What Everyone Gets WRONG About One Piece's Politics

Mr Morj made me realize why they teach literature in school.

I've always found that beyond the amazingly exciting adventure One Piece presents, Oda also put a deep, sometimes opaque political message in his writing. Between the discussion about racism (Fishmen Arcs, slave auction, the World Nobels), colonialism (Skypiea, the way Emperor's take over territory, the influence of the World Govt. on the world and its countries), shadow governments, revolutionary movements etc, there is a TON to unpack here and enough material to make hours of videos. I'm fairly new to the channel but from what I've seen if there's one person that has the ability to do so in an intelligent and structured manner it's going to be you Morj.

Excellent Morj!!! The fact you found all the panels too... salute

I love one piece, but when someone asks me why I can't clearly explain it to them. Your videos help me to understand why I love it. Each video you post makes me love the series all over again, and have a better appreciation for it. Thank you very much

Its sad that One Piece-youtubers who mostly blow hot air have thrice or four times more subscribers than Morj. THIS right here is content of the highest quality and its also unique!

I guess, like so many other things, it comes down to the circumstances surrounding *choice*. Being able to choose whether or not to see a doctor, go out to sea, have food to eat, join the marines or a pirate crew, search for treasure, go on an adventure etc. is not available to everyone on an equal basis, nor do people want the availability of the same choices for the same reason or to the same degree. For instance: Sabo wasn't free to go out to sea, but Luffy was. Sabo was born a noble with access to riches, education and other aristocratic things, which Luffy was not. Luffy's parents were barely involved in his life, while Sabo's parents tried to mould him into a smug aristocrat and he hated them. They had very different starting points which shaped their wants, needs, dreams and aspirations differently, and it gave them different accessibility to and possibilities of choice. This is also reflected in their story, choices, actions and where they are now. Sabo's background is the reason why he's a revolutionary, and not "just a pirate" like Luffy, and Luffy's lack of said background is why he's not a revolutionary. This makes me more interested in seeing Dragon's back story. It's going to be a very interesting one. You make good videos! Subscribed! 🏴‍☠️

This is probably the best rendition of real-life comparisons in One Piece that I've seen in a long time. Only Joy Boy has dared to directly go this deep, keep it up!

Man theres everything in OP. Racism,politics, balance of power, fighting, comedy, history,geography... Thats why its the goat. Great work mate from someone who's interested in politics.

so basically, One Piece is striving to be perfectly balanced... as all things should be

One piece community creators : Akainu is yonko level , zoro > sanji , theory confirmed about Crocodile being luffy's half cousin from his tenryubito mother forshadowed in chapter 0.5 Mr Morj : One Piece's Politics

I never realized that the "sea" itself portrays a political system, I don't know it never occured to me. I always thought of the kingdoms or the WR. Fantastic video!

Me Morj once again spitting facts about how important the Foxy arc was

If Oda is Goda, than Mr.Moji is an Apostle.

I have one small gripe I don't think that the ideal governments shown are democratically elected. I think they are shown to up hold the social contact. As in no matter the type of government it should have the support of the governed.

Given the symbolism of Luffy being the ideal for the world of the sea, and Vivi being the ideal for the world of the land, isn't it brilliant how Oda included a scene in which she hits Luffy for saying that there will be death on the path for change, only for him to hit her back, and tell her she is being naive.

The one part of OP I want more of is the political structure and Dragon, and that's really only something that comes about in dragon's arc I'd imagine, like, I can't but hope we get some more information on him because if there's a triangular power system we basically only know two of the three nodes. E.g., the easy story to cover is whose will did Dragon inherit?

I was completely missing the duality, only concentrating on the "sea" side of the spectrum, valuable insight

Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of philosophy from both Nietzsche and Marx. Nietzsche thinks that focusing on equality will hinder great men from cultivating their talents, thus leading to worse art and culture. As such, any political ideology should focus on cultivating the talents of a few great men. Marx, on the other hand, thinks that giving freedom will cause oppressors to exploit the everyday man. Both of these seem to be sensible ideologies, but they also apparently contradict. I never realized that One Piece actually proposes a solution to this dilemma.

One narrative that bothered me in one piece was, When Franky invents his war machines someone important says that "Inventions are never a crime, it depends on how people use them." In Franky's backstory. At the same time when Caeser Gastino invents the ability and throws the same logic that invention in itself is not a crime - Chopper thrashes him saying, If you didn't invent this thing kids would be safe. I like to think it is the opinion of two different Characters and not Oda himself. But it is presented in such absolute way that you cannot ignore it.

There is something your video is missing. A lot of pirates in One Piece did not choose to be pirates for the sake of freedom. They were just forced to be pirates, because they belonged to societies that were criminalized by the world government. The Sun Pirates, Trafalgar Law himself, Vivi (at some point), King Riku (at some point too), they all had to be against the system, because the system was against them, and it is not that they sought for freedom, but that they were forced to oppose the system in order to survive.