Dark knights rising.
Watch the video above from :45-1:12.
[Transcribed below for clarity.]
CIA Agent: At least you can talk. Who are you?
Bane: It doesn’t matter who we are; what matters is our plan.
[the Agent removes the hood]
Bane: No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.
CIA Agent: If I pull that off, would you die?
Bane: It would be extremely painful.
CIA Agent: You’re a big guy!
Bane: For you.
CIA Agent: Was getting caught part of your plan?
Bane: Of course.
The quoted exchange caught my attention so swiftly, so powerfully, for one reason and one reason alone:
It is the epitome of our circle.
Permit me to explain:
CIA Agent: At least you can talk. Who are you?
Bane: It doesn’t matter who we are; what matters is our plan.
[the Agent removes the hood]
Here we have the Leviathan [gov’t agent] demanding answers from whom it expects nothing but subjugation.
What follows is the most terrifying response the Leviathan could imagine.
An answer that rejects the cult of “me”.
An answer that casts off the chains of Narcissism.
An answer that refuses to accept instant gratification.
All in favor of a greater – in every sense of the word – victory.
Then comes [if you’ll indulge me] my personal favorite.
Bane: No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.
Why do we write [pseudo-] anonymously?
To protect ourselves?
In part, yes.
But, Truly, because we know our physical forms are nothing but fetters.
Chains that confine us to ad hominems such as:
“You’re just bitter because you’re ugly/white/black/male/etc.”
Whereas our ideas, our observations – indeed, our very Wills – , are our True strength and power.
In short, the “mask” causes us to be judged by what we are rather that what is seen by the eye.
And what we are is so much more.
Which brings me to this portion of the exchange:
CIA Agent: If I pull that off, would you die?
Bane: It would be extremely painful.
CIA Agent: You’re a big guy!
Bane: For you.
Take away our masks, and it will be painful to the Leviathan.
Since it will reveal we are its hardest workers.
Greatest producers.
Most dedicated soldiers.
Its sons.
Brothers.
Husbands.
Fathers.
Finally, and most darkly, comes this portion:
CIA Agent: Was getting caught part of your plan?
Bane: Of course.
The ancient Greeks had a term for it.
“Thanatos”.
In the deepest, darkest recesses of every ‘spherian is the desire to be caught.
This is not to be confused with masochism.
Or even to be considered a conscious thought.
In reality, it is a deep-seated desire to be known.
To be understood.
To be True to purpose.
Come what may.
Ω
80-Proof Oinomancy 
March 16, 2014 at 12:02 am
[…] Dark knights rising. […]
March 16, 2014 at 12:47 am
If you might permit me to exploit the comic book theme you started with-
The real difference between Batman and Superman is not the fact that Superman has super powers, and Batman doesn’t.
The real difference between Batman and Superman is the fact that Batman wears a mask, and Superman doesn’t.
Superman walks, flys even, boldly in the light. But Batman hides his true form- not simply by working at night, but by hiding who and what he really is.
For all of Superman’s powers, which are vest indeed, there is one that he cannot call upon that Batman can. It is fear- not in the general sense but in a very specific one: fear of the Unknown. There is something about the Unknown which terrifies us like nothing else. Humans have a tendency to fill up that void with our worst nightmares, to populate it with all the horrors that our imagination can concoct. All to often this exceeds what reality itself can come up with.
Superman is alien, yes. But he doesn’t have that aura of the Unknown about him that Batman does.
Even in a world filled with heroes and villains that posses incredible powers, Batman is feared.
The power that the Unknown has over humanity is why so many try to “doxx”, to expose to the light those of us who blog under pseudonyms. When we are Unknown we have a measure of power over them… and they know it. Their desire to remove our masks isn’t purely, even principally, to punish. No, I think it is because they want to take from us our Power.
Or perhaps that is all just egotistical trash, and I’m merely a pompous fanboy with delusions of grandeur.
March 16, 2014 at 12:56 am
Donal,
I’ve said it before; I’ll say it again:
Never have I known someone that fills in the [intentional] gaps in my work as well as you do.
I am Truly pleased to have you reading and commenting.
Thank you.
March 17, 2014 at 8:30 am
It should be known that Batman is far more attractive and seductive than Superman as well. The mystery and the ability to induce fear.
Take from that what you will . . . . .
March 27, 2014 at 1:47 am
Indeed, Stingray.
Indeed.
July 28, 2014 at 2:01 pm
Another difference between Batman and Superman, aptly noted in the movie Kill Bill vol. 2, is when Superman’s in costume he’s in his natural state. He wears his mask as glasses (and a suit) at the office. Instead of escalating the fear with his mask, he’s diminishing it with a short-sighted, nerdy personality. His mask is a cloak of his power, not an amplifier.
