META: The problem of "Good vs. Evil"

[Lalo Martins]

Also spracht Tom Russell (Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:29:49 +0000):
> On Feb 18, 12:38 pm, Martin Phipps <martinphip... at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> One strong point that needs to be made them is that creating a universe
>> with an evil LNH does not do away with the need to explore why the evil
>> LNHers behave in an evil manner.  It's almost scary, in
> 
> Yes and no; if Lalo was simply using the trope, such as the way he uses
> the Living God trope, I'd expect there to be more exploration of the
> concept and be disappointed by its absence.  But here he's clearly
> making fun of the trope and so I think the use of parody exempts him
> from this burden.  They're evil in a "campy" way, as it were.

Why thanks, I was beginning to fear I failed to make that point :-)

The Evilverse should not be construed as a study in ethics, or a metaphor 
for Nazi Germany, or whatever-have-you; it's a satire of DC's current 
multiverse and, more than that, it's... hmm... The Addams Family in 
planetary scale?

Oh, I could probably come up with a story explaining it.  I may even take 
the challenge and do it just for kicks.  But it's not meant to be taken 
seriously.  Maybe "pure evil" is one of the secondary usenet.versal 
forces the Existants referred to, and the Evilverse is the world nearest 
its "pole"?  In that sense, the question of why they are evil is about as 
relevant as why Bugtown is violent or Looniearth is silly.

ON THE OTHER HAND... a story that makes people think is always a good 
thing; "it made me think" is taken by most authors as a compliment.  So 
if my attacking the issue in a campy manner (have you noticed how easily 
they die, or even kill each other?) made you reflect on the more real 
counterparts of "evil"... that's great.  It makes me happy, and I think 
it's a worthwhile discussion.  I'll probably even write a more serious 
post on this thread later, when I'm not in a hurry to go back to work :-)

best,
                                               Lalo Martins
-- 
      So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
       then they seem improbable, and then, when we
       summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
                           -----
                  http://lalomartins.info/
GNU: never give up freedom              http://www.gnu.org/