Monday, May 8, 2023

On Mythology

Poor workmanship kills. Don't use shoddy icons.

Really the moral of Ikaros is that mythology is for children. Grownups are supposed to have real things to do and not need much in the way of idle entertainment. Grownups are supposed to have actual wings to flap, and not need fictional tales about poorly-constructed and poorly-conceived wings.
Naturally, children's literature is all very poor quality, because even if you put your heart and soul into the tale, the children can't tell the difference. Indeed they usually prefer twisted hypocritical villains to heroic heroes. "And then axe cop stabbed him with his axe." "Daedalus went to the temple of Apollo in Sicily, and hung up his own wings as an offering to never attempt to fly again." 

Flying partially worked, after all. Daidalos lived. Can't have that. What if someone else tries making wings? What if everyone learns to fly? Heresy!

An adult referencing mythology in any serious way is committing a serious error. There should be a myth about that, traditionally told during the coming of age ceremony...

Given that adults keep referencing mythology, at least bind the mythology with glue instead of wax. You've millennia to fix this. What, like 3000 years for Ikaros? You could have myths that transcend the limitations of children's literature - it's not like children can tell the difference, so you can use them on children anyway.

Thousands of years and nobody has told the myth about Daidalos' hubris? He killed his own son as surely as if he had used a blade. Then he blamed "trying to fly" instead of failing to predict a disobedient son would disobey. You knew him literally his whole life and you couldn't see this coming? Severe social retardation. Or malice. Ultimately, these two look identical.

It's way too late to offer any excuses for this poor design. These wings have been flown into the sun over and over again.
It has to be intentional. 

Perhaps Daidalos isn't at fault. The gods are at fault for giving Daidalos the ability to make bad wings but not the ability to refrain from making bad wings. That's not a tragedy, that's a mean, vicious prank.
Athough the severe social retardation makes sense. Avoiding imprisonment is not exactly rocket science. That Daidalos would do something super foolish was predictable given he got into a situation which he would need to do super foolish things to escape. 

Romeo is just some degenerate criminal. Daidalos is at best some ultranerd who doesn't understand that breaking the law won't work out for you. These are not heroes. The only tragedy here is that they avoided their richly deserved punishments for so long.

 

In its current state, mythology is often a good test for the aspiring logician. Can you figure out that the real hubris is displayed by those who tell and reference the tale, rather than in the characters the tale is about? They don't train you to be wise and strong, they train you to be weak and sick. Existing myths aren't cultural heritage, they are attacks. Vandalism.

Iconoclasm is good if the icon is illogical.

Poor workmanship kills. Don't use shoddy icons.

No comments: