**3/15 Simile of the Cave reading reflection

Alas! If only I knew about this assignment a few months earlier, I would have saved what I wrote here for now! Pity.

Ah, well. I shall try my best to make this an addendum to my former post, as opposed to a simple restating.

SMALL EDIT: Just so I don't look like a hypocrite, let me simply say that whenever I go into "Philosopher mode", as it were, I tend to stereotype and/or address mankind as a whole. Let me simply say that I mean the majority of mankind, and that I understand that there are more than a few exceptions to the claims I make. In fact, I'm friends with quite a few of them ;)

. Compare and contrast what Socrates says in “The Simile of the Cave” with Fahrenheit 451. How are characters like Mildred similar to characters in “Simile of the Cave”?

After finally being able to read the actual text, as opposed to simple summaries, here are a few more observations I made:

Upon page 242, it claims that in order to get one of these prisoners outside he must be "...forcibly dragged up the steep and rugged ascent and not let go till he had been dragged out into the sunlight, [and] the process would be a painful one, to which he would much object." Much like Fahrenheit 451, and much like the real world, people seem to be happy right where they are, and downright object to change. For what reason? Are they scared they may lose their "Comfort Zone" which they have so snugly settled into over the course of their life? Is it a fear of the unknown? As King Whitney Jr. once said, "Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better." So, if the entire world now resists change, what does that mean? Has the entire world become fearful? Has the entire world lost their hope and confidence?

Another important subject the Allegory touches upon is the difference between the real and unreal. In the Allegory, prisoners are chained to a wall and watch a shadow play their entire life, and they soon begin to accept these shadows as reality. When they then venture outside the cave and are shown that all they know is a lie, the world that they are shown seems less real to them than their beloved shadows. Once again, both in Fahrenheit and the real world, it is much the same. Fahrenheit has their beloved "families" within the Parlor Walls, and modern-day man has their beloved television, video games, movies, books, etc. etc. We may have slightly more sense than the prisoners in the Cave, and SAY we accept that the shadows we watch are naught but fiction, but much of the time, our actions do not reflect that. To Mildred in Fahrenheit, although she knew it was nothing more than an interactive TV show, she clearly showed much more affection for her shadows then for her own husband. With modern-day man, the youth in particular, we cannot help but long to be able to get the chance to at least TRY that which we see in the media. How many schoolyard killings have occurred because some weak-minded fool wanted to practice his Halo skills away from his Xbox? How many kids have been injured attempting to perform some form of stunt from The Matrix that involved running along or up a wall, and ended up either breaking their leg, or falling off and breaking their skull?

And finally, the ever so anti-climactic ending of the Allegory, in which the enlightened man returns to the Cave to share his knowledge with the other prisoners, and maybe even free them so they may see themselves, but instead the enlightened man wanders blindly through the cave, the prisoners mocking him since his so called "Enlightenment" merely ruined his eyesight. In Fahrenheit, when Montag is enlightened and understands the importance of books, he is branded as a madman and is eventually sentenced to a life on the run from the mechanical hound. In the real world, it is said that all geniuses are crazy, yet not all crazies are geniuses. For what reason is their knowledge branded as insanity? Because it goes against the beliefs of the majority. In the world, everything is decided by the majority. They are the judges of whether an idea is success or failure. If the general populace finds your idea amusing, then you are considered a genius. If the general populace either finds your idea folly or doesn't find it at all, then your idea is considered just another crazy idea.


END OF LINE. Now, as always, here's the latest going ons with Clan Darkterror Productions: First and foremost, WE FINALLY GOT THE DEMO UP. REVEL IN IT'S GLORY. Once you are done enjoying that, be a pal and Help us finish the whole game, so that you may enjoy it too!(Better do it fast, though, because the main characters are being taken up rather quick! If you wait too long, you might end up as one of the additional characters!) And while your at it, see what we're up to At the new Eternity's End devlog!