Behind The Laughter

I had the luxury of watching Glenn Beck this morning on CNN.  Well, not so much “luxury” as much as “unfortunate experience”, but I digress.

Ye olde Beck was discussing the merits of The Dark Knight (yea!) and how it was a direct parallel to the War On Terror (noo!). You see, Glenn was extolling the virtues of Batman’s “whatever it takes to stop evil” attitude and his contentment with being the villain for the sake of the greater good, and how it was very much like George W. Bush’s actions during the Global Struggle Against Radical Extremism. But alas Glenn, these are not the same things.

Let me count the ways:

1. The Dark Knight is a movie. When Batman breaks the law, he breaks a movie law. When Batman spies on people, he is spying on movie people. Get it?  It is fake. Unlike in the real world, where Mr. Bush positions mis-information to the People of the United States and makes a fake case for a war with Iraq and where Mr. Bush allows warrant-less wiretapping of United States Citizens that hasn’t yielded any useful information.  Hmm, not seeing a parallel.
2. Batman has a long and storied past.  I mean, c’mon, he was “born” in May 1939.  Batman has a well-known history of fighting crime on the streets of Gotham City and has occasionally “crossed the line” between right and wrong in order to stop criminals.  The earliest examples of this are way back in 1988 during Batman: The Killing Joke and A Death In The Family (where Robin II dies at the hands of the Joker).  Using “new” math, I deduced that 1988 came well before 2001 (when the War On Terror was, at least publicly, conceived).
3. If I understand the movie correctly and draw the supposed parallels that Glenn (Frey, The Heat Is On) Beck eludes to, Batman is George Walker Bush and the Joker is “The Terrorists”.  Ok, let’s go with that.  Well, then I have to give some props to Batman for identifying the actual villain and apprehending him.  Contrast that to the real story of Mr. Bush’s failed attempt at going after Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq (which had none) and, in seven years since the War On Terror began, failed to apprehend anything.  Though, I will give him credit for ousting Saddam Hussein, destabilizing Iraq, indirectly making Iran a player of greater importance and creating more terrorist organizations wanting to bring harm to the US.  Well done Batman; not so much President Bush.
4. I’m sure there are more things I could say here, but honestly, I’m getting too worked up to continue.

Finally, I must say, shame on you CNN.  You are the Cable News Network.  Not the Cable Opinion Network, a la Fox, and I use the term loosely, News.  If you are going to air editorial opinionated material, then preface it as such.  And to you Mr. Beck, don’t ruin my favorite modern-day superhero movie (sorry Batman, Superman II will always be #1 in my heart) by comparing it to a failed political agenda almost 8 years in the making.