Smoke and Bounce

11:46 am EST

"COSMICALLY CONVOLUTED JUSTICE"

My previous article was in part a discussion of the crudeness of popular entertainment. Now, I made the mistake of alluding to the disproportionate influence of Jews in the industry. The reality of this influence, sure, is conventional wisdom, and perhaps not even generally controversial. But the article was very incendiary and brutal in tone -- nothing inherently wrong with that! but with a caveat. I wondered if I was being socially irresponsible. I considered rationales while rereading it for having qualified the low art I so colorfully damned as the product of Jews in a general sense. In the end, I edited the essay and deleted the word "Jewish", because I admitted to myself that the adjective had been indulgently included merely for its own sake and was neither here nor there per the point of the central argument I was presenting. I had to be honest: the rationales were post hoc.

However: one of these rationales struck me with a question. And the question was whether certain elemental motifs in entertainment reflect the noticeable absence of much opinion about the issue of an afterlife in the Old Testament. Leaving the Book of Job out of the picture for a moment, shall we consider: Is it a coincidence that justice in, say, action movies is so poetic and worldly? that good prevails and evil is exposed and defeated so often in these plots -- in this life and on this planet (and with a permanence leaving no possibility of it recurring), and not in an extra reality? How could you persuade a conscientious observer of mankind's tattered polity that existential morality does indeed concern historical and natural fact? I'm human; I enjoy contemplating the ill fate of so many wicked ones here, in this life, just like most anyone else, but I don't believe in justice in this world alone except in the most extreme individualistic sense. And even in that sense, divine justice would still have to be cosmically convoluted in order to exist, in my view. I cannot fathom it.

Fictional criminals of the most monstrous type RARELY (big understatement) redeem themselves in plots. Their pain and humiliation on the screen, most especially as a direct result of their deviousness, amuses us and permits us to experiment with a feeling of judgmentalism which in real life would be socially unacceptable to employ.

To me, the crucifixion of Jesus is a declaration that the whole order and system of worldly existence is... well, a failure and thusly answers the questions of Job. I'd even go so far as to say that this life is not the beginning of me but rather a stage in purgatory, following some past, maybe perverse and very odd experience I can't remember. What I'm saying is that I see my life right now as a distilling of self-concept, and a preparation for a future life of fuller integrity. How can I not wish the same for all my fellow life-forms? Is it logical to hope that even the cruel and hypocritical may not progress and find correction? I don't think so. Yet these sympathies of mine are not to be found in most pop culture, nor is an honest depiction of the pain of loss and dying.

Does the Old Testament without the New encourage us to "go all in" in this one life here and now? (How would we even go about doing that?) I don't know; I am not an authoritative Biblical scholar. But I do know having grown up that it's been hard dodging venality; north, south, east and west. All these damn heroes are breathing too much of my air.