The Son of Katatz's evil side

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rereboy
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Re: The Son of Katatz's evil side

Post by rereboy » Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:26 pm

Blade wrote:
Machiavellian

adjective

cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics

Cunning? In the Buu arc - yes. Scheming? Again, yes. Unscrupulous - in the self-serving 'I want to pass on the baton for my own sense of self fulfillment at the risk of the human race' kind of way, perhaps. Politically? Perhaps not.

Either way, I stand by my point. Goku is somewhat machiavellian later on in the story.
Even the definition you quoted has unscrupulous as a essential part of being machiavellian. Do you honestly think Goku is unscrupulous? :roll:

un·scru·pu·lous
adj.
Devoid of scruples; oblivious to or contemptuous of what is right or honorable.

Yeah, that's Goku alright. He was absolutely no notion of right and honorable, totally oblivious to it... He has perhaps even contempt for it... :|

(Not to mention that I gave you the origin of the term machiavellian... hell, I even studied one of his books in college briefly :roll:)

Goku is, in the later parts of the story, like he always was, kind of selfish in his own innocent way. He doesn't feel the need to tell the others exactly what he is thinking and planning because he doesn't even consider that is being kind of a jerk by holding out on them.

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Re: The Son of Katatz's evil side

Post by Blade » Sun Dec 29, 2013 4:45 pm

rereboy wrote: un·scru·pu·lous
adj.
Devoid of scruples; oblivious to or contemptuous of what is right or honorable.

Yeah, that's Goku alright. He was absolutely no notion of right and honorable, totally oblivious to it... He has perhaps even contempt for it... :|
I'll post how I broke it down again for you to read, as you mustn't have understood to assume that I was calling Goku entirely unscrupulous.

'Unscrupulous - in the self-serving 'I want to pass on the baton for my own sense of self fulfillment at the risk of the human race' kind of way, perhaps'


I think allowing the genocide of the human race as a consequence of allowing two small children the chance to fight the greatest evil in the Universe is something that can't be considered right or honorable,
rereboy wrote:(Not to mention that I gave you the origin of the term machiavellian... hell, I even studied one of his books in college briefly :roll:)
I didn't respond to that, as I thought you surely weren't attempting to be so condescending as to assume I didn't know what the word meant - but apparently I was wrong. For the record, though, I'm more than familiar enough with the origin of the word, and if you actually read my original post - which I'm starting to think you mustn't have, I noted that he was somewhat machiavellian, in a non-political context - not completely, but somewhat, as in baring some of the attributes of the word - not all, but some. I even cleared up exactly which ones in my last post - but whatever, you clearly either ignored or failed to understand that before trying to be a smart-ass.
rereboy wrote:Goku is, in the later parts of the story, like he always was, kind of selfish in his own innocent way. He doesn't feel the need to tell the others exactly what he is thinking and planning because he doesn't even consider that is being kind of a jerk by holding out on them.
That's not entirely true - he deliberately kept Super Saiyan 3 from Vegeta as to allow him to project the image that he was a great deal weaker than he actually was for no reason other than sport whilst the fate of the planet hung in the balance around him. Moreover, being oblivious doesn't make a person any less inconsiderate - the hint is in the word itself, to be 'inconsiderate' is to act without due consideration.

What I'm saying, rereboy, is that Goku had a set of wider agendas - and chose to act upon them and only disclose that which he wanted to or was forced to. He was scheming, cunning and placed the fate of the human race and the Earth secondary to his grand design of having his children defeat Majin Buu.
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Re: The Son of Katatz's evil side

Post by Draken » Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:27 pm

Goku? Cunning? I dunno about you but when I think cunning I think of intelligent, and Goku + Intelligent in the same sentence doesn't really work out :wink:

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Re: The Son of Katatz's evil side

Post by TheGmGoken » Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:28 pm

Draken wrote:Goku? Cunning? I dunno about you but when I think cunning I think of intelligent, and Goku + Intelligent in the same sentence doesn't really work out :wink:
Intelligent fighter?

