Analysis

We all have beliefs and thoughts on life, but sometimes other people will try to intrude on our beliefs. Then they try to make us follow their beliefs and fight for what they believe in. I have always been told to fight for what you believe in not what believe in. In one of my favorite video game series, Metal Gear Solid, multiple characters make quotes about not being tools of the government or of any other person and to fight for what you believe in, and not to let anyone tell you different or to stand in your way.

Most people are easily “brain washed” by others who appear to have authority. This phenomena has been proven by famous psychologist Stanley Milgram, whose famous obedience experiment showed that people will carry out orders, or do what an authoritative figure would ask for them to do just because they have the shown to be the person with the power. Because of this phenomena many people will do what the authoritative figure asks even if the person doesn’t want to carry out the order, because they believe that any consequence will not fall on them, but on the authoritative figure.

In the Metal Gear Solid series you are a lone soldier who is supposed to be the best soldier to ever set foot on the battle field. Throughout the series there are multiple plot twists and betrayals. At one point of the first game you decide not to fight for what the government wants you to fight for, because they are the ones that are using you and they were just going to kill you in the end to hide all evidence. During the first game you come across an opponent who was your friend, whose code name in the game is Gray Fox, who you had to kill in the prequel, only to find out that the government had taking his body and turned him into a cyborg, only to be trapped between life and death. Towards the end of the first game Gray Fox’s last words were “we’re not tools of the government, or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing… the only thing I was good at, but… at least I fought for what I believed in.” (Gray Fox)

In that part of the game it shows that even if you may be ridiculed and maybe even killed, always fight for what you believe in don’t be a puppet for someone else’s belief. Fighting for what you yourself believe in is one of the most important things that a person can do in my opinion, because that is what so many things in the world is built off of. The United States was born from the colonists fighting for what they believe in and not what the British told them to believe in.

The first game isn’t the only game that gives the message of fighting for what you believe in. Although the main story of the game is you trying to stop your evil twin from controlling weapons of mass destruction and ruling the world, which both of you are clones from your father. In the second game character that you played as in the first game is pronounced to be a terrorist to the public, because he is trying to bring down the bipedal tank that can launch an undetectable nuke from any location in the world. The government wants to use this machine for nuclear deterrence, while your twin wants to take it and sell it to the black market.

So even though the main character is made to be a terrorist to the public he still knows that what he is doing is for the good of the world. He refuses to let the government tell him what he can and can’t believe in, even if it means that he is considered to be a terrorist. If you go back and look at the revolutionary war for the United States, the British considered any colonists that fought for the freedom of America over the control of the British to be a terrorist, but yet the still fought, and here we are today living in this country by people, whom at the time were considered to be terrorist.

At the end of the second game the main character says to another character “find something to believe in, and find it for yourself, then pass it on to the future.” (Snake) this quote is a pretty straight forward quote, but at the same time it’s a very strong and meaningful quote. Anyone can think of a belief to fight for, but to actually fight for it, not let anyone tell you otherwise, and to pass it on to the future so that it impacts the world in a positive way is an entire different thing.

From playing the entire game series I have learned many things from it, but learning to be strong, to fight for what you believe in, and not let anyone push you around and tell you that you can’t, is the thing I take most from the game. It is very meaningful to me because today although a lot of people have different beliefs, whether it’s about religion, sexuality, justice, or anything else, many of them don’t actually fight for it. They let the government, or social norms control them and tell them that they can’t believe in it. It’s reasons like this why the world is so broken, why there is so much corruption, it’s because no one will stand up and fight for what they think is right. It’s just like the domino effect, if one person stands up for what they believe in then others will start to stand up for what they believe in as well. It just takes one person to change the world, whether it’s for good, like the America’s independence from Britain, or bad, like the holocaust, is entirely up to you.