As one of DC's most beloved Vigilantes,
the winged Man in Black has made a name for himself as the Defender of Gotham.
But is he really? Once you begin to peel back the layers of Kevlar, money, and nifty gadgets you're
left with a man filled with rage and the glaring reality that Batman actually hates the poor.
Hey guys. It's Donna. Now you may be thinking, "How can you say that? He fights crime in Gotham!"
You know, if you really stop to think about it, you will begin to notice for yourself that his
fight for so-called Justice is looking more and more like Batman kind of punching down.
Yes, in my most controversial video yet, we dig deeper into Batman's possible hate
for the poor people of Gotham City. Also as we progress in this video,
we will be analyzing the Batman world and character as a whole. So I don't
want to hear any comments saying "Hey, that's not canon to DC! Blah blah blah."
Before you scream out all of the super villains he's fought,
relax, we'll get to that. Looking at who Batman targets on the day-to-day first.
Rather than the occasional super villain, it's undeniable that a lot of his focus is on muggers,
burglars, and petty theft. While the victims of these crimes do deserve
justice, these are activities police are theoretically capable of handling themselves.
So it's interesting to note that Batman hardly spends his nights targeting those
white-collar workers or politicians dealing in fraud and other illicit activities. The
countless cases of embezzlement and bribery within Gotham's justice system that police,
for obvious reasons, will not touch should be a high priority for this superhero. However it's
not. Instead Batman turns his attention to crime, typically done by those below the poverty line.
Okay like if Batman or some superhero were to come down in real life right now,
I'd want them to go after criminals normal police departments can't go or won't go after. You know,
like the list of names in a log from this guy that owned this island. You know,
individuals who have money, power, and status often supersede the law.
So it'd be nice for a superhero to level the playing field just a little bit.
But Batman doesn't go after this type of criminal. This distorts his image as a
"Fighter for Justice." To truly understand why Batman is the way he is, we need to start at
the beginning. At the age of eight years old, he witnessed his wealthy socialite parents brutally
murdered in front of him. That alone would make for years of trauma for any person, comic or not.
But this is where we first see Batman or should we say Bruce as he hadn't taken on his alter ego yet.
This is where we see his view of the world takes shape. Who is bad? Who is dangerous?
It was this moment that a monger had killed his parents. A petty criminal. I mean obviously
considered petty before the murder, but you get what I mean. It was at this point he swore an
oath to avenge his parents' death. Everything this mugger represented was evil including his
class. Even entering adulthood there are many moments where we see this event haunt him.
We can use Matt Reeves's 2022 "The Batman" as an example. In the movie, Bruce Wayne is
portrayed as this pale almost sickly looking person. Any mention of his parents name or
their death sends a physical shutter through his body. His childhood left him with a lack of trust
but opened his Mind's Eye to the darker side of people. There are many online discussions about
the mental state of Batman and whether or not he suffers from PTSD. In many of the arguments,
people have pointed out certain behaviors that coincide with trauma. One side effect,
according to the National Library of Medicine, is the tendency to engage in risky activities.
"I'm not afraid of you."
"Because you think you got nothing to lose.But you haven't thought it through. You haven't thought
about your lady friend down the DA's office. You haven't thought about your old Butler. BANG."
Another side is an abnormal reaction to emotions and events.
In Batman comic number 47, his origin story, Bruce Wayne makes a vow to fight crime and avenge his
parents' death. Fair enough that is a relatively normal reaction of grief and rage. What isn't so
normal and what kind of feels like something that speaks volumes about the unstable psyche
of a person is what he did next. Upon declaring an oath to avenge his parents' death, Bruce remarked,
"My disguise must be able to strike Terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night."
To want to create something so dark and twisted only speaks to the pain and grief
he felt. Is this still a part of Justice or is it more motivated by needing his targets
to feel as he did when he was just eight? Aside from the occasional super villain,
who Batman targets on the daily just seems to be another iteration of the mugger that murdered his
parents. While it may seem like a Ned positive on the surface, it actually may make Gotham's Rising
crime rate worse. White collar crimes or high level corruption is the driving force behind those
poor criminals on the streets. Who is doing the dirty work for these higher ups? Politicians are
not going to kill whistleblowers or murder those in their way. They have their lackeys for that.
