Quit Being Your Own Archenemy

Explanations and illustrations of crime and fear combine important elements of the morality tale using the classical relationship between symbols of good and evil. Considered as a universal part of our human condition, this conflict is often a battle between individuals and ideologies while other battles explore the inner struggles faced by one person where it is manifested in behaviors both good and bad. While we can explore criminality and deviant behavior in their totality, the identification of violent crime and its fear-based predecessor is important in realizing the rich symbolism we assign to heroes and villains.

This dichotomy poses significant trials for us as we must constantly reaffirm our own values and morals while working within a paradoxical universe. Our front-line assault against evil is woven into our own personal feelings about crime and victimization, and we often experience and use others' behaviors (a minister, cop, fireman, teacher, or family member) as a larger manifestation of "the right thing/wrong thing to do." Acknowledging human greatness as a value means surrounding yourself with people who can help you become who you already are!

In one scene from the 2005 film, Batman Begins, Batman is about to spring from a rooftop for battle before he's questioned by secret love-interest, Rachel Dawes. She says to him, "Wait! You may die. At least tell me your name." He replies, "It's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me." Remembering, now, that she had made the same retort to her friend Bruce Wayne many years ago, Rachel smiles in affirmation and in answering her question.

This gut check also forms the context of the good vs. evil motif drawn from our hero experiences. Through this lens, modern day society and its societal archenemies will always be juxtaposed into the hero-nemesis archetype, much like we see with soldiers and terrorists, cops and robbers, angels and demons or even Superman and General Zod.

Arthur Schopenhauer once said that man is, at bottom, a wild animal and that we know this wild animal only in the tamed state called civilization. He expressed that we are shocked by outbreaks of man's true nature but if and when the bolt and bars of the civilization fall apart and anarchy supervenes, mankind reveals itself for what it is (Hollingdale, 1970).

References and Recommended Reading:

Hollingdale, R.J. (1970). Arthur Schopenhauer: Essays and aphorisms (trans.). PenguinBooks: London.

Copyright © by Brian A. Kinnaird