Sunday, July 27, 2008

Bat-Smacked

The following WSJ column by Andrew Klavan is so bizarre I hesitate to even post it here, but its mere title (“What Bush and Batman Have In Common”) so defies reality, much less logical thinking, that I figured I’d do it anyhow.

As Mr. Klavan so hamhandedly puts it: “[When] our artistic community is ready to show that sometimes men must kill in order to preserve life; that sometimes they must violate their values in order to maintain those values; and that while movie stars may strut in the bright light of our adulation for pretending to be heroes, true heroes often must slink in the shadows, slump-shouldered and despised -- then and only then will we be able to pay President Bush his due and make good and true films about the war on terror.”

Wow, I am so fucking gobsmacked – especially when Klavan fails to note that “TDK” also contains scenes warning against the use of god-like technologies marketed as having the public’s safety at heart while steamrolling privacy rights. Further, it strikes me that George W. Bush’s record of ignoring the constitution, having total disregard for the law, allowing torture, and starting wars for political expediency are also actions that a certain hero-guy would likely shatter more than one jaw with a boot to the face to prevent.

So in the final wash, what does this tell us?

a) Andrew Klavan spins a creative—if deeply flawed—core thesis, and; b) his reading of Batman (and apparently American politics) is disturbingly skewed to the arch-right, whose—despite Bush’s historically low public approval ratings—last, stalwart defenders continue to hope beyond hope that their own hero will (like Truman) one day be vindicated by history as a great president.

Not bloody likely, boys.

But while you’re waiting for history to come around to your way of thinking, maybe you should all get together with the three remaining members of The Flat Earth Society—of which, ironically, Bush is a charter member—to drown your sorrows, and bitch about how nobody knows the troubles you’ve seen but Jesus.

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