I'm a geek, I admit it here and now. ::grins:: I think I may have studied far too much philosophy than need be, because I actually had a pretty cool idea. I figure you can find a philosophy or a certain law or something in a lot of things, and Gundam Wing ain't an exception. So I remembered the actions of the folks in Gundam Wing, found what they seemed to have in common, slapped the label Gundaniumism on it and amen.

This is just for fun, so flames will make me laugh and educated arguments will spark my interest. I'll probably be adding to this as the fancy strikes me. I guess Gundaniumism would be something like what the mad scientists would spit out (says something about me, don't it?). I tried to cover all sides of GW, including even the totally bad dudes like Tsuberoff (that nose! *gack*). Hope you enjoy this little essay!

want to make a point?

Gundaniumism: The Prevailing Philosophy in Gundam Wing
    The first point of order which needs clarification is that of the essential message of Gundaniumism, which is this: Sacrifice yourself when necessary in order that your cause, no matter of what nature, may further itself. There are, however, quite a few finer points which coalesce into Gundaniumism.

    Firstly, human beings are driven by their causes. Their causes may change from moment to moment or may stay fixed; the cause may be as trivial as relieving their bowels, or as great as the pursuit of peace, or as despicable as murder. Nevertheless it is undeniable that humans, consciously or otherwise, seek to attain their goals and help their cause - by whatever means necessary. Humans do whatever they need to if they are true adherents of Gundaniumism, i.e. of their cause. Law, order, everything becomes second to their cause. Anything that will help their cause become reality is holy in their eyes. Anything otherwise (other than neutral actions such as defecating) is of the devil. Some may argue that Gundaniumism is a philosophy for the fanatics, the raving lunatics. That may be true. Look to Gundam Wing and tell me of one sane person in that series that is not a nameless civilian.

    (Please note that very few people are capable of anything but a rather souped-down version of Gundaniumism. For those people, their cause is first in name, but second or maybe even third in reality.)

    When I speak of a cause, I mean a motivating force - a drive for doing something - an ambition which takes up your spirit. After forty minutes of waiting in line for the public restroom to be free, your cause is to relieve yourself of the strain placed on your internal organs. After seeing a world torn by strife, your cause can be anything from a desire to pull it back together, to a desire to exploit the refugees of war. Whatever this cause is, a human's natural instinct is to follow up. If you are a type of person whose driving force is the exploitation of proletarian masses, then by all means, this is what you shall do, and it is only natural that you will want to further this cause of yours. In fact, it is only right that you further your cause. Your cause must always be first in Gundaniumism; family, love, your life, all those things are second.

    Your cause can have deeper, hidden motives, though it doesn't have to. In the case of the exploiter, this exploiter might wish to gain money or a particular reputation. In the case of waiting forty minutes for the restroom, you desire to relive yourself at once; there can be no hidden motives here, unless it is to murder the idiot who made you wait forty minutes in the first place.

    There is a fine line between cause and motive, and sometimes they amount to the same thing. A cause is, after all, the *ultimate* motive for all your actions. All other motives are more like supporting actors. Your cause is your driving force, your complete motivation for whatever it is you do. Your cause devours your soul, your reason, makes you its total willing servant. However, you will always have a secondary motive for allowing your cause to devour you. Let us take the case of theft. Thievery will become your ultimate pursuit. The fine-tuning of your thieving skills will be all you desire, as thieving skills will help you best rob people. But why do you desire such perfection in thievery? Perhaps for riches; perhaps for a reputation; you will want the cause of Thievery to be yours for any number of reasons. These reasons are your secondary motives for your adherence to a particular cause, in this case, Thievery. It thus follows that Thievery is your ultimate motive in all which you do.

    An important thing to note about Gundaniumism is that it is not in any way concerned with the rightness or wrongness of your motives or your cause. There is no rightness and wrongness to your motives or causes unless you are being judged by another person whose moral standards differ from yours. Your motives and causes are not instrinsically nor instrumentally right or wrong. In Gundaniumism your motives and causes can be judged as right or wrong only by another person. In and of themselves, your motives and causes are neutral, neither right nor wrong - it is only in the mind of a human being that they become right or wrong. The only right thing to do in Gundaniumism is to do whatever you must to further the cause you devote yourself to. The only wrong thing is to deliberately put anything else before your cause, up to and including your own personal safety.

