When I was younger, and to a huge degree even now, one of my favorite movies is called “The Boondock Saints”. The premise of this movie is that two Irish brothers and their friends are accosted by members of the Russian mafia in Boston. Set in the 1990s, there are layers of meaning to the movie. Escaping torture and death at the hands of the Russians after winning a fight in a bar the evening before, a few of the Russians are killed by the Irish brothers, and brutally so. Turning themselves in, they earn the respect of both the Boston PD and the FBI specialist on scene, played by the marvelous Willem Defoe. Here the movie takes an interesting turn, as the brothers embark on a journey of discovery for us all on what good and evil and the difference between them really means. Connor and Murphy are God fearing men, and while they despise those who murder and cheat and rape, there is a type of person they despise even more—those so-called good men who willfully turn a blind eye and are indifferent to the evil of injustice all around them.
Walking into their Church one morning, the brothers kneel at the feet of Jesus and pray and then walk out to begin their day. In the background, the Father is making a speech about a woman who had been murdered on the streets in broad daylight, with people all around. His closing lines were to make the point that the true evil of this world is the indifference of good men. As Connor and Murphy walk out, they look at each other and Connor says: “Looks like the good Father finally has gotten the point.”
“The Indifference of Good Men.” This is quite a challenging thought, because it isn’t a cut and dry thing. All of us humans live our lives in some form or level of denial. We lie to ourselves and we lie to each other, and when we get anxious or are faced with something difficult or morally ambiguous, even morally despicable, we all have a tendency to take the path of least resistance.
Fear drives indifference of good men, and the societal apathy that comes as a result makes each and every one of us complicit in the evil all too rampant in our society here in America, and certainly within the world society as a whole.
The Boondocks Saints, however, doesn’t stop with the moral grey area that is Connor and Murphy, but explores the same themes in many different ways and with many different characters.
Willem Defoe’s character is not a very nice man at all, but one can tell at the beginning of the movie he is a dedicated law man who believes strongly in his idea of justice. His intense liking of the brothers, and the respect he finds he has for their integrity, however, causes him to compromise almost everything about his personal moral code, and completely changes his own moral compass even on the topic of justice.
Yet another character is a violent murderer, but one who has the distinction of only killing bad, bad men--no women, no children, no innocent. Then, during the credits at the end of the movie, the director Troy Duffy runs interviews with citizens of Boston to ask them how they feel about the morality and justice landmines that build the very foundation of the movie itself. This in and of itself creates emotionally charged dialogue that brings to the forefront how easy it is to make excuses for the varying degrees of injustice choking the life out of our people.
I was never blind to injustice and, in fact, feel certain I understood injustice out of the womb. Looking back now, I can clearly see that every indifferent person and apathetic societal structure made uncomfortable by my vision punished me for having it. We constantly have to be looking for the manipulative person, the apathetic “good man” to get frightened and do whatever it takes to suppress progressive change.
Women often are the worst offenders.
Females have been so oppressed and for so long, that women Hillary Clinton scare the Bejesus out of those who still toe the status quo line. It has always been this way, and one can really see the historical patterns and political oppression that have force women and girls into agreeing with their own systematic abuse, and men like Donald Trump know it and use us against one another. For instance, Hillary Clinton wasn’t voted in as President in part because of this dynamic.
Even popular culture is clear about this reality. For instance, in the frightening story The Handmaid’s Tale, the Aunts are the most terrifying characters. This is because they have turned their back on everything we are as women and siding with the abusers of women to feel more powerful.
Even the men within the Gilead community are frightened of the Aunts—and it’s no wonder! They are terrifying!
In modern society, American culture is full of Aunts. They tend to be beautiful, powerful, and may also be very smart. Examples include Anne Coulter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Ivanka Trump, and Kellyanne Conway.
These are the people who allow structural oppression to continue. If women like these stood with the rest of us instead of with the abusers of the world, things would change overnight.
The indifference of good women, and indeed the active participation of them in the evil deeds of the men they represent, are more destructive to our world than the Donald Trumps of it.
Comments