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The Stormlight Archive & The Murky Morality Of Colonialism | Philosophy Of The Stormlight Archive

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Is Colonialism evil?
It’s a loaded question that requires quite a bit of unpacking. And this is the internet, so directly talking about a topic like this will probably result in a hate-mob knocking at my door. That is unless I look at the question through the prism of allegory, metaphor, or story. So let’s do just that!
The Stormlight Archive, despite not yet being finished, is probably my top favourite epic fantasy series in existence. Brandon Sanderson is a master at writing fantasy novels with deep, complex characters, vivid worlds, and sophisticated magic systems. And The Stormlight Archive book series definitely exemplifies all of that.
But what I didn’t expect from Brandon Sanderson, however, is his uncanny ability to write deeper themes into his works that make you think more than you expected. Themes that you may have noticed at first and realised are significant, but where you didn’t really think too much of it at first. That’s exactly what happened to me and what spawned this idea for a video.
You see, I was recently doing my first re-read of the Stormlight Archive and certain things stuck out to me that I didn’t really pay much attention to during my first read-through. Specifically, I began to ponder the topic of colonialism and its implications both in The Stormlight Archive and the real world.
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Опубликовано:

25 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 38

@ohnoits 10 месяцев назад

Fascinating video but I hard disagree on most of the benefits you mentioned. They may bring their wealth but it completely disrupts the systems that were already in place in those countries and often forces them to adhere to systems that do not work for their environment/cultures. The whole point of colonialism is exploitation. It is entirely possible to share or exchange information and knowledge without colonising a country. I never saw it painted as anything but negative in Stormlight. What the humans did was horrifying. Taking over land that wasn’t there’s, enslaving the inhabitants body and mind. Destroying the environment. There is absolutely nothing good about this. The morality isn’t murky at all to me. I’m honestly kind of shocked you felt the need to put the benefits here. It’s really not necessary. It’s like making a pros and cons list of slavery or something. That is wild bro..

@RavensRants 10 месяцев назад

Life isn't that black and white to me. I look at it from different perspectives to see what the potential pros and cons are. In life there is no best or worst option, only trade-offs. I suppose you and I just have different perspectives on this

@mexygnome Год назад

Excellent video! And a very humbling opinion. Keep up the excellent content.

@RavensRants Год назад

Thanks!

@molliethomas2585 Год назад

Another very good and well thought out essay on a touchy subject 👍

@RavensRants Год назад

Thanks Mollie! ❤️

@daerwyn Год назад

I think reparations are an acknowledgement of the things that were stolen, a percentile of accepted responsibility. It's not that the current population are morally at fault, but they still benefit from the cruel thievery of their nations ancestors. It's about systems, not individuals, and as a nation the British owes its colonies some manner of recompense if it ever seeks to be on the just side of history. I'm from America and we obviously have our own horrid sins to account for. Relatedly, I think you're wrong about the differing morality of the time - even during the height of slavery there were citizens who considered the practice abhorrent and fought against it. I don't know if this is true for Britain but I would expect so. It was entirely possible to recognize the evil of that 'peculiar institution' even back then - it was just economically expedient to ignore it. Much in the same way we ignore where our plastics and electronics come from today.

@RavensRants Год назад

Well from my side, as someone from an ex-colony, I don't expect the modern Brits to have to pay for the sins of their forefathers. And yes, at the time you could find people against it. But they were the minority at the fringes of society. The majority of people saw it as the norm. It was only when it became majority opinion that the British, as a nation, worked to end the trans atlantic slave trade

@ttubebaby Год назад

The only sane comment around here.

