We have people like the Joker who give us philosophical questions about our civilization but we’ve yet to see a billionaire use their infinite money and resources to dress up in a suit and mask, fight crime and build a fancy car or jet with exotic weapons to fight real life villains.
we’ve yet to see a billionaire use their infinite money and resources to dress up in a suit and mask, fight crime and build a fancy car or jet with exotic weapons to fight real life villains.
That’s a good thing, though. They may make for great movie and comic book fodder, but in real life, superheroes are pretty much just cops with fewer rules: rather than doing anything about the underlying causes of crime, they just beat up symptoms and theoretical bogeymen.
With his vast resources, Bruce Wayne could reduce crime by 75%+ by investing in prevention, but he prefers beating up people, most of whom are low level goons who probably turned to crime out of desperation, a lack of better options, or varying levels of coercion if not downright brainwashing by the main villains and their middle managers.
Batman would TOTALLY beat up a ton of entry level employees who AREN’T at fault as well as the CEO if insurance profiteering was illegal.
bruce wayne does in fact fight crime with money too. But it’s not enough, so he also needs to be the batman.
Yeah? What exactly does he spend on that diminishes the underlying causes of crime?
Does he provide housing for the unhoused?
Does he provide food for the food insecure?
Does his company provide a livable wage and reasonable benefits for every employee?
Does the hospital his dad worked at provide care that is free at the point of service?
Does he provide for schools with no cops to initiate the middle school to prison pipeline?
Does he pay for high quality pro bono legal aid for those who would otherwise be steamrolled by representatives of a system that incentivizes convictions regardless of guilt?
Or does he just cut a check to a Dickensian orphanage once in a while?
To be fair, the Joker was a psychopathic murderer. He wasn’t just laying out deep questions.
