Plato

This article is about GritCult's view of Plato. For a general overview, see Plato on Wikipedia.

Plato
“Martial arts > what is currently taught as "philosophy". Memes borne out of Chaos and conflict are better…” (4 April 2019)
In the archive
Portal	The Philosophers
Posts	47
Retweets	109
Likes	805
First post	17 February 2018
Latest post	7 December 2023
Posts by year
201814
201911
20205
20218
20227
20232
Related
Aristotle Mike Tyson Goethe Socrates Christianity & God

Plato appears in 47 posts between 2018 and 2023. GritCult likes him best as a physical man, the wrestler who did philosophy, and uses him as proof that thought and combat belong together. Around that sit the allegory of the cave, the Republic's guardians and a much-reposted line about men who fear the light.

Views

His favourite claim about Plato is that the name came from the wrestling ring. 'Martial arts > what is currently taught as "philosophy"', he wrote in 2019, before adding that '"Plato" was his wrestling name' ^[1]. The idea recurs. He quoted Plato's warning that too much athletics makes men uncivilised while a purely literary training 'leaves men indecently soft' ^[2], and in 2021 urged readers to 'Be a warrior poet', concluding that 'The modern day Plato isn't an academic. It's Mike Tyson.' ^[3]. Academic philosophy, on this reading, has forgotten that it began among men who argued and grappled in the same afternoon.

Politically he reads Plato as a practical manual. In 2018 he proposed adapting the Republic's rule that guardians hold no property, 'Not as extreme but transparency in our elected officials' ^[4]. He glossed 'States are as the men are' as a reason to design institutions around the biological limits of the species, and he paired Plato with Aristotle more than once on the price of staying out of politics. The 2020 version, 'Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber' ^[5], is one of his best-received Plato posts.

The line he reposts most is a quote card about men who fear the light, 'THE REAL TRAGEDY OF LIFE IS WHEN MEN ARE AFRAID OF THE LIGHT' ^[6], posted in 2021, 2022 and 2023. It pairs naturally with his 2018 retelling of the cave, in which the escaped prisoner returns to free the others and they 'identify him as a threat, kill' ^[7]. For a student of memetics, Plato's survival is itself the lesson: 'The meme of plato has outlasted many internet memes' ^[8]. Alongside the earnest quote cards runs a lighter strand, from wondering what was written on Plato's tombstone to a greentext about reading Plato and denying being an intellectual.

Recurring themes

• the wrestler-philosopher
• warrior poet over academic
• politics ignored is politics lost
• the tragedy of fearing the light
• Plato as a long-lived meme

Notable post

The most retweeted GritCult post on the subject, with 17 retweets:

Selected posts

All 47 posts in the archive about Plato, ranked by retweets. Select a column heading to sort.