@terrydactyl2077 3 месяца назад

@@RavensRantsThis is so untrue. A truly monumental misunderstanding of the history of the British abolition movement. Not that it’s well known so I will forgive you for just assuming such. But since you’ve made a video on the topic you really should have read on the history of abolition throughout the world including Britain. It was not a minority on the fringes of society who thought slavery was bad. I mean, William Wilberforce who was probably the biggest voice towards the end that was part of the movement to abolish slavery fought for it in parliament for decades. He posted numerous bills until finally he had it passed. He was a famous politician/business man and he had many supporters in the crown, the government, the public, the Church of England and within the business sector. And he wasn’t some gung-ho outlier with a wacky idea that somehow managed to catch on. The movement he was a figure head for was a popular movement that was built on top of nearly two centuries of much discussion (very public discussion) and debates with an enormous amount of members and supporters since the 1600s. It was not fringe. It was a hard battle because of the immensity of growth of wealth and power colonial England was bringing in. But many many people still despised how it treated its subjects especially in this era of burgeoning enlightenment on political philosophies. Just look at the numerous accounts of massive uproars and fights in parliament from abolitionists and pro-colonialist that date back to the 1600’s when imperialism was just taking off. It wasn’t some random nobodies breaking in and having a rant. It was from elites in this case. The fight to free the West Indies was not fought by hooded figures in some dusty candle lit room in the back woods it was front and centre as a common talking point in society’s discourse for the entire time the British colonial project was enacted. Earlier dissidents were definitely targeted, taken out of the picture, jailed etc when Britain decided she needed to expand her empire sure, but even then it wasn’t as hush hush as you may think. And it was even a discussion amongst common folk as well not just elites. Even if they didn’t (or couldn’t)read the papers there were many church sermons given that spoke about slavery as an evil. Not having a go at you. Just saying that what you said was incorrect. And if you want to look at how colonial projects are detrimental for the native folk of the land just look at any place where this has happened (like here in Australia for instance with the Aboriginal people) and you see the scars and trauma of being colonised wreaks havoc for generations. It’s an evil mechanism to funnel wealth out from a people who you have the power to subjugate.

@mpalfadel2008 15 дней назад

Very well thought out essay However, what of the Portuguese settlers that were colonized by the Dutch in what is now South Africa? Isn’t there ALWAYS a earlier settler to a particular region? Is the rule always first come owns the land forever n everyone else is either forced to: A. Move on to uninhabited territory B. Allow themselves to be colonized by the current inhabitants n assimilate into the inhabitants culture C. Take/conquer the desired territory n force the inhabitants to assimilate into your culture Or D. Enter into total war of elimination/genocide with the current inhabitants with either they or your culture gets annihilated (sometimes eaten… see South Pacific) I hope you can see that I’m not advocating for any scenario… Just laying out possible options for two competing peoples according to historical precedent If there is a scenario I did not think of, please let me know

@mark14410 Год назад

Staying consistent with content. Another great one. Love your stuff

@RavensRants Год назад

Thanks!

@jacqueshardin4601 Год назад

Ok, this is better. Bit iffy, but much more thoughtful than the rants. In my opinion, the British as a people do not owe reparations. The gentry and the royal family, absolutely. They benefited the most and still hoard a lot of their wealth. I just think it that would be useful. Also, the point on education. Well, look up the horrors of what indigenous children were subjected to in North America. It was child abuse on steroids. One last thing, Stormlight Archive has a lot in common with Attack on Titan. I still recommend the video James Somerton has on that show. He is my favorite media analyst for many reasons.

@RavensRants Год назад

Yeah the rants are really not where you go for in-depth thoughts and analysis. They're, well, rants. Mostly a way for me to get my thoughts in order I'll check out James Somerton, thanks

@nathanmusenga398 Год назад

Really was expecting a more Rosharian discussion about colonialism but I also drew parallels to the real world after reading RoW so I understand how you took this direction. As someone who is also from a former colony (Zambia) this topic also hits home. I disagree with your point about not judging past peoples with modern standards because at every stage of these practices people from the populations of the colonisers and colonised pushed back against the objectively evil things that were happening around them (If that was the way of the world, then the world was evil. The world is much better now but still can be considered very wicked). BUT I agree with the fact that we are not owed reparations. I don't know about other former colonies but African countries are extremely diverse in language, ethnicity and genetics. Without colonisation, many of these people would be at each other's necks and some still are. For my country, at least, colonisation united people who would've 101% be killing and enslaving each other, through a single language. The fact that over 72 ethnic groups and many more subgroups can understand each other has played a huge role in our sense of unity. Back to my point on reparations, I'm not a huge fan of "the sins of the father" talk and I beleive that the descendants of colonisers shouldn't have to pay for the atrocities because they themselves didn't commit them. However, it would also be cool if the same descendants stopped jumping mental hurdles to signal moral justification to horrific events in history such as slave trade. Because the real morally correct thing to do is put our differences aside and use our unique experiences, knowledge and gifts to work with each other in the fight for a more prosperous and *Honourable* world. You know, like the Radiants we all came to love. Journey before Destination and thanks for reading this, random stranger.

