"How can I protect something so good without evil?"

[Patrick Garcia 312]

I decided to make a thread to deepen the discussion that was triggered by a similar topic, the one created an hour ago by the user Oyster for people to discuss if we are turned off by the "kindness vibe" this era. I could have just posted my opinion there, but it would probably get lost because no one reads the fourth or fifth page properly. 

So, here we go:

I agree with almost everything Oyster said and I understand where he/she is coming from. But, I don't think Gaga is lacking confidence. She was able to overcome all the bad stuff that happened to her, she rose again as a big artist, won an Oscar, proved herself as someone who the elite of the industry can take seriously. I'm really proud of her. I think she just doesn't want to brag about it you know... She doesn't want revenge, she wants peace. However, I believe I can be kind to others and, at the same time, be able to defend myself from people who want to hurt me (physically or psychologically). Gaga's narrative this era makes her seem too vulnerable imo. Maybe that's why some people are not feeling it. She's done better, as some people already pointed out in the other topic. In the beggining of the BTW video she literally says: "how can I protect something so good without evil". I think she is lacking evil tbh. It's just not safe, in the world we live in - where still exists a lot of prejudice, bad intentions and people wanting to control other peoples lives - to completely undress yourself of evil. If you do that you will not be virtuous, you'll be just inoffensive and no one respects inoffensive people.

 

Please, discuss. I would love to know what you guys think about the highlighted parts. 

[Pennywise 36,079]

I truly think that kindness is essential for humans to live together, but agree that pushing kindness down people's throats every second would not be very successful

Ugh, apart from the ideas, you just reminded me how perfect BTW video was, brb need to watch it again 

[Maleficent 6]

This is one of my all time favourite Gaga quotes. I think it perfectly sums up the amorality of most of the situations we find ourselves in today. 

Spoiler

which is preached by LaVeyan Satanism 

I think it is a commentary on how nothing is black or white or "good and evil", and we need this inner duality between amoral and moral to survive. 

It perhaps touches on Social Darwinism and anti-egalitarianism. A "survival of the fittest" kind of mentality.

[Maleficent 6]

I think an interesting discussion (although probably not on this site) would be if you believe in "survival of the fittest" today...and how far are you willing to push the boundary on "societal norms/morals" to accomplish your goals. 

[Galvon 1,868]

Let's just watch it

 

[holy scheisse 22,234]

So perfect**

[Babel 41,427]

Honestly this duality of good and evil was a hundred times more interesting that shoving kindness punks down people throats.

Born This Way certainly is a better example of exploring and studying the nature of humanity with more depth and intelligence than whatever Stupid Love is trying / was trying to achieve.

[RRR 3,996]

I think it also coincides with Carl Jung's theory of the shadow, where the conscious ego does not recognize an unconscious aspect of the personality. However, it is still there, just inaccessible in all of its parts. Take anger - since some fight against letting themselves feel angry in certain situations, we lose the ability to fight at the moment where it would be most effectual. Instead, that anger remains and transforms into a much less impactful manifestation of anger - passive aggressive behavior.  We certainly need a well-rounded personality to properly defend ourselves. I truly believe the "be nice all the time" clan is missing a necessary part of humanity - the capacity for evil.

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

There are several ways to interpret that quote. As others have noted, there is the duality perspective, the idea that good people have evil, or potential evil, within them, and vice versa. Which essentially means that nothing is purely good or evil, they are but the two heads of the same animal.

Which I agree with. However, my angle is slightly different. I think she is also making a metaphysical/teleological/existential/cosmological statement about WHY evil MUST exist in the first place.

She is saying that in order for change to exist and shape the universe, it must be guided by opposing forces: these are manifested in Newton’s laws of motion, that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction, as well as Einstein’s relativity and quantum mechanics, that objects that possess higher mass or faster speed actually distort time.

She sort of hints at this also in her opening monologue in the video for “Marry the Night”, where she says that memories are not recycled like atoms, where she creates an equivalency between matter and trauma: that bad experiences shape our consciousness in a manner not unlike the formation of bulky planets that move elliptically, round and round unable to escape the capture of gravity, but longing to be free in space.

Evil and good are like strings or vibrations that coalesce into energy and matter, reacting against itself, distorting it’s own path, and it’s vision of the past and future, as it searches for both beginning (genesis) and end (closure).

[Patrick Garcia 312]

16 minutes ago, ajames said:

I think it also coincides with Carl Jung's theory of the shadow, where the conscious ego does not recognize an unconscious aspect of the personality. However, it is still there, just inaccessible in all of its parts. Take anger - since some fight against letting themselves feel angry in certain situations, we lose the ability to fight at the moment where it would be most effectual. Instead, that anger remains and transforms into a much less impactful manifestation of anger - passive aggressive behavior.  We certainly need a well-rounded personality to properly defend ourselves. I truly believe the "be nice all the time" clan is missing a necessary part of humanity - the capacity for evil.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! 

[Patrick Garcia 312]

Let's dig some more: Judas's lyrics. When she sings "Jesus is my VIRTUE, but Judas is the demon I cling to". I think she is referencing that idea of the capacity for evil. If she recognizes Jesus as a virtue, she must be able to be evil. You can't be virtuous if you don't have a monster inside of you to tame. 

Do you all even realise how she was ahead of her time with these lyrics? I mean, even the pope recently said: 'Let's Think of the Little Judas That We All Have Within Ourselves'.

Edit: the idea of the lyrics are nothing new, but to express it the way she expressed - saying she was in love with the one who betrayed Jesus - was pretty brave.

[JazzGa 14,620]

That quote is my signature, and I share similar feelings about it. Thank you so much for taking the time to post your thoughts, I loved reading it! Loved everyone's comments too, great read today