    A cause is dependent on the mind of a human to be born, yet once born becomes released and independent, there to be supported or tabooed by any number of people. While a cause cannot further itself by virtue of existence, its nature can draw any number of partisans. I realize that this may be unclear and thus I will provide an example: No one will be drawn to pacifism merely because it exists. The existence of a cause is not important, but rather its nature and the nature of the people to who it is exposed. People will be drawn to pacifism because it advocates what to them seems to be a noble cause: good will and complete brotherhood amongst humanity. The same thing applies to a cause such as theft. Simply because the option, the cause, is there to be picked, does not mean that you will pick it. Rather it is because of what it offers. A tough reputation? Boundless jewels? A life of risks and excitement? This is, of course, dependent on one's moral standards. Pacifism will fly right over the heads of most thieves. Most pacifists would be aghast with horror at even the thought of theft. However, this philosophy is not concerned with the morals you held prior to your exposure to Gundaniumism. The one ultimate right is to further your cause by any means necessary. To act wrongly is to act in a way which consciously deters your cause. To act neutrally is any number of things in between, such as standing in line waiting for the bathroom, unless somehow the act of waiting for the bathroom will deter your cause, though I can think of no example in which this would occur.

    Very few people will ever truly become whole-hearted proponents of a cause. Very few people have this ruthless driving capacity within them. The great problem with Gundaniumism is that it seems to reduce to pieces other things which, despite what naysayers spout, are truly important to humans: friendship, family, and love do not find a place in Gundaniumism. If anything, they are shoved into the category of "neutral." But at a moment's notice, they may be put into the category of "against cause" and immediately become subject to termination. The thing is, humans cannot just ignore or forget things like friendship and love. They can't; it is an embedded part of nature. It's a fact, just as much as the fact that all humans have reason, or the fact that all humans have (or were meant to have) two legs. That is why only people who have been especially trained for the part can truly become adherents of Gundaniumism. Even so, the need for companionship and little, normal things that have nothing to do with the extreme pressure of existing for a cause - these are essential facets of human nature which cannot be wiped out, only buried. In most people, Gundaniumism will conflict with humanity to cause a vicious cycle of hating oneself and going on to hate everything, then repenting, then remembering your cause, then hating your case, then feeling guilt for hating your cause, then going on to hate what caused you to hate your cause... and it goes on like this until the person in question erases Gundaniumism from their minds, and rather accepts their humanity. (Insanity is another option.)

    Case in point? Let us look at Heero Yuy. Never knew love in his life (before meeting Relena and Duo). Trained for years to be more than human, to forget about emotions and ties, to think only of accomplishing the mission and what might be done to accomplish the mission. Yet the death of a child's dog signified the death of countless of people at his hands, and Heero could not ignore this - it was a direct conflict in which his nature conflicted with his cause. In Endless Waltz, fighting against Wufei, he asks, "How many more times will I have to kill that little girl and her dog?" <Something like that.> He wants to ask, how many more innocent people will he have to kill? Killing innocents goes against his very nature. All of his training could not wipe out who he was meant to be. And his strict partisanship of Peace, that is, of his mission, could not wipe out who he was. All the mottos and reasons in the world could not remove his soul from him. His high and lofty cause could not make killing innocent people right, no matter what reason said - he felt it in his very soul that he was doing wrong.

    The only thing Gundaniunism is good for is justifying corrupt and decadent actions at the cost of human nature. Gundaniunism, even when used by a person of decent moral standards, cannot lead to true good in the end. It is too demanding of a never-wavering faith which humans cannot give, and too ignorant of things like love which humans cannot forget. That might indeed be Gundam Wing's hidden, less obvious message, and indeed warning: above all things, remember humanity.

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