@RavensRants Год назад

I really like your take on things. Thanks for watching!

@bot_scarecrow8674 10 месяцев назад

What a excellent video. Very thoughtful and well put together analysis of colonialism. Even if I didn’t agree with most of your points I would still appreciate how you don’t just say some generic statement about bad thing bad but you take a realistic and logical look at real world things though the eye of media we consume. Keep up the good videos.

@victorluiz7945 10 месяцев назад

Analyse an whole system of privilleges based in racism, rape and mass murdering and just saythat "people now does not have blame for the past crimes" is a big simplification about the topic. That"s not about individuals, it is about an social machine that influencies every single aspects of our lives, and a lot of people had acess an privillegies for consewuence of colonialism. Their ancestral died, but the system and privileges? No, so we need reparation.

@RavensRants 10 месяцев назад

Disagree.

@Sweet_Karma Год назад

You should upload a lot more videos if you have time. I always thoroughly enjoy your content and the way you breakdown everything 😁👌🏾

@RavensRants Год назад

Lol time is the one thing I have very little of, my friend. But I'm glad you enjoy it 😉

@Sweet_Karma Год назад

@RavensRants Ahaha we'll take what we can get my bro

@PhilosophicalArt Год назад

Great video!

@RavensRants Год назад

Thanks!

@johnveit2139 Год назад

Interesting take on it

@BlueSkyIC Год назад

The world doesn’t belong to the singers, nor the Parchman Though, if the Parchman are sentient, then they should be given their freedom and the wages for their life of labor

@ite9013 8 месяцев назад

@jacksonklark6119 9 месяцев назад

Tbh I think the dutch empire was way worse

@rystiya7262 11 месяцев назад

It totally depends on how colonialism is done. It could be as bad as a concentration camp, where people are simply used as slaves and do not enjoy those benefits you mentioned above. It could also be something like Hong Kong, which is richer and also freer than the rest of the country, where many people had risked their lives to migrate to.

@chrisshorten4406 Год назад

I agree on all your points, especially about demanding reparations from people who's grandparents weren't even adults when a thing happened. I have a friend who insists on protesting all things Japanese (including pictures of anime characters, and simple stuff like that) to the point of being offended when i shared a cute anime gif with them, until Japan gives apologies and reparations for what they did to China in WWII. Don't get me wrong, Japan did horrible things during that war, and apology would be fitting, by at the same time, everybody who committed those war crimes is long dead, and even their children are also probably dead. Blaming people who weren't even in existence for sneering their ancestors did make no real sense, especially with how different each new generation becomes.

@RavensRants Год назад

100% agreed. Also is your friend forgetting what was done to the Japanese during that war? Every side has blood on their hands. That's why I don't believe in reparations. Nobody has the moral high ground

@Leonidas-nu3jp Год назад

Question: should russia pay reparations to Ukraine? What about in 100 years?

@chrisshorten4406 Год назад

@@Leonidas-nu3jp I'd say yes, but it would need to be sooner rather than later. If all those involved on both sides are dead (especially if it's been several generations long ended) there's really not much point to it anymore.

@joshuaward2271 Год назад

@chrisshorten4406 the problem with this, inherently, is that this allows any and everyone a way out. Nations can ignore a problem until "sufficient time" has passed, at which point they can argue "it wasn't us! Why do you demand reparations when we didn't do anything?" It's the antithesis of justice and gives way to these sorts of things never being addressed

@chrisshorten4406 Год назад

@@joshuaward2271 hence why they would need to be forced to give reparations immediately after all is finished, not generations later.