It's a way to absolve society of +guilt, up to refusing the existence of it all together. Individualism +touches many, if not all aspects of society, and it would take too +long to really examine them all here. Instead, I want to focus on +what this means for "the good place". + + +## There is no society in "the good place" + +I don't know if the word "society" is ever used in the script, but it +is certainly not a subject of conversation in any of the episodes. +None of the characters will acknowledge that there is a human society +or what it looks like. The focus is on individuals. After all, the +fact that the world is bad is the result of just a few bad people, +that need to become better. + +This is where the view that "there is no bad people" the show tries to +hammer into you falls flat. Because it's a lie. + +Human society is structured in a way that a few select people at the +top have a lot of wealth and power, while the rest of us live in +varying degrees of poverty by comparison. I grew up in Germany so I'm +gonna say I don't live in luxury and peace by comparison to others, +but we _all_ suffer under the ruling class. This is a reality the +show refuses to acknowledge and it makes it's arguments about moral +philosophy feel almost dystopian. + +Maybe this is controversial, but there are bad people. If it is your +job to harass homeless people, you are a bad person. If it is your +job to enforce the "war on drugs" that overwhelmingly affects black +people, you are a bad person. If you are a billionaire, you are a bad +person. You are in a position where you _could_ change society for +the better. You _could_ give all your wealth away, and actually help +people. But you don't. And no, I don't mean the fake philanthropy +that rich people indulge in because those are usually just schemes to +pay less taxes and massage on their public image. No billionaire ever +gives away so much money that they stop being a billionaire. + +The ending of the good place is framed as a beautiful thing where +everybody gets to live a life in heaven in the end, if they manage to +work on themselves to become better people. And sure, there are "bad +people" like sexists and racists, and they'll just get stuck in these +tests forever that they won't escape until they become better people. +It doesn't matter how much suffering you've caused others, you get to +go to the good place if you manage to accept that you were bad. + + +## Why an afterlife? + +So I mentioned that in the show, the existence of an afterlife is +never explained, rationalised or called into question. It exists in a +vacuum, the same way that people in it live in a vacuum. + +The ending of "the good place" is framed in a way that is meant to +make you feel happy and hopeful, but all it makes me feel is wonder +why we needed to wait until the afterlife for people to deserve +happiness. + +The world is an awful place because of people, sure, but it's the +system that makes people into monsters. Not only will it corrupt +people going in with good intentions, it will turn people with bad +intentions into powerful rulers. + +"The good place" fails to or refuses to understand that society +exists, and portrays a moral system in which all actions are +unconnected from the bigger picture. If you were a nice person to +people in person, and generally tried to be `g o o d` then it doesn't +matter if your employees need to pee into bottles, or if your company +is burning the rainforest to ash. + +Hell, the ruthless business lady in the "medium place" was sent there +because she saved someone in her _last_ moment. But the "bad things" +she did??? SHE WAS RUDE TO PEOPLE. Don't worry the exploitation +through the capitalist machine, that's all fine. + + +## The shape of art & paradise + +To wrap up this article I want to at least mention why I'm writing +about this. Because I said earlier that I didn't find the show +special, funny, or intentionally bad enough to really engage with it. +And now here I am, writing upwards of 2000 words about it :) + +The media we consume as people shapes us, and influences us in quite +profound ways. The way we tell stories is symptomatic of how society +perceives itself, and how people see themselves in society. Media +that doesn't acknowledge the existence of society then and the +suffering it brings will inevitably white-wash reality, and push this +influence on anyone consuming it. + +At this point I would have liked to mention a better show or movie, or +even book, but none really come to mind. I guess it's hard to point +to any text and demand it delivers a coherent world philosophy, while +also being a story with characters and plot. + +As a society we need to grow the fuck up. The stories we tell each +other of heroes and villains, the balance between good and evil +hanging in the balance, all while these actors exist outside of +anything that could be called a power hierarchy, needs to end. Only +when we grow up from this world view can we realise that paradise is +within us, and that collectively we can create it here on earth. + +Not gonna lie though, trains that go through space are pretty cool. -- cgit v1.2.3