Comments on: Aurora’s Joker and Our Passive Consumption of Violence

By: ollwenjones

ollwenjones — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:23:20 +0000

I think that for the most part the super-hero genre works because it plays into your innate human thirst for justice. For me at least it’s not a passive consumption of violence, it’s an active one, and maybe that’s worse in some ways. To be so exhilaratingly engaged in a violent struggle for justice and the salvation of the innocent. I think these urges are part of who we are, and I think at best can point to the person of Christ, the one who suffered heroically to save the (guilty) helpless (we).

On the flip side, the super-hero genre is also shamelessly humanistic. There’s injustice, and who can solve the problems? A few really fantastic human persons. Not to say there is no good inspiration there, but it does exalt humanity in the ideas of the personal pursuit of justice, and the glorification of personal power towards that end. These are not concepts that a true pacifist should revel in.

So in a way, the objection to conflict on a national level amidst the enjoyment of personal justice via violence is upside down. Much as it’s been abused, Romans 13 urges us away from seeking personal justice (Romans 12), because the sword of Justice has been given by God (to a degree) to the State. If the State is to enforce justice in criminal matters, it’s not a huge extrapolation for me to suggest that the State should also be engaged in enforcing justice on an international level. Not that it’s ever cut and dry.

Back in undergrad I did a research paper on the effects of violent media and came across a study that showed a pretty strong correlation in developing nations between the availability of TVs and violent content and an increase in violent crime. That media has a real impact on a cultures expectation, and acceptance of violence.

Another angle is that who considers and manages the effect of violent entertainment on the unstable?

What else does our ability to have a diet of this stuff indicate about our culture?

By: ollwenjones

ollwenjones — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:41:21 +0000

I think your response here is potentially misleading. Jesus wasn’t promoting a passive resistance to the current military and political powers with his comments about turning the cheek and walking the extra mile. Jesus was promoting person-to-person peace and the advancement of God’s kingdom through shocking acts of peace and love. If lived out consistently on broadening scale, then those teachings would ultimately undermine both governments, but it wasn’t the immediate goal the way it was the goal of passive resistance by subsequent leaders like Gandhi or M.L.K. Jr.

By: Chris Morton

Chris Morton — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 03:55:00 +0000

Great questions @Jác.

By desensitization, I am referring to the lack of ability to recognize something for what it is. It’s like how no one likes the taste of beer when they start, but over time they are “desensitized” to its bitterness.

As far as the Sermon on the Mount, I really like your description. Keep in mind, 1st Century Palestine was ruled over by a violent, imperialistic foreign regime, and managed by a puppet government of religious elites. Jesus’s teachings provide a method of resistance that stands in stark contrast to those of his revolutionary contemporaries. But it still got him killed…

By: Jác

Jác — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Quick entry. I would like to read more. Do you happen to mean “desensitized”? I also would like to know more about what occurred at “The sermon on the mount”. Was there some sort of upheaval that Jesus was calming?