[Professor S]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

Of course, the big difference is that when Batman invaded another nation he didn't do it under false pretenses or made up information.

I don't believe the film reference was about the Iraq war, but instead the act of special forces entering another nation and plucking out a protected citizen. I believe the act is called "extraordinary rendition" or something like that.

Also, the movie made it pretty clear that spying on people is morally objectionable, as Morgan Freeman happily demonstrated when he destroyed the device and resigned.

But that didn't stop them from doing it, and also didn't make it any less effective. Once again, my points have nothing to do with morality, just effectiveness. It raises the question: "Is morally objectionable activity justified if it facilitates a greater moral good?" I don't pretend to have that answer.

I felt that the Dark Knight was more of a morality play than a political propaganda piece. It was nice to see, for once, a villain who did not want to take over the world. No, the Joker just wanted to watch the world burn. His interest was not in money or power, just in destruction and chaos. How do you combat a force like that?

According to the movie, by using brutal and morally questionable tactics.

And while I agree that the motivation of the "suicide bombers" in the film wasn't the same as those of terrorists in the real world, the movie wasn;t about them... it was partially about a man who takes advantage of those people to meet his ends... just like the rich and educated terrorists are never the ones who strap bombs to themselves, they instead prey on the poor and uneducated. There is a correlation to be made.

OVerral, I think the message is that when faced with terrible, unreasoning evil, understanding is irrelevant. Action is necessary to stop it before the world is reduced to chaos, but also, does that action leave us with a world that is better or just a different kind of bad?

Thats why I think the film has a message, but it doesn't preach. It just poses difficult questions and says there are no clear answers, just choices we must make in a half-blind attempt to find the best result.