Dark Knight- World without Rules

Finally watched Batman: The Dark Knight today. I must say.. I'm extremely impressed with the movie. Some very deep themes and ideas runs through the core of movie, making it a real good food for afterthoughts.

Sad to say.. some of the Joker's ideas are damn right indeed, if not a little warped. You've got people trying to shape the entire world with their bare hands, be it through raw power or in nowadays terms- through policies. Well, the intention may be good, to rid the world of some perceived evil. The problem is that, nature does not like that. You gotta take a lot of extra energy to push against the natural flow. Where is this extra power going to come from? Of course, you got to consolidate energies, power and influence around you. Concentrate power in your hands. Which in today's context, means people like the government, the military. Concentration of power is never good, because the person using it is never in a infallible position. Too much power is a bad thing so they say, for people are easily corrupted by it. Even in the hands of a really do-gooder person, you cannot guarantee that the person makes the right decision forever. And if he ever makes the wrong decisions, the results are going to be catastrophic.

Secondary, is the idea of world with too much rules. Such a world is restrictive. Bogged down by all the bureaucratic red tape. To get anything done at all, or sometimes to achieve in breakthrough, one needs to break the rules. But if everyone is breaking rules, then the world would be in complete chaos, in full anarchy. Clearly, the answer to this lies somewhere in between. Where exactly is uncertain and fuzzy. But we are sure we need a mix of people who break rules, and people who follow rules. Rules are not so much rigidly carved in stone, but should be treated more like flexible guidelines, to be changed when circumstances change.

Thirdly is the idea of whether the ends justifies the means. If in trying all out to root out wrong-doing, you end up breaking so much rules and doing so much wrong-doing yourself.. is your end still justified? In trying to track down a murderer, you kill several people along the way to reach the guy, is it worth it? Is it even right? We dunno.. and may probably never really know.

Lastly, people will always only see decisions that makes things go right for themselves favourably. Painful decisions even if right, are never seen favorably. A person making decisions for the rest need to take into mind that you are hero if your right decisions goes well with them, but an unwanted outcast if you make a painful decision even if its the right one. Who will guard the guards? Only one that is infallible and incorruptible, one who can always be counted upon to take the right decision even if its the painful one, one who has no personal vested interests concerned in making particular decisions. Does such a guard exist? Perhaps only in Marvel's comic books.

When I was in Burma, a long time ago, my friends and I were working for the local Government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders, bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. We were asked to take care of the problem, so we started looking for the stones. But after six months, we couldn't find anyone who had traded with him. One day I found a child playing with a ruby as big as a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing the stones away.

Then why steal them?

Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

...

Did you ever catch that bandit in Burma?

Eventually, yes.

How?

...we burned the forest down.