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In an earlier editorial, I said about how I
thought Dragonball Z is not violent. Although I was totally
correct in everything I said (as usual), I never had any actual 'proof'
other than "the truth". But now I do. This is
probably one of the weirdest things you are going to come across on this
site, but in an Religious Education lesson some weeks ago, we were
studying pacifism. Our teacher told us that when the Roman Emperor
Constantine became a Christian, his whole army had to fallow and convert
to Christianity. This was a problem because Christians would not
fight, let alone go into battle (bear with me, I am going somewhere with
this). To enable the Roman army to fight, the Dominican
friar and Church father, St Thomas Aquarius, laid down 4 laws which he
said if they were fallowed, they would justify a war or a battle.
Now, being DBZ obsessed, the first thing I do is use this 'new'
information and apply it to Dragonball. The 4 laws laid down by ST
Father Thomas were:
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"There must be
a just cause for the war". In practice, this can only
happen when a country is attacked and so needs to defend it's
self.
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"Every other
possibility of solving the conflict must have been tried before a
war is declared, including extensive negotiation".
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"The war must have a
clear and just aim and all fighting must stop once it has been
achieved".
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"The war must be
fought in a just way". this means that;
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# Certain weapons will be
outlawed.
# Only as much force as is
necessary to achieve victory must be used.
# No violence must be directed
towards civilians.
Okay!!
I see what you're getting at! How and what the Hfil does this have
to do with DBZ??!! Hmm? Well, think about it. As far as I'm
concerned, every one of these ancient laws applies to Dragonball in some
way or another, (typical, studying for your GCSEs which are like, 2
weeks away, and what do you do, spend your lesson working out how a set
of ancient holy laws which enabled Roman soldiers to fight can be
'twisted' to prove that DBZ isn't violent!)
Anyway, if you look at them individual one, you can apply them that the
wonder that is Dragonball.
1)
"There must be a just cause for the war". If someone is
trying to destroy you, your friends, your family and even your Kami damn
planet-I think that fighting to defend it is a just cause!!
2)
Do you think that Frieza, cell and Bu were interested in negotiation?!!
Even if they were, they are 'trying' to take over the planet/universe,
what is there to negotiate? What good would it do? There is
absolutely NO compromise! They attack, you fight, you stop. If
they carry on, you kill.
3)"The
war must have a clear and just aim" Hmm, let me think, Stop
bad guy, protect loved ones, save universe. That sounds pretty
'just' and 'clear' to me. "All fighting must stop once it has
been achieved" An example? Ok. When Goku defeats
Frieza on Namek, he defeats him, but he won't destroy him when he was
helpless. In fact, he gave Frieza some of his own energy so he
could get his cut in half ass off the planet before it
exploded. Once Goku had achieved his aim, he stopped
fighting.
4)
"Certain weapons must be outlawed". Trunks and Gohan
used swords, and Goku used a staff, ok, but they were martial arts
weapons and they were used to survive, train and they were used with
honor and skill. Do you ever see any DBZ characters use guns?
(That doesn't include Bulma, or any of the civilians-I'm talking Z
fighters here people!, and neither does it include those crappy toys on
sale in Woolworths, where all the characters, Vegeta, Gotten, Krillen
etc, have guns and bazookas!)
"Only as much force as is necessary to achieve victory must be
used". You've seen it your selves if you have watched any of
the episodes with actual fighting in it, As soon as Goku, Piccolo
or any of the Z fighters win a battle, they stop fighting.
pervious example, Goku on Namek.
"No violence must be directed towards civilians" Um,
hello! The Z fighters go out of their way not to get civilians,
they even get involved in fights to protect people who they have never
met who are in danger. e.g. When Krillen fights Cel to save
the girl and her little brother-even if he did get his butt kicked.
So
there you have it. Dragonball Z is not violent, and if you still
have your doubts...you wouldn't argue with a Saint would you? I
mean, you wouldn't disagree with ancient holy laws would
you? Hee hee, thought not.
...And
just for Chris Davies, who 'kindly' pointed out, King Cold WOULD
have tried to destroy the earth and everyone in it if Trunks didn't kill
him, even if at the time, he was 'defenseless'-would you have risked it?
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