Why is "Hakuna Matata" the worst motto ever created?

Why is “Hakuna Matata” the worst motto ever created?

“The Lion King”. What would popular culture be like without “The Lion King”? It is, arguably, one of Disney’s best animation movies. Vaguely inspired in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and with some Elton John songs as its soundtrack, this film has provided us with iconic characters like Muphasa, Pumba and Simba and it has shaped our way of approaching the difficulties of life with a memorable motto, “Hakuna Matata”. And in the next few minutes I am going to prove the absurdity of that quote. And I am going to answer the question: why is “Hakuna Matata” the worst motto ever created? I would like to add that I do not necessarily agree with this view, but as a philosopher I must present arguments against this saying. 

Firstly, I would like to clarify what we mean by “Hakuna Matata”. This expression is a short-hand form of saying: “No worries for the rest of your days”. It has now evolved into the famous phrase in Spanish “NTR: No te rayes”. 

As a moral principle, “Hakuna Matata” is essentially flawed because it is not pragmatic, since it actually does not eliminate the problems somebody is facing. Let’s take for example Simba’s case. Does “Hakuna Matata” help him defeat his uncle Scar? Of course it doesn’t. Instead, this famous motto has only delayed Simba’s problems and, what is more, it has created even more problems. It is because of “Hakuna Matata” that Simba spends half of the film doing nothing while his family is being oppressed by Scar’s regime. “Hakuna Matata” seems to be, rather, the opium of the people. It is a way of creating the illusion that things are going well, when, in fact, that is not the case. It leads us to the delusion of optimism no matter what by updating Leibniz’s principle of “metaphysical optimism”. This view was questioned by Voltaire in his famous book “Candide” and it only takes one possibly and collectively “better” situation to disprove Leibniz’s argument. My point is that eluding responsibilities does not eradicate them.

Secondly, let’s consider “Hakuna Matata”’s failure as a basis of social philosophy and as a philosophy of life. This famous motto seems to contradict the basis of the Modern Western world and the idea of political freedom. Nowadays there is a common-sense rule that controls our perception of duty. That rule boils down to the proposition: “People have rights and responsibilities” like the UN state. By ignoring half of that statement “Hakuna Matata” is building up a society full of rights and with no responsibilities. Therefore, if we generalise this principle, an entire civilization based on the Disney motto would eventually perish because nobody would do anything to ensure the survival of the community. That is the case because “Hakuna Matata” is also ignoring the argument presented by the Prisoner’s dilemma, which says that we are all better off if we cooperate. And recent scientific research based on evolution has, in fact, proved that the Prisoner’s dilemma is correct. What is more, as a philosophy of life, it tells how I should live but it tells me nothing about how everybody else should act and, in addition, “Hakuna Matata” is not giving me an answer as to how I should interact with other people and it ignores J.S. Mill’s point on “the harm principle”. Essentially, I could kill someone and elude my responsibility to answer for my crime and, therefore “Hakuna Matata” would be smashing any kind of moral law. Overall, "Hakuna Matata" is an extremely selfish way of approaching life.

To conclude, I have demonstrated 3 philosophical aspects in which “Hakuna Matata” fails as a motto. And so, “Hakuna Matata”?