The true complexity arises when we must defend these values in a world that does not universally embrace them -- when we reach the place where we must be intolerant in order to defend tolerance, or unkind in order to defend kindness, or hateful in order to defend what we love.
RUSH: Let me ask you a question. I'm glad you called on this, Brian, because I need to ask you a question about something. Did you find the overall theme in values, good and evil and so forth, were conservative in this movie?
CALLER: Uh, yeah. I mean, as it turned out actually, I thought what they were saying, they were talking about Batman and how the people didn't like him, but he was doing the right thing.
RUSH: Exactly. And how hard it is when you are the lone guy doing the right thing because doing the right thing is hard. Everybody wants to go the easy way and he stuck to it despite the fact that everybody hated his guts.
CALLER: Yeah, I have a tough time thinking Canadians are hot.
RUSH: Yeah, I hear that. I know what you're talking about. It's interesting that you called about this, Barry, because there is in the Wall Street Journal today an opinion piece by Andrew Klavan. Andrew Klavan is a man who "has won two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. His new novel, 'Empire of Lies,' is about an ordinary man confronting the war on terror." It is a fascinating piece, and the headline of Mr. Klavan's piece is: "What Bush and Batman Have in Common -- A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . . Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a 'W.' ...
The moment filmmakers take on the problem of Islamic terrorism in realistic films, suddenly those values vanish. The good guys become indistinguishable from the bad guys, and we end up denigrating the very heroes who defend us. Why should this be?
The answers to these questions seem to me to be embedded in the story of "The Dark Knight" itself: Doing what's right is hard, and speaking the truth is dangerous. Many have been abhorred for it, some killed, one crucified.
When heroes arise who take those difficult duties on themselves, it is tempting for the rest of us to turn our backs on them, to vilify them in order to protect our own appearance of righteousness. We prosecute and execrate the violent soldier or the cruel interrogator in order to parade ourselves as paragons of the peaceful values they preserve.
RUSH: I think this guy, Andrew Klavan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, that Batman no different than Bush in his views -- and I haven't seen The Dark Knight but it's just amazing. It is amazing how much hatred there is for Bush simply because he doesn't speak well.
So people think he's embarrassing us as a country in Europe, when Europe loves Bush!
Tony Blair loves Bush. Sarkozy loves Bush. Angela Merkel loves Bush. The Pope loves Bush. None of what is said about Bush is true, and he doesn't refute it -- which is, I think, why his opinion numbers are so low because he doesn't defend himself. It's not because he's hated. That's where the Democrats are making a big mistake, assuming he's hated and the election's going to be an up or down on him.