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Re: The Son of Katatz's evil side

Post by rereboy » Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:05 pm

Blade wrote:...
I read your post in full and I wasn't being condescending (or at least I wasn't trying to sound condescending, it wasn't my intention to sound like that), I just think you don't really understand in full what that term means, its origin and what should be applied to, otherwise you wouldn't be arguing that the terms machiavellian and unscrupulous can be applied to Goku. Hence, why I explained briefly its origin and quite naturally assumed that you are not understanding the term in full. Its not a matter of being condescending at all... If I see someone use a term incorrectly I'm gonna rectify them and explain to them why its not used like that.

Its certainly possible that I might be wrong and the person I'm correcting might be right at the end of the day... But I'm not correcting that person to feel smarter or whatever. Its just a matter of setting things right. When I'm the one being corrected I even usually thank the ones who are correcting me, and even if it turns out I'm the one who's right, I appreciate that they were trying to set thing right.

I do agree that some people do it just to make themselves feel smarter and greater than others, but this is not the case (and I do not thank those). I only mentioned that I studied one of his books to make you realize that I'm actually much more familiar with the origin of the term than the average person, and the origin is very important, its not just about a definition of the term since sometimes the words used to define a term fail to transmit the full idea of the term.

By the way, I never called you names like you just did, so... yeah...

My " :roll: " is simply because of your insistence in using those terms as you see fit, and how you justify their use by adding "somewhat" or something like that behind them, like that somehow transforms an improperly used term in a given context into a correct and properly used term in that same given context.

I just don't agree at all with your use of those words. To me, you are just twisting them.

You know a character in Dragon Ball that fits those terms much better? Namek arc Vegeta. He was cunning, strategic, and unscrupulous since all he thought about was advantages for himself, he didn't care about others and he didn't let any notion of right or honor get in his way. In other words, he can be considered machiavellian during that arc. And I'm sorry but Goku, in every arc, is way different from the traits of personality that Vegeta showed in that arc. He is never "kind of like" those traits and he is never "somewhat" like those traits.

What Goku does in the Buu arc is what Goku always does, being selfish in a innocent kind of way and kind of a jerk without realizing it. He decides by himself that its best for the planet if its the kids that save the planet and not someone who isn't even part of it anymore. This is what he flat out states to Piccolo when Piccolo talks about Goku facing Fat Buu with his SSJ3. And the reason why Goku didn't talk about SSJ3 before or used it isn't solely because of that... SSJ3 drastically cuts away the time that Goku has available in the living world. Goku knows this. And that time can be precious for the planet especially in the situation in which they were... So, its only natural for him not to go from the start agaisnt Vegeta with it. He might have used it later to end the fight, but their fight was very short since Buu awakened shortly after they started fighting. And its also natural for Goku to consider fusion before using SSJ3 and risking using all of his time.

Goku not sharing immediately those thoughts with everyone is just him being selfish in a innocent kind of way and kind of a jerk without realizing it. There's no hidden agenda, no big secret that he is protecting, no big ulterior reason for all this and he is not seeking some advantage for himself while forgetting all notions of right and wrong. Its just Goku being Goku, just him choosing and acting the way he feels/thinks is best.

Being selfish in a way and a little secretive doesn't make someone machiavellian or even somewhat machiavellian. That's just twisting its meaning until it can fit something very different from its meant to be used for. A normal person also has selfish traits and has secrets and tries to be cunning. So, in your view a normal person is somewhat machiavellian? You see, the term is so twisted when we look at it like that, that it can fit practically everybody... :roll:

There's a reason why I and many other fans haven't heard anyone ever refer to Goku as machiavellian and unscrupulous or somewhat machiavellian and unscrupulous, you know?

But I'm sorry for offending you by pointing it out that they, rather obviously, given their definitions and origins, don't seem to fit at all with Goku, and that slapping a "somewhat" or a "kind of" behind them to cover up how they don't really fit doesn't work out very well... :|.

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