by Sari Krosinsky
Daily Lobo columnist
A “Daredevil” debate raged behind the scenes while I was trying to write my rebuttal to Angela “Mad Dog” Williams.
Part of this debate centered on the question of whether the movie version of Daredevil had a dark side or was just psychotic. The question arose primarily from a scene in which Daredevil emphatically disclaims being “the bad guy.” Being a violent fellow who is trying to fight for good, he had to wonder.
I’d say that fear of being the bad guy is a pretty common phenomenon, one that pops up in every walk of life. Let’s take the media, for example. A lot of people on all sides of the political spectrum think that mainstream media are evil. Most of the reporters I’ve known — or the good ones, at least — are well intentioned and believe that they’re trying to do something right and necessary. But when it comes to attacks on the media, most of them are inclined to respond by saying — one way or another — that they’re not the bad guys. It can’t be an easy thing to attempt to write unbiased articles that one might prefer to openly oppose or support, or to print articles that expose things others may wish to keep secret.
How about another profession, say, teaching? I want to teach writing to help people find and develop their ability to express themselves. Sounds like a pretty decent goal, right? Yet I know that even at the college level, most students aren’t taking classes because they want to take them; they’re taking classes because they want a degree. Even if people come out of a class feeling like they’ve gotten something useful or desirable, they’re only submitting to sitting through it in the first place because they have to. My intentions in wanting to teach are good, but the methods — because they are inherently coercive — are not so good.
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Even when I was working full time as a student organizer, my ethics were a mixed bag. Getting a freeze on tuition and increased funding for financial aid and equal opportunity programs was definitely a good thing; schmoozing legislators and bureaucrats was definitely not. Though I did the best I could with the means available to me, I couldn’t help but feel that by cooperating with the government, I was making myself the bad guy.
Ethical questions aren’t confined to employment. Let’s look at something more fundamental: having children. My immediate inclination is to say that creating and fostering life are good things. I’m certainly grateful to my parents for creating and fostering me. On the other hand, you can’t really have a kid these days without at least thinking about the difficulties that child is going to face — the declining environment, strained resources, little if any Social Security, war, violence and bigotry, to name a few. The social conditions we live in make even this most elemental human choice an ethical quandary.
Can anyone go through life without wondering, at least every now and then, “Could I be the bad guy?” The most mundane events and relationships — work, school, family, friends, the guy on the corner asking for change — are rife with opportunities to do the wrong thing. And for too many of our decisions, it’s not clear that any choice will lead to the right thing.
You don’t have to be a costumed vigilante to worry about becoming the bad guy. You just have to be aware of the limits placed on us and have enough compassion to want to do better.
Send your secret superhero identity to Sari Krosinsky at michal_kro@hotmail.com.