Date	Retweets	Likes	Post	Media	Source
5 August 2021	17	80	"WE CAN FORGIVE A CHILD WHO IS AFRAID OF THE DARK; THE REAL TRAGEDY OF LIFE IS WHEN MEN ARE AFRAID OF THE LIGHT." - PLATO		View
4 April 2019	16	81	Martial arts > what is currently taught as "philosophy". Memes borne out of Chaos and conflict are better suited to the human condition. "Plato" was his wrestling name.		View
7 December 2023	14	106	"WE CAN FORGIVE A CHILD WHO IS AFRAID OF THE DARK; THE REAL TRAGEDY OF LIFE IS WHEN MEN ARE AFRAID OF THE LIGHT." - PLATO		View
10 November 2020	8	97	Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. - Plato		View
11 December 2022	6	78	"WE CAN FORGIVE A CHILD WHO IS AFRAID OF THE DARK; THE REAL TRAGEDY OF LIFE IS WHEN MEN ARE AFRAID OF THE LIGHT." - PLATO		View
9 June 2021	6	35	ONLY THE DEAD HAVE SEEN THE END OF WAR. - PLATO		View
17 February 2018	5	23	Plato's republic. To safeguard against corruption the guardians or philosopher kings are not allowed their own property. They only recieve a basic living wage. We need to implement this. Not as extreme but transparency in our elected officials.		View
1 June 2023	4	27	TO BE PRISONERS TO YOUR OWN DESIRES IS OF ALL THINGS MOST SHAMEFUL AND VILE. PLATO		View
7 October 2019	4	17	"for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder." Socrates via Plato.		View
11 January 2021	3	46	man the human animal, has been evolved to be in constant motion. to be constantly exploring, moving forward. Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and physical exercise save it and preserve it. ~Plato		View
1 September 2021	3	13	YOUR SILENCE GIVES CONSENT PLATO		View
25 October 2021	3	13	ONLY THE DEAD HAVE SEEN THE END OF WAR. - PLATO		View
21 August 2018	3	7	“The penalty for not participating in politics is to be governed by your inferiors” plato “man is a political animal” aristotle focus on self, but biologically bound to humanity see stoic cosmopolitanism see roman duty social capital = honest signal		View
9 October 2018	3	7	“States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters.” — Plato we must take into account human and biological limits of the species at time when constructing or reshaping governance structure or institutional feedback loop nodes. time frame iteration - things change		View
24 July 2018	3	2	data on fatherlessness nested in another thread on the civilisational utility of marriage and its history and philosophers like plato naming it as the basis of society and civilisation		View
13 December 2022	2	35	By the time Plato visited Egypt. There were rumours of Atlantis existing 10000 years before the peak of Egypt. Plato writes about this. Peak of Egypt was around 6000 years ago. Pyramids are old af. Also all myths and legends are likely very true albeit a bit distorted		View
2 April 2019	2	9	"Excessive emphasis on athletics produces an excessively uncivilized type, while a purely literary training leaves men indecently soft." "...to ensure a proper harmony" -Plato (plato was his wrestling name)		View
14 June 2018	2	4	“The penalty for not participating in politics is to be governed by your inferiors” plato. “man is a political animal” aristotle		View
7 June 2022	1	15	TO BE PRISONERS TO YOUR OWN DESIRES IS OF ALL THINGS MOST SHAMEFUL AND VILE. PLATO		View
3 May 2018	1	4	Plato’s allegory a group, inside a cave, observe a series of shadows. A status system stabilizes based around a narrative. A prisoner escapes. Dazzled by the Outside, he returns to free the other prisoners. In darkness they identify him as a threat, kill.		View
2 March 2018	1	2	Thinking about love romatic love plato termed it eros and whther it exists. Its probably more akin to a choice in viewing those relationships more than anything else.		View
31 January 2019	1	1	@JamesPDowling @jdconners @MimeticValue @dopaminendreams No, @NOMADCULT because it is coming from the guy who reads Deleuze Goethe and Plato in my spare time, that I can say it's ALL bullshit. Watch good will hunting. It tackles this very thing. Everyone thinks they have the answer. I say fuck that.		View
7 February 2019	1	1	Memes are low entropy. The meme of plato has outlasted many internet memes. I'm not in it for a quick buck. If I was. I wouldn't be on twitter. I'd living my old life. 🤣		View
17 October 2022	0	26	Plato or Socrates or Aristotle didn’t read any books. They just talked with people on long strolls. Vibed and wrestled. And debated with the bros at the Lyceum. They were the original shitposters.		View
7 June 2021	0	12	Be a warrior poet. One example is Mike Tyson or Plato. Who wrestled as much as he did philosophy The modern day Plato isn’t an academic. It’s Mike Tyson.		View
30 May 2022	0	9	>reads Plato. > gets asked if he’s intellectual > says no > that’s why you’re reAding Plato		View
