All this pent up anger at 7 figure bonuses and super-rich CEO’s of crumbling companies requires a superhero level response. It got me thinking about a modern interpretation of Robin Hood.
A couple of related tweets encouraged me to throw the idea out into the world[1. (a) timoreilly Retweeting @jonl: Moyers implying the guys who plundered the U.S. economy should give it all back. <TOR: I've wondered about that too .... (b) @gnat: If Wall Street were in China, there'd be labor camps and executions for all the slimy pricks behind the subprime sleaze. I'd be for it. .].
Ours is a simple system of social physics: Injustice requires accountability, an adequate response from those in power. Those who robbed the system are made to pay: (1) they make restitution by giving back their ill-gotten gains and (2) they face some punitive measures, a punishment (prison?) which helps put the great karmic system back in equilibrium. These measures also serve as a deterrent to other would-be thieves.
As we all know too well – our systems of justice can be painfully ineffective.
The new Robin Hood steps in to fill this gap. RH 2.0 would run around and get our money back, by any means necessary; from slimey ceo’s, over-rich fat cats and boneheaded wall streeter’s pulling down million dollar bonuses…
Open season on thieves and those who give them cover.
A loner out for justice in a world gone mad.
RH is not super wealthy and gadget driven, I’m thinking something more along the lines of a semi-privileged Iraq War vet. World shattered, now he’s bringing the war home. Something in the Col. Kurtz mold, best of the best but not quite as crazy. He took the traditional, patriotic path – he “did all the right things.” and with all of that training and intelligence – the logic inexorably led him down this pathway.
Fair. Smart. Just. Skilled. and not afraid to act.
Vigilante Justice?
There’s always something of a problem here. One man, dispensing justice according to his internal compass. There’s something terribly un-American about it. It’s just not democratic damn it!
So, I’m going to make an adjustment to the standard “loner” model. It’s not that RH is alone – RH acts alone but he’s driven by us.
Let’s add a Web 2.0 derived plot twist: crowdsourcing. Let the wisdom of crowds pick the victims. Wiki-justice.
A site about the scandal-makers goes up, it becomes a cultural touchstone. Data is uploaded, people review all of it and begin ranking the bad guys. The worst of the worst. Most wanted. and then RH, sitting at home – just as pissed as everyone else – begins to go after them…
Something like that :)
It would be a merger of the following: Apocalypse Now + Wikipedia + Punisher + kluster.com + McVeigh + Untouchables + Fight Club + Forest Gump + V for Vendetta + Clockwork Orange + Falling Down + The Burbs + Trading Places (1st half only) + Grumpy Old Men II
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