One of my methods of alienating readers is to make big deals out of little things. I write lengthy essays on obscure topics that cause people to ask, “Why do you even care about this?” I could ask, “Why DON’T you care about this?” but I’m distracted by this obscure meme so I’m going to devote my energy to alienating a few readers instead.

In case you live in a box atop a mountain and only come into town once a year for supplies, The Joker is a comic book character. He is, by any reasonable standard, a villain. He was created to be a ‘bad guy.’ Batman is the ‘good guy’ who tries to prevent the success of whatever The Joker is trying to do. These two characters represent the standard ‘good vs. evil’ scenario which would make it easy for your grandparents to know who to root for during the conflict.

When your grandparents were young, they cheered for the hero and booed the villain. That was what decent, civilized people did. As the girl was being tied to the railroad tracks, your grandparents never wondered, “What motives that poor gentleman to do such a thing?” The doers of evil were dispatched by the hero and that was a happy ending. Godlessness has destroyed the world that your grandparents grew-up in.

You live in a world where movies tell the villain’s backstory so you’ll feel some sympathy for them. Comic books, movies, and television blur the lines between the good guys and the bad guys. In your world, you see memes where The Joker cries, “No one sees your struggles. No one sees your pain. Everyone sees your mistakes.”

Yeah! Great point, Joker. I really like the way you think.

Your world is suffering from the affects of ‘relativism.’ That’s a big, boring word that means there aren’t really any good guys or bad guys. Batman isn’t necessarily right and The Joker isn’t necessarily wrong. Love is love. Hate is love. Up is down. Boys are girls and the only truth is whatever you make up yourself.

In your world The Joker simply made ‘mistakes’ and a woman who killed her child did what’s ‘right for her.’ Your world is a dark, chaotic place where wisdom comes from the mouths of malevolent criminals and heroes don’t exist. There is no order, peace, or goodness in a world without God.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

(Isaiah 5:20)