there exists within media a CIA promoted ideal that the working people of a villainous organization don’t matter but the head of said organization is a rational and moral actor. when spider-man pummels 100 guards to get to kingpin and then has a conversation about ethics with kingpin and ultimately captures kingpin instead of breaking his spine the way he did those random goons it creates within the mind a pro-hierarchy understanding of the world that those goons were there to be pummeled but that kingpin has access to agency they don’t. a truly moral hero would enter the building, create a false dilemma for the guards to solve with their best solution being to leave the building for their own safety, and then beat up the guy with the most agency
Hell, this goes so much further back. I could draw a parallel to the Book of Exodus.
Moses is commanded by God to go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites. He does this by terrorizing the Egyptian populace, a populace that are under the total control of an absolute totalitarian ruler. They literally worship their king as a god. Imagine if Exodus had consisted of Moses telling Pharaoh:
“God says let my people go. If you don’t, tomorrow you’ll trip and break your left leg. If you don’t let them go, the next day you’ll break your right leg. The day after that you’ll break both your arms. The day after that you’ll die of a heart attack at high noon. These same conditions will apply to the next Pharaoh until my people are free.”
There. Moses accomplishes his mission, and the only person who has to get hurt is the only person that has any agency in the process. But no, instead God insists on terrorizing the innocent Egyptian populace instead.
Yes, obviously things like wars with non democratic states where the populace is not in favor of a war¹ should be ended with minimal collateral damage by doing whatever it takes to kill the guys in charge of stuff and spare as many conscripts as possible
But goon lives don’t matter. Zuckerberg’s personal security know what they’re doing. The NYPD know what they’re doing. I don’t see any moral issue with their deaths.
Sure, but you and I live by a different code of ethics than the characters who are shown mowing down goons without regard and then letting the head bad guy who manipulated all those goons live. That’s the part I’m saying is a problem. You either have to have a character enact a wholly non-violent solution to the problem, or you have to have the character murder their way up the org chart and confront the top bad guy with the same violence they confronted everyone else they encountered with. What we most often see in movies is a confirmation that those with power have power because they are supposed to, which is a fundamentally fascist world view
I don’t see the problem.
there exists within media a CIA promoted ideal that the working people of a villainous organization don’t matter but the head of said organization is a rational and moral actor. when spider-man pummels 100 guards to get to kingpin and then has a conversation about ethics with kingpin and ultimately captures kingpin instead of breaking his spine the way he did those random goons it creates within the mind a pro-hierarchy understanding of the world that those goons were there to be pummeled but that kingpin has access to agency they don’t. a truly moral hero would enter the building, create a false dilemma for the guards to solve with their best solution being to leave the building for their own safety, and then beat up the guy with the most agency
Hell, this goes so much further back. I could draw a parallel to the Book of Exodus.
Moses is commanded by God to go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites. He does this by terrorizing the Egyptian populace, a populace that are under the total control of an absolute totalitarian ruler. They literally worship their king as a god. Imagine if Exodus had consisted of Moses telling Pharaoh:
“God says let my people go. If you don’t, tomorrow you’ll trip and break your left leg. If you don’t let them go, the next day you’ll break your right leg. The day after that you’ll break both your arms. The day after that you’ll die of a heart attack at high noon. These same conditions will apply to the next Pharaoh until my people are free.”
There. Moses accomplishes his mission, and the only person who has to get hurt is the only person that has any agency in the process. But no, instead God insists on terrorizing the innocent Egyptian populace instead.
Yes, obviously things like wars with non democratic states where the populace is not in favor of a war¹ should be ended with minimal collateral damage by doing whatever it takes to kill the guys in charge of stuff and spare as many conscripts as possible
But goon lives don’t matter. Zuckerberg’s personal security know what they’re doing. The NYPD know what they’re doing. I don’t see any moral issue with their deaths.
¹so Russia but not the Zionists
Sure, but you and I live by a different code of ethics than the characters who are shown mowing down goons without regard and then letting the head bad guy who manipulated all those goons live. That’s the part I’m saying is a problem. You either have to have a character enact a wholly non-violent solution to the problem, or you have to have the character murder their way up the org chart and confront the top bad guy with the same violence they confronted everyone else they encountered with. What we most often see in movies is a confirmation that those with power have power because they are supposed to, which is a fundamentally fascist world view
They really tried that with Superman!
True, but I’m saying it makes a lot more sense to be okay with both than to oppose both, in current context