In Magic the Gathering, the colors I
play most are White, Red, and Black. I play other colors sometimes
(but generally in a deck that has one of those three colors), but
those are definitely my favored color. Of all of them White is
probably my primary color.
I find exploring the philosophies each
color has to be really interesting. (For those who are interested,
this article has links to all of the color and dual color philosophy
articles on the Magic the Gathering Homepage:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/15.)
So, I thought I'd talk about how the colors I play in magic relate to
my personal philosophy and views.
I believe that doing the “right
thing” is very important. And I believe that the good of everyone
is important. I want to work to create an ideal society for everyone.
This makes me very White (in the color wheel sense).
Now, Red and Black are the enemy colors
of White, so it might seem odd that I play the enemies of my primary
color. Isn't it a contradiction? Personally, I don't think so.
I value the good of all,
I also value the good of each.
While White cares about everyone collectively, it doesn't really care
each person wants, viewing it as not nearly as important as the
collective good. The problem is this: groups are made up of
individuals. And I don't think you can really do what's best for
everyone if you don't care about each of them.
That's
where Black and Red come in. Black and Red are very individualistic.
Red believes in freedom and passion, that everyone should do what
they feel, and have the freedom to do so, unrestricted. Black
believes in putting its own needs first, that the person who knows
best what you want is you.
If
you take white's communal mindedness and drive for the good of all,
and apply the individualistic principals of black and red, and you
can (if you blend it together a bit, rather than seeing it as
contradictory), you get a system that is concerned with both the good
of the community and
the good of each person in it.
Furthermore,
White is concerned with what is “right,” whereas Black and Red
are concerned with what they want. But what is “right?”
I'm a
utilitarian. I believe in doing the most good, least harm. What the
correct or “right” action is depends on what will create the
largest possible benefit everyone, with the smallest possible cost.
(if you want more information about Utilitarianism, there's a great
FAQ here: http://www.lri.fr/~dragice/utilitarianism/faq.html)
So,
what is the “most good” and the “least harm.” Well, in a lot
of situations, the “most good” is what makes people the happiest
or most fulfilled, and the “least harm” is what makes them suffer
the least. In general, what people want is a good barometer of what
will make the happiest and suffer the least (although there are some
exceptions—while a drug addict definitely wants more drugs, giving
drugs to them will probably cause them more harm in the long run).
It would seem, then that allowing people to seek what makes them
happy would create quite a bit of good (and therefore often be
“right”).
Of
course, then comes the part that I disagree with Red and Black on:
what happens when those wants conflict? Red and Black would say fight
it out and whoever wins gets their way. But this creates a system
where the strong frequently trample on the weak. Black and red are
fine with that, but it just doesn't seem fair to me. In an ideal
world, people would care about the wants of others just as much as
their own and if people wanted to competing things, they would work
together to consider whether a mutually beneficial compromised could
be reached, and if not decide together who should get their way. But
we don't live in an ideal world.
That's
where white comes in: law and government. The law can mediate these
conflicts, and create a system by which they can be resolved. In
addition a government can help give the “weak” or disadvantaged
some kind of recourse, whether by redistributing resources to those
in desperate need of them or by creating systems that prevent people
from trampling all over other people. Of course, law can also do the
trampling, and that's a problem.
There
are some other traits that I share with my chosen colors. I believe
in working towards an ideal society (as if this post didn't give that
away already), but I also believe in living in reality. In my aims, I
very much match up with white, but at the same time, by acknowledging
that quite often life isn't good or nice or fair, I can have a very
Black mindset. In addition, I believe that emotions are very
important, which marks me as red.
In
summery: I believe in the good of all (White) and the good of each
(Black & Red). I believe in doing the right thing (White) but
that each person's wants are important (Black & Red). I believe
in working towards an ideal society (White) but living in reality
(Black). I also believe in the importance of feelings (Red). To be
honest, I'm probably these colors because they're the ones I find
most fun to play, but I think blending their philosophies can give a
good picture of what I believe.
Hope
you found this interesting :).