3 October 2020	0	8	my arguments for @Firas_Zahabi being the best modern day philosopher is mainly because he lives his philosophy, seems rather humble and trained GSP arguable the best MMA fighter ever lol martial arts is as close as philosophy as the ancients deemed. plato wrestled etc		View
7 December 2022	0	7	Worshipping the satanic altar of democracy leads us to tyranny always. Read Plato @MaajidNawaz		View
6 October 2018	0	6	Did Plato block Diogenes when he got trolled ? No. Blocking/muting people is not Lindy. You deal and troll back. Even more so in tribal and village societies. You had to cultivate your reputation and maintain civilities.		View
11 September 2021	0	6	I WONDER WHAT THEY WROTE ON PLATO’S TOMBSTONE.		View
27 December 2020	0	5	mimesis or girardians may say the desire comes from the mirror of fellow man memeticians say the desire for memes co-evolved alongside genes(my preferred view) even plato recognised this as the enthusiasm(or god) within. one thing is fairly certain, is that desire *exists*		View
28 February 2020	0	4	@Rory_prime @seriousgoofy Plato's cave		View
18 February 2019	0	3	@gxdarz It's why @AtlasResolved called memetics neo-platonic. Does the memespace, or even probability space exist.		View
27 October 2019	0	3	I wonder what they wrote on Plato’s tombstone.		View
25 March 2020	0	3	Was FaceTiming @SamadMajid He said : “Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato.”		View
7 September 2018	0	2	we may have progressed technologically since the industrial revolution the biggest revolution since the memetic neolithic revolution but have a solution to the allegory of the cave? or any older "problem" resulting in heuristic		View
7 November 2018	0	2	Plato. Shadows. => Abstracts.		View
19 June 2021	0	2	@Tom__Kuhn I saw this a long time ago Yeah it’s in Plato or something too. Hedonism vs eufaimonia		View
9 October 2018	0	1	@hughes71archie1 @Sociopathlete @JamesPDowling plato cos fuck him		View
31 January 2019	0	1	@fides_et_cancri @JamesPDowling @jdconners @MimeticValue @dopaminendreams @NOMADCULT So is the Bible. So is plato. So is twitter. Memes Memes memes. All the way down.		View
2 February 2019	0	1	@averykimball How many people you know are better than Plato ?		View
15 February 2019	0	1	@visakanv @romanhistory1 @TerenceMcKenna_ He had rejected Plato for valentine's Day unfortunately.		View
24 July 2018	0	0	@oldben15 or fascist dictator advocate depends on your reading of plato but if youre familiar with my threads on Aristotle you will know he is probably my favourite philosopher		View
1 August 2018	0	0	@AbdxlA contracts more so premarital sex fitna and zinnah(which includes holding hands and talking hours on end on the phone and more to sex) "no such thing as a platonic relationship with the opposite gender"		View
16 August 2018	0	0	@seunn99 behaviorism, associationism, psychoanalysis, social psychology, and structuralism stems from Plato and Aristotle especially with memories carried on by John Locke, David Hume, David Hartley, and James Mill memory, learning, and the study of neural pathways shoemaker....		View
28 October 2019	0	0	@Horkosianist Plato wasn’t his real name is why I’m interested		View
16 October 2022	0	0	@ladyphelma “Hi I am lady phelma of Elysium” - Plato		View

History

GritCult first posted about Plato on 17 February 2018, and most recently on 7 December 2023. Across the archive the subject comes up 47 times, most often in 2018 (14 posts).

See also

The Philosophers portal

References

1. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (4 April 2019). Martial arts > what is currently taught as "philosophy". ... "Plato" was his wrestling name. X.
2. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (2 April 2019). while a purely literary training leaves men indecently soft. X.
3. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (7 June 2021). Be a warrior poet. ... The modern day Plato isn't an academic. It's Mike Tyson. X.
4. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (17 February 2018). Not as extreme but transparency in our elected officials. X.
5. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (10 November 2020). Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. X.
6. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (5 August 2021). THE REAL TRAGEDY OF LIFE IS WHEN MEN ARE AFRAID OF THE LIGHT. X.
7. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (3 May 2018). In darkness they identify him as a threat, kill. X.
8. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (7 February 2019). The meme of plato has outlasted many internet memes. X.

External links

• Posts about Plato by GRITCULT on X
• Plato on Wikipedia