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Letters
Letters
Heroes, Hatred & Human Rights • Credit Where It’s Due • Machine Of The Heart • Switching Glasses
Heroes, Hatred & Human Rights
DEAR EDITOR: I very much enjoyed Issue 73 of Philosophy Now, and whilst not a comics reader or superhero fan, nevertheless I found the related articles interesting reading. I was particularly struck by ToddWalters’ review of the recent Batman film (which I have not seen), and his wise conclusion that in times of crisis we must ask “how to reconcile order which is not oppression with freedom which is not license.”
Unfortunately, the review was rather spoiled for me by the nonsense about hatred he endorsed.Walters’ first praised the Batman films for their exploration of moral ambiguity, but then he began to spout reductionist nonsense which appeared to support an over-simplified Good Guys vs Bad Guys worldview. His citing of Berman’s thesis that all hatred is the result of an ‘irrational paroxysm’, and his conclusion that “The wildest of hatreds do not need a cause outside of ourselves” is unhistorical, patronising and downright dangerous.
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