The World Is Insane: How Much of a Batman Are We?

So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there’s always madness. — Joker

Yesterday I got lost in a YouTube limbo — as I’m sure many of you have — and I found myself searching through Joker’s voice interpretations. By the way, I find this one by Troy Baker unique. This led me to watch Batman: The Killing Joke.

In case you haven’t seen the movie yet, I can assure you it’s one pleasant and deep hour you’ll have. Batwoman’s romantic drama with Batsy himself, Mark Hamill’s fantastic voice supporting The Clown Prince of Crime, Joker’s year one and the real purpose filtered straightly from the comics. Here, Joker is pushing Batman to the limits.

Not sure if you’re aware, but Batman’s code implies that he can simply not kill one. Yep, those hard punches you’ve seen whether in game, movie, comics — just knocking them out, always by the book. But Joker doesn’t believe in a sanity clause [sic] — taking his own story as an example, the green headed clown believes all it takes is one bad day to make you go ape crazy and break necks around you. Batman has been keeping his code, but he’s not the same anymore. He has seen what he calls the abyss — a place where you start to lose all hope, a tempting jump to a I-don’t-care-anymore valley. But he’s been resisting.

All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.

Now, how is the world we live in these days any different from a wide-range version of a Joker? When in seek for a purpose for such filthy and outrageous themes as terrorism, elections, borders, chaos seems to be dominating it all, like a secret cult that just pushes buttons for fun.

In case you haven’t seen the movie and wish to, just caution, because spoilers are coming. This text is just being extended as a matter of courtesy, because I have been through those spoiler alerts myself, and I know eyes can just keep rolling against our will. Stop it, now, in case you wish to. You were notified with five lines of text.

Batman: The Killing Joke ends with the two fatal enemies standing in the rain. Batman seems to have won, as Joker’s attempt to make Jim Gordon insane fails — so it’s not just a bad day, because some people can resist it. Joker refuses rehab, so they just stand in silence. Until Joker tells this joke about two mad men. As incredible as it may sound, Batman straight-face guy starts with a “heh” but ends up laughing his ass off, along with the clown. They are just — wow, unbelievable — laughing as hard as they can. Batman even holds onto Joker’s shoulders. Camera rolls down. The end.

Some say Batman’s hands slipped onto Joker’s neck and he cracked it. But this post isn’t about that. This post is about all the fight behind Batman’s journey.

How can we react to this wild world? Cat Stevens’ “lalalalala” remind me of Joker’s way of dealing with his disappointment in life. Truth be told, “it’s hard to get by just upon a smile”, but that is the real difference between Batman and Joker.

And how much of a Batman is the world right now?

Is insanity so unbearable that we forbid people from using whatever clothes to? What are we fighting and how are we fighting? Can we get so pissed and irrational by a grin from the other side?

…My point is, I went crazy. When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was. I went crazy as a coot! I admit it! Why can’t you?

Whether the world is or always has been this overwhelming (Mark Manson), it is important to understand that wherever craziness is flowing around out there, we must know what kind of black suited superhero we are. As Joker says, this can sometimes be a black, awful joke. But always bare in mind that it is not with pride that one must admit that took the emergency exit and went crazy.

Valued leadership, despite being able to throw lasers through your eyes or having enough money to buy you all the super hero tech in the world, is one super power one must not forget to always wear — whether it’s in a conversation in the cafe or a conference.

Seeing the world through the as well crazy screens should be a careful exercise. The world’s insanity must be seen and understood — many times, I can presume, to find it is not that insane as pictured (Henry Wismayer)— and only a full aware leader can actually play the bat guy in his full potential.

The question you must ask yourself, is how much of a step have you actually taken towards the emergency exit and what kind of character that makes you, when facing an insane world you may just, unconsciously, be feeding along.