What Everyone Gets WRONG About One Piece's Politics

so let me start by saying that this will most likely be a divisive even controversial video especially considering how today many parts of the world are more politically divided than ever however it's precisely because politics are so important today that it feels like the right time to talk about where one piece falls on the spectrum and the answer will most likely surprise you because from everything I've seen many people have drastically different views of what one piece is trying to say about the right or the just system I've seen people say that one piece is fundamentally anti-capitalist I've seen people argue that it's per libertarian and really a lot of these views stem from people only seeing the side that they want to see when in reality one piece of stance on what an ideal system really what an ideal world would be is far more nuanced than that now longtime viewers know that a while back I did a video on the philosophy of one piece and in it I examined the ideals and moral truths that want these aims to communicate the fundamental issue comes down to freedom versus authority and one piece makes it clear that both are necessary yet both can be terrible when taken to their extremes as with absolute freedom and no government the weak will suffer at the hands of the strong but on the flip side a strong government can easily become controlling in the name of protecting people and while I'd seen 90% of that video holds up today there was a point I got stuck at towards the end which is what is the answer Oda is getting at even if not a realistic answer what would an ideal dream world be like what I landed on at the time was that Oda seems to be saying that an ideal world would be one where everyone has complete freedom but where no one would abuse their freedom to impose their will on anyone else but in retrospect that answer just seems a little too weak to hold up it's basically just saying that in an ideal world everyone would be like Luffy even if we accept that the ideal world oda seems to be getting at doesn't necessarily have to be realistic it's kind of weak to just land on well everyone should just be a good person because now I've come to realize that a more blatant answer has been there all along one that's been staring us in the face since chapter one and the reason this is about the politics of one piece and not just more philosophy it's because now I feel confident going a step further if one's philosophy is more so the worldview one has the sense of what values are more or less important what is right or wrong etc then once politics are the actual Nicolle rules for systems that one believes should be set in place for society to flourish according to one's values and morals and so with this video we're going to be going beyond the philosophy of one piece so I definitely recommend checking out that video right after this one and instead talking about the actual ideal system it seems would exist according to one pieces philosophy now to start with I'm going to set two ground rules rule number one I'm not going to be promoting my ideas on politics in this video this is my interpretation of what Oda is implying through one piece what an ideal world would be if you feel that I show a clear bias then definitely let me know in the comments below but as it is I'm going to try and stay as detached as possible and focus on themes of the story rule number two I'm going to stay away from describing things with definite specific political ideologies put onto them meaning that if I'm explaining a specific concept we've seen the story I'm not going to explicitly classify it as say democratic socialism versus libertarian socialism or pure libertarianism versus anarcho-capitalism or anything like that firstly because this video is for everyone whether you're a political science major or you know nothing about politics this is for all one piece fans for anyone less first in political specifics it may be easier for you to just start the video with this political compass in mind and make your own judgments as topics come up the simplified version of the way this works is basically stuff that sounds more authoritarian is up and stuff that sounds more libertarian is down meaning up supports a stronger government with more power and down supports less and less governmental control to the point of near zero the x-axis is economics so ideologies that are further left support the idea that the economy should be shaped to favor the majority of the people and the idea that if some possess great wealth such as more land than one needs to use that's not good basically further left is less hierarchy and more equality and then further right means more so economic competition and the ability to climb the economic ladder based on merit for the rest of this video you can take what I'm saying and generally understand when something I'm talking about is more so up down left or right the second reason I'm not going to put specific labels on any of this is because I doubt Oh des even has specific political ideologies in mind when he portrays certain concepts it's more likely he's more so portraying general ideas of what he seems to believe is good so again generally just imagine what direction certain ideas sound like they should be on the compass so to start with let's talk about the various nations in one piece and what Oda consistently depicts as the supposed right way that government and society should function in a nation and here it is actually very easy to see a lot of the ideals that Oda holds as the most important as there are many regimes in one piece that are portrayed as blatantly good or blatantly bad with good regimes consistently having similar merits and bad regimes consistently having similar problems and to be clear here I'm going to be