Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shayuri" data-source="post: 5110908" data-attributes="member: 4936">I just want to say too that 'good' and 'evil' are being thrown around in this discussion as if they're states of being. That is, you're good, or you're evil, in much the same way you're alive or dead.But good and evil are really descriptions of decisions and actions. Sawyer, to my understanding, has thrown in with Flocke because he wants off this island...he wants to wash his hands of it. All it's given him, in the end, is misery. He doesn't know who or what Flocke is, or what the cost of his decision will be. But his choice was not evil...just self-serving. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, but it's unclear if he really -cares- if his decision will hurt anyone either.Sayid's another matter. He took his time making up his mind, and showed the Others in the temple extraordinary patience and gave them the benefit of the doubt...most likely because he's seen and experienced a lot of truly effed up stuff on that island, and their claims could not therefore be simply dismissed out of hand. In the end, Flocke's offer to restore to him the only thing he ever really loved was too much temptation. His choice was different than Sawyer's. His choice was, I believe demonstratably evil, including full foreknowledge of its consequences. Does that make Sayid evil? Of course not. The problem of course is that Sayid himself believes otherwise, and that belief is corrosive to one's conscience and sense of self-direction...things that encourage non-evil decisions. It's likely Sayid will get worse before he gets better...As for the taciturnity of the Others, and Jacob, I can offer one possible explanation. Lost is a story that involves, among other things, time travel. Not only that, but it explores the idea of small perturbations in personal histories creating 'butterfly effects' that lead to certain, seemingly coincidental, but utterly critical events taking place. Jacob is tampering with the Losties pasts, and presents, to create a future. The trick is that a person who knows he's being manipulated will naturally try to resist it. Further, someone who has awareness of the future can easily change it by reacting to it in the present in ways that negate it. Witness The Lighthouse, where Jacob wanted Jack to smash the mirrors. He could have told Hurley, "Tell Jack to go up and smash the mirrors." Would that have worked? I don't think so. Jack's at a stage where he mistrusts things that friends hear disembodied spirits tell him.  He'd want to know WHY Jacob wants them smashed. His reaction to them would have been different. His attitude going forward would have been different.We can discuss the morality of what Jacob's doing...he's most definitely using people to accomplish ends that we know nothing about. At best he can be said to have a sort of 'big picture' view, where deaths and personal tragedies are regrettable, but unavoidable, and that he weaves them into the tapestry of the future he's trying to create with no actual malice but rather a pragmatic understanding of human nature. Or, his facade of calm could hide an alien, amoral being with no regard for human life or dignity as he dances them like puppets to achieve his ends. Either way strikes me as a legitimate viewpoint at this stage of the show's narrative. But either way, Jacob has substantial reason not to tell anyone "too much." As for the Others, I think they're tight lipped for several reasons. One, I think in many cases they don't know. I doubt Jacob's anymore forthcoming with them than he is with anyone else. They may know SOME about what Locke is...enough to recognize him and to try to protect themselves, but I doubt they really understand his true nature. The leader may be an exception to that, but... Two, they try to emulate Jacob. That is, he's enigmatic, so they try to be too. I also think the Others, being human, probably have succumbed to human weaknesses like pride and vanity, and they don't want to share what they know with people who haven't earned it like they have. They'd resent "candidates" like Hurley that just declare themselves out of the blue. Who does he think he is? And of course, the Others never really trusted any of the Losties...who knew if they were part of some scheme from Flocke? And that's just the Temple Others. The "other" Others, the ones outside that Ben used to lead...they're even farther removed, and have in fact been under the sway of Smokey for the duration of the show. It's no shock to me that they're just as paranoid and unforthcoming. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />But yeah, the Others, all of them, seem to see themselves as special, as a chosen people who are guarding something that everyone will want if they ever find it. They have that kind of siege mentality, where everyone's viewed as an enemy.And since Jacob let it go on, even while he was alive, it's probably part of his plan...or at least not destructive to his plan. Smokey did warn him, after all, that bringing humans to the island would result in bloodshed. Smart man.</blockquote>

Verification