• Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    10 days ago

    Alan Moore wrote Rorschach for a fucking reason and it wasn’t because “Rorschach was right!”

    Moore was clearly aware of people who are sympathetic to great causes but would undermine them and destroy society just to be able to say that they were right.

    Rorschach was right in many ways, but he spent his time looking down on everyone and anything else. His hate for the world was visceral and colored his perception. He was happy to destroy the world just so he could prove to himself that the world was beyond redemption.

    The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout ‘SAVE US!’…and I’ll look down and whisper ‘No.’

    -Rorschach from Moore’s Watchmen

    He doesn’t support these movements because they’re filled to the gills with fucking Rorschachs.

    • Shiggles@sh.itjust.works
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      10 days ago

      There’s like a dozen in this very thread lmao

      Moore hates idol worship. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d personally fist fight anyone that idolized him.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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      10 days ago

      Rorschach was very conservative and anti sex, much like the maga base. The attractive thing about that is that there’s a clear right and wrong.

      Later on he’d rather be killed than to admit ozymandias being right. His diary field the hateful marginal right-wing maga-crowd that had their anger taken away by the world peace that had materialized.

      • Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org
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        10 days ago

        Ozymandias was wrong.

        He wanted power over a world scared of an “outside” threat that didn’t exist. As soon as anyone with any knowledge was able to debunk the ‘attack’, regardless of how, it would get even worse. The difference was only how far in the future. Rorschach didn’t die because Ozy was right. He died because he couldn’t be complicit in a world where evil got to win.

        Ozymandias wanted to believe a heroic ideal as much as Rorschach - one that’s just as self-deluded. He wanted to believe that there was an end to “history”. He wanted to decide when the future began. But he forgot just one fact that Rorschach at least was cognizant of:

        Nothing ever ends, Adrian.

        None of those characters were right.

          • Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org
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            10 days ago

            Totally agree with this. It’s part of why I dislike that DC writers sometimes import traits from the Watchmen into their Charlton counterparts. Obviously, if you scratch the surface of Rorschach, you find the Question staring back. If you look at Silk Spectre the right way, you see Black Canary. Nite Owl 1 & 2 are the Blue Beetle (I’m glad that Moore never got to adapt Jaime).

            I want most of my superheroes to be clean and honest. I want to know that when I read a story, the Question follows leads responsibly (even if they do sometimes involve aglets) - whether that’s Vic or Renee under the no-face. I want to know that Dinah Lance comes from a loving family, has a man she loves and trusts, and is dedicated to being a hero and a mentor to those who aren’t in the same place. And so it goes for all of them. I want those characters to be heroes and in the right - or at least, in the realm of responsibility.

        • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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          10 days ago

          Didn’t say Ozymandias was right, I said Rorschach chose to die rather than submit to Ozymandias. And, like Ozymandias, he had already put into play his trump card, but he couldn’t tell him that, so he decided to take it to his grave.

          Both are cases of misplaced heroïsm. Neither are sure what the future will bring.

          • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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            10 days ago

            The way you said “rather die than admit ozy was right” was stated quite matter of fact-ly

            • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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              9 days ago

              You’re right, it’s a small difference. Rorschach couldn’t admit that there was a point, there was a path to harmony. Like oz he’d put his plan into working before too.

              He couldn’t admit to oz being right, because he morally was disagreeing with the method. But in fact he disagreed because it made himself unviable. He counts in humanity to find conflict to disturb peace.

              So ultimately Rorschach is right.

    • Juice@midwest.social
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      10 days ago

      What part of rorschach’s views are revolutionary? Rorschach is a chud. Maybe his views are extreme but not revolutionary. False equivalence be wilin

    • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 days ago

      I’ll take Rorschach at this point I’m not gonna lie. Something, anything has to give, and the road we’re on rn is much worse.

      Edit: lol the only replies to this are from people I had to block previously due to trolling/ignorance etc. Figures.