talking about the type of society that one piece seems to portray brings the most good for the most people I'm not actually talking about the whole picture just yet there is more to it than this but it's important to start with the basic idea of what type of government does one piece depict bringing about the most good for the most people who should run the government what should the priorities and responsibilities of this government be to its people and what would the ideal society look like all in the context of this is the most good for the most people well to start with the somewhat obvious answer one piece bushes is that the ideal government would be one that truly exists solely to help its people it is made clear that the laws of the nation are worth nothing unless they are built on the ideals of kindness and sympathy anything less than this is clearly depicted to be a flawed foundation for a country as such it is implied that power needs to be in the hands of those who place the well-being of the people above all else including themselves at least this is what is shown through leaders such as Cobra and Riku now while government's like alabasta and dressrosa have exemplary leadership it should be noted that these nations are still run by monarchies however this is likely more so a product of one piece being a period piece so naturally there would be Kings in this setting Oda can show what a great leader should look like through certain Kings but obviously Oda isn't supporting the idea that monarchies are the best form of government and rather we have seen multiple times that nations that go through great turmoil are better off when they elect their next leader themselves as seen with Dalton and drum Kingdom and even with Riku and dressrosa the second time around with the people seemingly unanimously electing him back to the throne even when he himself no longer believes he deserves it so bottom line the government should exist solely to help the people and a democratically elected government seems to be the ideal nothing too crazy here now in terms of the actual priorities and responsibilities of the government Oda seems to support the idea of a strong social safety net with the state always taking care of those who need it we see this with Cobra providing provisions for all ala Basten's who are affected by the drought with Odin creating the paradise farm which was meant to feed everyone inquiry with the story of drum Kingdom and how healthcare should be widely available to everyone with waffles greatest crime being withholding health care from his citizens the government also clearly has a strong responsibility to use its militia to protect its citizens and to keep them safe which was repeatedly called out during the hour-long park arc however at the same time odin never supports the idea of a government with too much power as even in a nation like dressrosa that had a decently strong militia it was made clear that the power should still be in the hands of the people with Ric who ultimately begging his people for help rather than coercing them in any way and of course the idea of his strong social safety net is that even the most downtrodden members of society are taken care of by the government as one of the biggest problems with the world government that is repeatedly shown is that it only helps those who have enough money to pay celestial gold and really this goes towards the most important characteristic that Oda seems to promote any society that would have the most good for the most people which is equality over and over throughout one piece we see the idea of class divides attacked with the celestial dragon system the kingdom of Goa and Juana all being major examples of imbalanced societies that need to be rectified in an ideal society characters seem to imply that there would be little to no hierarchy with Dalton questioning the point of status in general and Oda particularly seems to dislike the idea that some people can inherently be born into higher status than others regularly portraying those who were simply born into an exalted place in society negatively the repeatedly mentioned ideal of everyone being able to live under the same Sun is primarily about race but in the broader sense it is about the idea of equality for all with everyone being able to equally enjoy what the world has to offer so to sum up on the surface level the type of government and society that one piece seems to imply would have the most good for the most people would be one where leaders are democratically elected and are truly subservient to the will of the people where there is a strong social safety net to make sure everyone's basic needs are met where the government protects the people and enforces laws to keep people safe and where there is as little hierarchy or inequality in society as possible on paper this seems like it would bring the most good for the most people but the problem is the word most is this a society for everyone where would someone like Luffy fit into a society like this where would all pirates good or bad fit into a society like this because despite the consistent implication that pretty much every single Kingdom in one piece would be better off if their society had a strong social safety net if the government maintained order and if there were little to no hierarchy at the same time there is a completely different world that is also put on a pedestal throughout one piece for drastically different reasons [Music] what has to be remembered is that the most important ideal in one piece without question is freedom everything comes down to freedom in one way or another and the society described in the previous section a type of society that Oda certainly holds in high regard is still ultimately not one that is completely about freedom the priority is more so safety equality