In 1966, at the age of seven, I discovered Batman. A lot of
people did. In fact, I doubt there was a person in America who hadn’t at least
heard of Batman by the end of 1966. Batmania was, after all, the “in” thing. It
was “happening!” Batman had, by that point, been around for 27 years. Having
appeared in comic books and strips, in movie serials and on radio, the
character had just about run its course when an early sixties modernization was
given him in hopes of picking up sales. Whatever long term effects that move
might have had we’ll never know since the BATMAN TV series came along and
suddenly The Caped Crusader skyrocketed to become DC’s hottest property.
I loved Batman. The TV one was a lot different from the
comics one but I embraced both because in both cases, he was portrayed as a
good man trying to help people both within and, where necessary, around the
system. There was no question. Batman was a good guy. A good man. Comic books
have always gotten blamed for a lot but let’s give credit where credit’s
due---My concepts of right and wrong and the importance of helping people came
as much from reading comic books as anything else.
It would be decades later before I paid the least bit of
attention to the political and social opinions of the authors, opinions that
colored each and every story to one extent or another, especially as we entered
the age of “relevance” in the early seventies. Some of my favorite writers and
artists were quite conservative, others very liberal and a few bordered on anarchists.
But they all shaped my opinions. On everything. Oh, I read other things, too. I
read lots of other things. By age 9 I was getting my books from the adult
section of the Public Library. But the comics were always there. Batman was
always there.
But…this isn’t about Batman.
This is about tragedy. Overnight last night, a dozen people
were gunned down in Colorado and many, many more shot and injured when all they
wanted to do was watch Batman. People all over the country attended similar
midnight showings but the only one we will ever think of now is the one in
Aurora, Colorado.
I don’t know their religions, their races, their political
parties…and I don’t fucking care! They died and so I mourn.
“What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?”
wrote Neil Young famously in response to 1970’s Kent State shootings. That
lyric kept resonating in my head today. I didn’t know any of these people out
there…and yet in a way I did. They wouldn’t have been there if they didn’t love
Batman. The character has changed so very, very much since those innocent days
of 1966 but at his core, he’s still the hero, fighting the good fight against
impossible odds. Everyone in that
theater, young and old, at some point discovered Batman and were inspired by
his heroism in some way. These were my people. Kindred spirits.
But…this isn’t about Batman.
As of this writing, there are still a thousand pieces of
this story being slowly assembled. We know little beyond some basic facts, the
most important of which is that so many were killed or wounded. We owe them and
their families respect.
I feel for the young man who did all this. What would drive
a person to such madness? Unlike many of these cases, he is alive and in
custody and I’m sure extensive mental testing will take place, undoubtedly
beaten to the public consciousness by the myriad fingers pointing at liberals,
conservatives, gun nuts, gun control advocates, comic books, movies, video
games…and Batman.
But…this isn’t about Batman.
This is about what in our society drives people to such
hopelessness as to commit this or any of the other nightmarish crimes one reads
about in the news these days. This is about the evil (and yes, I’ll stick with
that word, thank you) forces who lobby for their own political and financial ends
at the expense of humanity! This is about the elected officials who
consistently act like uneducated morons when lying to the public about how the
Government wants to take away their guns and how affordable health care is a
major blow to the fundamental freedoms at the very core of our Constitution.
This is about the hypocritical idiots who publicly revel in their stunningly evil political
victories when they should be working daily to give us safer gun laws and mental and physical
health care. This is about elected officials who don’t seem to know or care about the
difference between right and wrong and have no desire whatsoever to help
Americans in need. And then spin it all to look like it's the other side's fault.
Maybe this IS about Batman. If only our Congressmen had read
it like I did---like all of those victims of last night’s shooting presumably
did—if only the insane commenters on talk radio and the internet today had read
Batman...then maybe they’d realize that what they’re all doing is NOT the right
thing to do and it certainly isn’t helping anyone.
This country needs some big changes all right…and it needs
to start with people developing some basic understandings of the concepts of
what’s right and what’s wrong…and why helping your fellow man is always the
right choice.
If this isn't about Batman, maybe it should be.
(Feel free to comment at length if you must but I’m not
going to publish any and I may not even read them, either. This isn’t a public
forum. It’s MY forum and I just had to get this off my chest.)
