As a kid I realised the world had no Santa Claus, no dragons and no Batman. The first two made me feel safer - after all, the chances of getting flamed on the way to school or worse, being on a Naughty List, dropped significantly. Jews don't like being on anyone's list. No Batman did not make me feel the world was more dangerous or that my life was more imperiled. No Batman meant no Joker, no super villains and the ordinary bastards who would try to screw up my life would certainly be handled by the local authorities, right?
The problem is that Batman came about from a world where people looked the other way.Prohibition led to famous criminals who were worshiped by otherwise law abiding members of the populace. This led to crime being perpetrated and ignored by citizens and police. These crimes could be small or big but they always left victims, many of whom were too scared to do anything about it or more likely reported events but were ignored by the local authorities.
When you have a society where crime is tolerated you cannot call it civilized. You must look at it as a test of your moral nature. Are you the kid in class who stops the bully and stands next to the wimp in class, or are you the kid who is happy to chant and jeer with the masses? Are you a Nazi sympathiser or a member of the Resistance? At what point do you stand up and say ' this is unacceptable.' Turning your eyes away from a situation that you find intolerable surely makes you intolerable in your own eyes. A famous philosopher once said 'Do not do to others that which you do not want done to yourself.' Another said 'love thy Neighbour'. Both are major tenets of religions that preach acts of loving Kindness. Surely it is to their credit and to our own to stand up for those who need help.
Furthermore if there are those whose job is to keep the peace, they should not take that as a sign they should smooth things over. Rather they should get rid of the things that cause unrest. I am all for living in a pluralist society but when elements wish to act in a manner not concurrent with that philosophy they should of course be treated with punishment. When you let it slide, smooth things over, pretend it is not a problem, then you are failing in your job and failing as a human.
So let's imagine we all live in a foreign country with foreign laws and foreign culture. Let's imagine you see a crime performed on an innocent and it jars with your own code. Do you say it is their society and therefore acceptable or do you say we are all the same and should be treated to the same standard? Do you intervene knowing it could reflect badly upon you in the eyes of the culture you are living in, knowing but not caring because you are the one who has to look themselves in the mirror. Or do you let it slide?
Batman was just a man, can't we be the same? Happy New Year.
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