and well-being for all in that type of society the government is ultimately going to be laying down the law for people and yes generally the laws are going to be for the safety of the overall population but there is no such government where laws can be so perfectly made that everyone is happy with them in any government you can find rules you don't agree with even if those rules are catered towards bringing the most good for the most people for example we are shown that Wan o has a strict isolationist policy no one is allowed in or out this law was put in place objectively for the safety of its people as for a long time wonho's suffered at the hands of outsiders being isolationist is probably safer for wana overall it's something the government clearly decided was for the good of the people and really there only seems to be one person in the entire country who doesn't agree with this rule but that's the point even a good government can't make decisions that make everyone happy it can only try to make most people's lives better and so no matter what the very nature of law is put in place to do this are going to mean some loss of personal freedoms and some people simply place greater value on these personal freedoms the society Oda seems to portray as best for most people is clearly not something that literally everyone wants there are still people like Odin and the straw hats and pirates in one piece in general who are by nature not rule-followers they do not want some authority telling them what they can or can't do for these type of people who are willing to voluntarily choose a less safe world in favor of a more free world the sea is their paradise and this is the other type of world one peace romanticizes to be clear what Oda depicts in most of the nations of the land we visit are more literal examples of just and unjust governments on the other hand the sea and the life of a pirate is more so a metaphorical representation of a different type Society so what are we shown well well pretty much everywhere on land has governments of various kinds on the ocean and particularly in the grand line in the new world there is a great age of pirates going on on the sea there are simply too many pirates for the marines to control as such the sea reflects a world where the government has less control and there is greater personal freedom similarly the very essence of being a pirate means choosing maximum personal autonomy in the face of any sort of higher authority and as such there are a lot of things in the world of the sea that are actually portrayed positively whereas in kingdoms on land they are portrayed negatively on land we're shown the importance of an equal society without hierarchy but at the same time this type of society would mean losing some degree of freedom to try and achieve higher status than others whereas in the world of pirates we see the opposite in the world of pirates everyone is striving to reach the top of a metaphorical ladder the strong rise up the ladder and the weak die here the idea of striving for greatness and competing with other pirates to rise higher and higher in the world is something that is heavily romanticized the word haki literally means ambition not to mention Luffy and many of the greatest pirates literally possess the disposition to stand above others in the world of the sea some pirates can become far greater than others and this is never portrayed negatively as this is what you sign up for when you become a pirate in the first place to join in this grand competition a large part of the sense of hierarchy among pirates feels justified in the sea as opposed to how hierarchy among citizens is portrayed negatively on the land because in the world of pirates it does not generally matter what status you held in life beforehand how high you rise is based on your own merit no one is born a yawn Co that status and power is earned this free-form competition among pirates could also represent free economic competition to a degree there aren't really regulations it's dog-eat-dog and everyone is ok with it both good pirates and bad pirates will participate in plundering and taking each other's gold Luffy took from Moria after he defeated him white beard took from weaker Pirates he defeated both Roger and white beard tried to take from each other thus frauds have only just started fighting the Beast pyre and they're already looting as they progress now an important distinction here is that most of the pirates that are portrayed positively in this series do not loot from those who aren't also pirates this is a big big qualifier that I will discuss later in the video and at this point I should also address Oda's views on money in general various arts show us that there are many more important things in life than money in Bharati a it's about how basic life necessities such as food are far more important than money in Skype he adds about how friends are more important than money in dress results about how piece is more important than money earning money is never put on a pedestal in one piece and it's repeatedly reiterated that there are many things more important than money however at the same time Oda does also frequently reward the straw hats with money for their achievements and he repeatedly makes it clear that they deserve the large quantities of cold that they earn we see this at the end of orange town syrup village sky Pia through their bark and Fishman Island it's just that the crew will also regularly choose to spend some of their money on their friends rather than keeping it all for themselves out of their own free will sky p.m. money was spent on a big party after a nice Lobby thriller bark money was volunteered to free kami Fishman Island money was immediately used to help save the fisherman from big mom and so on it's the same way white beard