In fact, there is a strong correlation according to the world population review
between crime rate and poverty and unemployment. So if you're one of
those people that thinks sneaky politicians pocketing taxpayer money instead of using
that to help their people is a victimless crime, according to the data, you're wrong.
There's no way Batman doesn't know better than fighting petty criminals over the root problem.
Instead though, he chooses to punch-- Instead though, he chooses to punish the poor. It's
clear he has the technology to fight the elite, but it's rarely used for that and
the cycle never ends. Criminals continue to create personas and become super villains to
combat Batman causing more damage to the city. They target Gotham City as it is Batman City.
"So you came back to die with your city." Think about the fights with the Joker and Bane and the
destruction that follows. Who cleans that up and rebuilds it? Not Batman. The city does. So what is
his hard-on for the poor? [What's yours?] Um I'm sorry? [Why do you hate the poor?] What are you
talking about? I don't -- [And do you think your hands are clean from this too?] Hey uh, can you
not be mean? You know, I really need them to like And subscribe so uh be a little nicer, you know.
It is easy to use trauma as a scapegoat for one's hatred of the poor. Certainly this
event may have been exacerbated for Bruce Wayne, but we kind of hate the poor too.
Spanish political philosopher Adela Cortina coins the term aporophobia. In her book "Aporophobia",
why we reject the poor instead of helping them. She compares the term to xenophobia
which is the fear of foreigners. This, without a doubt, can lead to reprehensible behavior such
as racism but in the natural world may have been used as a survival mechanism.
Whoa those are strangers right there. We don't know them. They may be dangerous.
For this reason, it was completely normal to desire being surrounded by others who
were like you. Now while it was common to hate outsiders, we were still able to surmount this
human obstacle. I mean, sort of. It is better now than it was before, you get the point.
But this demonstrates we are a flexible society and we can improve our standards
based on understanding. Cortina argues that today's biggest problem is not xenophobia but
aporophobia, rejection of poor people. And you can kind of see that in this trend here.
"What's considered trashy if you're poor, but classy if you're rich?" "Owning too
much stuff. If you're poor then you're cluttered and a little gluttonous. But if
you have the same amount, but you have money then oh you're living a life of abundance."
"Being able to speak multiple languages when you're a child or just in general."
"Eating Ramen."
"I'm gonna go with Florida."
For some reason if rich people do it it's eccentric and cool, but if poor people do it,
it's trashy and low class. Now some of the rationality for this according to Cortina
may be parallel to xenophobia. We still desire to be surrounded by others like us. However who
we are like is no longer, for the most part again, dictated by race, but mostly by class.
In a Democratic Society, most of our values for the economy is as follows:
The goal of the economy would be to create wealth and equality, eradicate poverty, and
reduce Injustice. Encouraging economic citizenship would be another project of this common dream.
Encouraging citizens to become agents in decision about what is produced for whom and why. While the
goal is a noble one, the byproduct is rejection of any behavior or any person who seems to be
in opposition of this goal. Rejection of the poor and any behavior related to that.
So for me to be a good economic citizen, I must separate myself from anything in conflict with
this economic ideal. This allows for the creation of luxury goods. "This is me. I'm not that. It's
okay for these people to want that, but just so you know, I'm not like them. I worked hard
for what I got." And there will continue to be this separation from The Haves and Have-nots.
While Batman's original Creator may have had no intention for any of this,
this Dark Knight is a stellar symbol for our own hate of the poor. In a spin-off Batman
comic series in fact "Heroes in crisis", Bruce Wayne only attended three therapy
sessions before giving up the Batman Persona. This solidifies the idea that Batman is a
coping mechanism for Bruce Wayne's childhood trauma. And if addressed can be resolved.
Similarly, Cortina argues with better understanding,
aporophobia can also be resolved. For now, we will continue to romanticize
crimes from the likes of Jordan Belfort. While collectively being enraged by the guy stealing
300 bucks from the cash register. Even on a smaller scale quote-unquote "Guys who
scam their audiences are bad, but hey they're Marketing Geniuses unlike those shoplifters."
Social media or maybe even just our phones and internet is the greatest tool we have to
band together and put a stop to crime that supersedes the law. But just like Batman,
we don't do that. Instead our focus is on the local Karen or the latest celebrity mishap.
That's the end of the video. I will see you guys next time. Stay psyched.