This thought floated into my skull tonight, and was a rather freakish realization.
I watch alot of anime. (anime is essentially japanese animation.) I do so to study the language and the culture. I watch it daily, for several hours per day. I realized suddenly that when I venture into japan I honestly expect everyone there to look like an anime character. I expect this because I have been fed the idea that if it speaks japanese, it must be an anime character. This concept has been so pounded into my head that I am honestly surprised when new japanese friends show me their pictures and they look like real people. I realized that this is just like the allegory of the cave in Plato's Republic. In the story, people chained in a cave see shadows of real things (animations of japanese people) and hear sounds of real things (voice acting and sound effects) and assume that the shadows must be the real things, because they have never seen the real thing. Then, when exposed to the real objects, they are amazed. When a japanese girl shows me her picture I am surprised when she doesn't have eyes the size of my fist and hair you could get lost in. I am truly subconsciously amazed that my assumptions are wrong. I'm not sure what this says about me, my brain, or anime, but it does show that Plato had a point that has lasted 3o00 years.
fascinating!
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Although I have never read dear Plato's republic, I have heard of it and specifically this part in my high school classes. I noticed a similar thing in Homer's Iliad, but I will stay on topic here. The "darkness of the cave" is the place in this world that we must all go to if we want to truly understand "the light of the world." Because of the imperfection of the world, we have to (at least) observe the dark and horrid things of this world if we ever want to come to understand the "light" and good (that which comes from "god") in this world.
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