always gave back most of his treasure to help his village as such Oda's overall approach to money seems to be that first of all there are more important things in the world than money however there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting more for yourself or being rewarded with more money for what you achieve or earn at the end of the day if you're a good person you will probably want to share what you earn out of your own free will anyway so even in the world of pirates Odin never seems to support a hardcore line ran type philosophy but at the same time does portray the world of pirates as a world of competition overall with the strong rightfully earning more than the week and having free choice of what to do with their earnings so to sum up the sea represents a type of society where there is extremely limited government control high competition and ability to rise higher in the world based on merit and overall emphasis on individualism if you were to imagine the political compass again this reflects ideology that are going to be further down and to the right but and here's the big point that must be remembered while Oda heavily romanticizes the pirate's life and the freedom of the sea in general at the same time he makes it very very clear throughout the series that this type of world is very very dangerous and is not for everyone this was spelled out from Chapter one you can find greater freedom going out to sea and being a pirate at the same time you have to understand that you're leaving something behind which is safety and security the sea represents both freedom and danger similarly a society that is say further down the political compass and further right would give you far greater personal freedom but it's also going to be a much more dangerous Society with very little safety net for those who meet hard times and what's interesting is that for the citizens of the various nations in the one-piece world Oda heavily promotes the importance of fairness for all but at the same time if you choose the sea if you choose a world with less order but greater freedom if you choose the pirate's world then from here on out you must accept all the burdens that come with greater freedom in the world of pirates there's no such thing as fair or unfair and this is something that all pirates accept good or bad you will never catch someone like Luffy or Zorro complaining that something unfair happened to them they accept the inherent unfairness of their world and place value in being able to overcome that no seem better to fix this than Zorro speech to chopper chopper is taken from the straw hat crew and begins to cry about how he didn't want this until Zorro outright tells him that it was his choice to leave behind the safety of his Island and come out to the world of the sea that in a pirates world tears won't get you anywhere this is why we see Luffy will be so outraged at any sort of unfairness that average citizens like Tama experienced but is unfazed by a pirate like choppers tears even when it comes to saving his own brother ace Luffy is fully aware that he doesn't need to rush to save ace because ace chills the life of a pirate as well Luffy does simply ultimately choose to do so because he wants to save his brother and a similarly attempts to turn Luffy away by reminding him of what it means to be a pirate because that is what it means to be a pirate to choose a life of freedom even it means putting your life on the line so taking everything into account I think there is an extremely interesting idea of what a dream world would look like that can be extrapolated from everything we see in one piece to start with let's go back to basic politics real world politics usually come down to differing values that swing people in different directions on the compass common disagreements or how much power should a government have and how much responsibility doesn't have towards providing a strong social safety net on the other hand how important is personal freedom what freedoms are or aren't okay to restrict in the name of the well-being of society similarly how accepting are people of levels of hierarchy that may develop in society versus how much do people value competition so if we look at the one-piece world what are we shown well no matter how romanticized the world of Pirates is it is made clear that this is not a world for everyone it simply can't be by its very nature the world that is best for most people is a world where everyone is equal where there are no big class divides where the government's only priority is taking care of you making sure your needs are met and where there are laws that maintain order peace and stability however despite one piece of flying that such a nation would be best for most people the idea is that for those who want a world with less order and authority but greater freedom and one should be able to voluntarily step into a society with fewer rules and extremely minimal governmental control or you have greater freedom to do what you want where you can compete rise above others and gain more for yourself by the way that's not really something that exists in the real world today there is no nation where there is truly extremely limited government and extreme personal freedom and competition and again Oda is never even applying such a society would be good for everyone simply that those who would want to live in a world like that should be able to as such one piece is implied answer to what would an ideal world look like is a unique balance of ideals there is no single type of society that would be perfect for everyone something like that simply can't exist as people have different values that would clash in the same Society but the simple solution seems to be that a green world would be one where there are two worlds with different values and you