(no subject)
I don't get why people like Batman so much. Yeah he's cool and he kicks a lot of ass...
But he's personally responsible for death on scales that place him firmly in the "evil" category. Edmud Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." As far as I am concerned, one is NOT good if one does nothing. In my opinion, if one does nothing in the face of evil, one is complicit in that evil. If someone passes by a mugging or rape and does nothing, even out of fear, then that person might as well be holding the gun as well. If one has the chance to end the reign of terror of a horrible villain and fails to do so, then that person is responsible for every life damaged or lost from that point on.
And Batman fits firmly into this category. Thanks to his failed philosophy, he continually allows villains to commit murder, torture, and other atrocities because he is against a final solution.
Admittedly, this would sort of make a recurring villain counter to Batman's continued efficacy, and wouldn't be good for the continuation of the story, but come on! Why the love? This applies to every single "hero" who won't commit to a final solution. I get where they're coming from. I wouldn't want someone to go about willy-nilly, killing off people who piss them off, but holding them up as paragons of justice is just silly.
This is exactly why I love Tennant's Doctor Who. While he will forgive and even aid the villain if the villain takes the one chance that he gives it to cease the evil activities, he will not hesitate to take all the action necessary to end that villain's crimes in a final solution that usually fits the crime. I've seen people whinge about his committing genocide against the last of a race of spider-like organisms in The Runaway Bride, but he gave the villain every chance to change her mind and take his offer of relocation to a suitable planet uninfested with sentients. She refused and even insulted his offer. He took action, and the race is dead. If he hadn't, humanity would have expired, and that would have just been the beginning.
"No second chances. I'm that sort of a man."
- Dr. Who, The Christmas Invasion (after slaying the leader of the Sycorax with a citrus fruit)
"He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing - the fury of the Time Lord - and then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he had run away from us and hidden... He was being kind.
He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there, forever. He still visits my sister, once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her, but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror. Every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you just for a second, that's her. That's always her. As for me, I was suspended in time and the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England, as their protector. We wanted to live forever. So the Doctor made sure we did."
- Baines, Family of Blood
But he's personally responsible for death on scales that place him firmly in the "evil" category. Edmud Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." As far as I am concerned, one is NOT good if one does nothing. In my opinion, if one does nothing in the face of evil, one is complicit in that evil. If someone passes by a mugging or rape and does nothing, even out of fear, then that person might as well be holding the gun as well. If one has the chance to end the reign of terror of a horrible villain and fails to do so, then that person is responsible for every life damaged or lost from that point on.
And Batman fits firmly into this category. Thanks to his failed philosophy, he continually allows villains to commit murder, torture, and other atrocities because he is against a final solution.
Admittedly, this would sort of make a recurring villain counter to Batman's continued efficacy, and wouldn't be good for the continuation of the story, but come on! Why the love? This applies to every single "hero" who won't commit to a final solution. I get where they're coming from. I wouldn't want someone to go about willy-nilly, killing off people who piss them off, but holding them up as paragons of justice is just silly.
This is exactly why I love Tennant's Doctor Who. While he will forgive and even aid the villain if the villain takes the one chance that he gives it to cease the evil activities, he will not hesitate to take all the action necessary to end that villain's crimes in a final solution that usually fits the crime. I've seen people whinge about his committing genocide against the last of a race of spider-like organisms in The Runaway Bride, but he gave the villain every chance to change her mind and take his offer of relocation to a suitable planet uninfested with sentients. She refused and even insulted his offer. He took action, and the race is dead. If he hadn't, humanity would have expired, and that would have just been the beginning.
"No second chances. I'm that sort of a man."
- Dr. Who, The Christmas Invasion (after slaying the leader of the Sycorax with a citrus fruit)
"He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing - the fury of the Time Lord - and then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he had run away from us and hidden... He was being kind.
He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there, forever. He still visits my sister, once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her, but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror. Every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you just for a second, that's her. That's always her. As for me, I was suspended in time and the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England, as their protector. We wanted to live forever. So the Doctor made sure we did."
- Baines, Family of Blood