It's become something of a national pass time to accuse Dick Cheney and his band of cronies of being comic book and cinema villains.
How many of us have thought "Wow, Dick Cheney is like a real life Darth Vader".
I can understand the humor in such a comparison. Yet, why do we elevate these men and women to such fiction? Is it possible that we are mistakenly downplaying the significance of their actions?
Imaginary villains almost all follow the same mold. They use to be "good guys" but a major event occurred in their life that caused them to "turn to the dark side". It allows the audience to dislike the villain, while still feeling a bit sympathetic toward their miserable existence.
I don't feel sympathetic when I look at Dick Cheney. Unadulterated disgust is the only emotion that bubbles up into my brain whenever I hear of him. No super villain could ever make me feel that way.
The bottom line is these war criminals are not villains. That is being unkind to The Joker and The Green Goblin.
In reality, Dick Cheney is not a tormented soul enslaved by his twisted mind. He is NOT your father.
He is a perfectly sane man that has led a very successful career funding death, terrorizing a nation, doing despicable things for his own selfish reasons and lying to get away with it.
He is a man in the real world just like anyone of us. And for that reason it makes his actions that much more despicable. Because, when the adventure is over, you can turn the movie off or close the book.
We cannot simply shut off the television and be comforted that the destruction Dick and his friends brought was a fairy tale.
Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, John Yoo, Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, etc. These are not characters from a comic. They are the genuine article.