can decide which world you want to live in based on your own values there should be an orderly fare society with a democratically elected government that truly represents the people that provides a strong social safety net and also prevents class divides and inequality at the same time for those who do not want a government dictating what they can or can't do for those who want maximum personal freedom who want to compete to climb higher in the world and gain what they can based on merit and are willing to accept the difficulties and danger that come with this type of society there should be a society for them as well and interestingly in the broader sense ultimately one piece seems to imply that freedom is the most important ideal anyway as what is more important than debating which of these two worlds is better or which is right or wrong is the freedom to be able to choose which one you want to live in but and here's the last really important point the one piece world is very clearly not an ideal dream world just yet that's what the story is about if we look at both the worlds the world of the land and the world of the sea and keeping in mind what they both represent we can see that there are two great problems that afflict the land and sea respectively the world of the land does have ideal nations like dressrosa alabasta and so on but many other nations are clearly not like this and ultimately inequality and unjust governmental rule will always persist across the many nations of the world so long as the world government remains the way it is a key point that is made is that there is no inherent problem with the concept of a world government it is the fact that the way it is right now with the celestial dragons at its helm the world government can never be an ideal government now as I've talked about in previous videos a common theme in one piece is that only through destruction can there be rebirth as such much like we see in Drumm kingdom andres rosa first an existing government must be toppled only this time on a global scale and only from there can a new government rise that is democratically elected that does truly serve as the will of the people that does not abuse its military power that does not discriminate between those with money or those without that takes care of the weak and the less wealthy where everyone can be equal and live in harmony so if an unjust overly authoritarian government is what must be rectified to fix one part of the problem then what is the other problem well the fact that there are those in the world of the sea who attack those on the land this is something that I mentioned earlier in the video and this is the big distinction that one piece makes Oda never suggests that pirates fighting conquering and taking from other pirates is bad in fact it's only natural everyone does it it's not about good or bad it's just the world of pirates this is what you sign up for again metaphorically this is like voluntarily choosing to live in a society with minimal governmental regulation and maximum competition it's implied that the problem is when this affects those who do not choose to live in this type of society which is why Oda portrays pirates who attack citizens of the land so negatively those who are not part of the world of pirates deserve to live in a safe fair society which again is why Luffy will be outraged at the idea of Pirates attacking non pirates but will happily welcome competition among pirates interestingly even among the supposed worst generation only kid is ever said to have hurt civilians and even then it sounds more so over the issue of greens than real plundering like pink beard for example and so now consider the 2-headed problem that the conflict of one piece is built around there cannot be an ideal government for the nations of the land until the celestial dragons are defeated and the world government is reformed on the other hand the sea and the world of pirates cannot be considered ideal so long as quote unquote evil pirates such as Blackbeard Kaido and big mom exists who gain power and wealth at the expense of the innocent people of the land rather than exclusively from competition with other pirates and so the two major aspects of the conflict of one piece that need to be resolved seem to be that the great evil pirates Blackbeard kind of a big mom need to be defeated and the celestial dragons need to be dethroned so that the world government can be reformed with most likely a much more just democratically elected leadership only then with the ideal world be created where the citizens of the land get to live under a just government while the world of Pirates has been cleansed with a better generation of pirates who do not harm the citizens of the land rising up by the end the one-piece world will be a true representation of what an ideal world in reality should look like the government should be democratically elected take care of its people eliminate inequality and so on at the same time people should be free to choose a different type of society entirely with minimal government less safety and security but more freedom and competition so long as this other society does not negatively affect the people of the previous society and that is the balance of political ideologies that one piece seems to suggest is the answer if you enjoyed this video then definitely like share and subscribe and you can join 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Channel: Mr Morj

Views: 295,083

Keywords: one piece literary analysis, why one piece works so well, is one piece deep, one piece has depth, one piece analysis, philosophy of one piece, one piece capitalism, one piece politics, one piece dragon, dragon one piece, one piece, analysis

Id: uJZn7Qfmc2U

Length: 27min 15sec (1635 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 30 2020