by Jesse Galef
Over the weekend, I saw the very disappointing movie Boondock Saints II. Where I found the first film original, clever, and fun to watch, the sequel was sadly lacking. But I’m not a movie critic; my focus is the glorification of vigilante justice present in our culture.
“And shepherds we shall be, for Thee, my Lord, for Thee.Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.”
I’m a big believer in the rule of law, so it was difficult for me to see the protagonists as heroes. Two admittedly cool Irish Catholics experience a religious vision and decide to take justice into their own hands, slaughtering “bad guys”. The killing is surrounded by religious imagery and symbolism, from the prayer the brothers say before assassinating their victim to the rosaries they wear.
They generally target mobsters, but at one point they make a spur-of-the-moment decision to shoot two other men in an adult entertainment parlor. How is this behavior to glorify?
It is arrogant to assume that you know all the facts. It is borderline psychotic to assume that you have the authority and judgment to administer lethal justice yourself. The brothers were clearly partly motivated by religion, but there are countless similar stories without it playing a part.
Other Questionable Heroes
Come! Break the law for us!The same line of thinking applies to other cultural heroes glorified in our society. In Batman Begins, it’s a mitigating factor that the people of Gotham City have no power in their government. Mobsters have bought the justice system and will never be investigated. But Bruce Wayne commits assault, destroys property, invades people’s privacy, and generally breaks laws to help send the mobsters to jail. No, he never killed anyone, but he still took the law into his own hands. Should he serve as a role model?
What’s worse is that the police force regularly calls for Bruce Wayne’s involvement in the stories because he can disregard the laws they swore to follow. The police need search warrants, arrest warrants, and need to be careful of excessive violence. Not so for Bruce Wayne. Instead of respecting those rights, the police outsource their lawbreaking.
A source of problems is that the audience has the special position of “knowing” that the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good. Anything the good guys do must be good by definition! When these ideas seep into the cultural consciousness, it perverts the careful, nuanced approach we’ve developed.
For example: we now have people in America believing that extreme executive power should be legal in the war on terror because they watch it work on 24. I remember a particular 2006 episode of the Bill Maher show in which The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore said that he supported a bill because it created “Jack Bauer justice… This guy knows how to interrogate people!” He was serious. Bill interjected with “You do realize it’s a TV show?” and Barney Frank did a great job refuting the argument (watch the exchange at OneGoodMove.org). He was willing to grant the President extreme power because he saw it work out well in a fictional TV show.
Rule of law should be promoted, not dismissed in our cultural myths. As much as I love Batman, extralegal vigilante crime-fighters should not be among our revered icons. What do you think their place should be in our culture?
(The graphic novel Watchmen does an incredible job exploring these issues from the other side, if you’re interested.)
Facts are fun! …
A lucky charm I made in college: card laminated with a 4-leaf clover
“They laugh now, but within 10 years the city’s entire criminal class will have quit to work on space research.”
How does a man recover from publicly first condemning homosexuality in front of thousands and then being caught in a meth-crazed sexual affair with another man? I don’t know either, but if you have ideas I’m sure Ted Haggard would love to hear them.







