Every so often, I say the words that bring a shudder to all who know me and make the hairs on Beerslinger’s neck stand on end. Those words are “So, I’ve been thinking…”

See, it’s a well-known and well-documented fact that when I get to thinking in-depth about certain subjects I tend to get… well, broody. (Also, you can throw in such adjectives as “pissy, depressed and in a general funk.”)

Well, that was my weekend. The excitement of my weekend came from shopping around for a replacement DVD player as my former model had begun to go out. That took up most of my day yesterday- well, that and watching Smallville’s second season. This is in fact where my thoughts from tonight came from.

See, I was watching the show and realized that I’m a much bigger fan of Lex on that show than I am a fan of the show’s main protagonist, Clark Kent. I think I figured out why, too. It’s the same reason why I’m a bigger fan of Batman than I am of Superman.

There are two types of superheroes in comics- those that see the world in black and white, good and evil, and those who see the world for the shades of gray that it contains. That one difference defines and differentiates your basic superheroes. It’s what separates Batman from Superman, Wolverine from Cyclops and Rupert Giles from Merrick. (Hey, it’s an arcane reference to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie! Whedon would be so proud…)

It also defines the separation between standard villians from classic villians. Sure, the Joker is the archnemesis of Batman. But he’s nowhere as interesting as Lex Luthor is to the Superman mythos. The reason why (in my own humble opinion) is that the Joker is just straight-up, complete evil. He’s fricking psycho. Lex Luthor, on the other hand, is a businessman and respected figure in Metropolis (oh yeah, and President in current comics continuity) who happens to be Superman’s biggest enemy. The difference between the two is that Joker can only see the world from one viewpoint, whereas Luthor sees the shades of gray.

(Follow me here, folks, I’m getting to something here.)

I think that this difference can also be seen in today’s real world. It’s “good/evil” as opposed to moral relativism. It’s the difference between just calling your enemy “the evildoers” and looking deeper to better understand them, how they tick and how they can be willing to do what any sane person would consider acts of pure savagery.

Post-9/11, this has become something of a quandary for me. I listen to those at the head of government (and whom I have voted for) take the stance that those whom have committed such heinous acts are “the evildoers” who need to be brought to justice, no questions asked whatsoever. The part of me that has long yearned for a simpler worldview attempts to placate itself with that.

The part of me that questions everything- authority included- says to itself “Hey, come on. There’s much more to this than simply calling them evil. What can possess a person to do what was done on that day and still allow them to sleep at night?”

Before you say it- no, I’m not equating an act of terrorism to a shade of gray. Flying planes into buildings cannot be rationalized by a sane person, and even thinking that this is an option tends to show that the tin-foil antenna attached to your brain is picking up some heavy interference.

The problem is that somewhere along the way to where I am in life, my viewpoint changed from “We’re the good guys and they’re the bad guys.” Nowadays, I see that while there are indeed good guys and bad guys sometimes the good guys have to get their hands dirty and sometimes the bad guys can clean theirs.

I still know we’re a force for good in the world, for the most part. I can still figure out that some options leadershipwise are better than others- hence, me voting the way I did this year. However, I still can’t seem to shake off the gray no matter how much I try.

Makes me long for the simpler days when I knew who the bad guys were, when we were the undisputed good guys across the globe and when Superman was my favorite. And to think- all this from me watching a show on the friggin’ WB.

God, I hate thinking sometimes.

Out.

Posted in General |

This entry was posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2004 at 2:40 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.