March 16, 2014 at 3:22 am
That is one of the powers of the mask. You use the mystery, the fear, the awe, and you bind your deeds to it. The mask takes on a power of its own and feeds your acts, greater than you can be. What the mask has done is more powerful than what you have done.
When you take it off, you take that power for your own. Beware, though, wearing the mask too long. Look through the mask long enough, and the mask will become you.
The Shadowed Knight
March 27, 2014 at 1:50 am
TSK,
In a way, that’s very true.
April 7, 2014 at 4:40 am
Ladies and Gentlemen, Lenny B. Robinson. The REAL Batman:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/rosenwald-md/post/who-is-the-route-29-batman-this-guy/2012/03/28/gIQA8nPjgS_blog.html
He put on the mask, and became it. In a very good way.
March 16, 2014 at 10:46 am
“Take away our masks, and it will be painful to the Leviathan.
Since it will reveal we are its hardest workers.”
March 27, 2014 at 1:49 am
Perfectly chosen, Earl.
March 16, 2014 at 3:13 pm
This is a good take on anonymity in the MAndrosphere.
My reasoning (at least consciously) for trying to keep anon is that ever since I was a child, I listened to the radio alot because my family did not have a television in my house until I was in high school. Every single time I saw a picture or video of the musical artist, DJ or talk show host, it caused cognitive dissonance with the image of the person behind the voice I had constructed in my mind’s eye.
As an adult, I reached a point where I would purposely avoid seeking out pictures of the talk show hosts I used to listen to on a daily basis, to avoid this effect.
I preferred my imaginary depictions of voices over the reality of the man or woman behind it.
I have the same effect with seeing actual pictures/videos of bloggers I read regularly. Roissy, Matt Forney, Uncle Mitch, Bill Price…all guys I read plenty of before I ever saw a picture of what they looked like in real life.
In every case, I lost a little bit of….attraction? Affection? Fandom? I don’t know what to call it….but for these guys, because the actual picture didn’t jibe with my mental picture I constructed, the lost mystique makes them a little less compelling for me…even though their writings are in many cases still top notch, knowing what they actually look like removes a little “edge” for myself.
So I actually enjoy anonymity amongst the blogosphere, and seek to keep my own so as to hold on to that “mystique effect.”
March 27, 2014 at 1:48 am
Thank you, Keoni.
For both the comment and the linkage you’ve given me for some time now.
March 16, 2014 at 10:08 pm
There has been relatively little unmasking lately, to my knowledge, that has been against the will of those involved. Many seem to be dropping anonymity of their own free will.
And, those that were outed, all stood strong and by their convictions.
I can imagine no other trend that would strike fear into those that be. That we have shown we’re the Everyman and that we have no fear of them.
Also, I find I’m the opposite of keoni. I’ve met several people offline, and my respect for them grows as their writing is shown to be in line with who they are. A solid foundation of a man is something I can respect more than mere wordsmithery, even though I learn from writing whether its true in the individuals life or not.
March 17, 2014 at 8:47 am
I suspect if Keoni was able to actually meet the writers, the effect would change again and go from a disappointment that the mystery and veil is gone to an even deeper respect that an everyday man is overcoming not only everyday challenges but is putting himself our there in what could be a dangerous fashion by choice (and depending on the man, it might go just the opposite as well).
When we only have the screen and the words to go by, a small part of us does see the person behind the blog, behind the picture he has created on his own page, behind the mask he’s created as a little bit of a superhero. When we see a real picture, and the mask is taken away we see just a man when a tiny part of us wanted to see Bruce Wayne.
But then, when we are able to meet them and we meet the man, we find that he might be better than what we pictured in our minds because being just a man means he has real vices, troubles, and fears to overcome. Just like us. It will often lead to an even deeper respect because unlike a comic book hero with a mask, he is tangible. Someone that the men reading here can relate to on a real level and not just a fictional hero with super powers with whom the readers could never hope to be.
I know I’ve take this to extremes, but it was best in order to explain. I don’t think we see the bloggers as actual superhero’s, but there is a touch of that happening with the mask that is created with the anonymity.
March 17, 2014 at 11:01 pm
I absolutely agree with your last paragraph. I think many issues the manosphere has are from writers losing their foundation. Abandoning any higher purposes to embrace their fallen humanity and our messed up, cluster fuck of a world. On the readers side its found by people that stop searching for truth and start searching for a system or what their ‘hero’ (a writer they’ve never met) would do.
A life as such is bound to be shown a house of cards, ready to fall, sooner or later.
Meanwhile some of us continue searching, wondering if we’ll ever find our treasures, but treasuring our growth and our wisdom gained along the way
March 19, 2014 at 3:19 pm
“No, I think it is because they want to take from us our Power.
Or perhaps that is all just egotistical trash, and I’m merely a pompous fanboy with delusions of grandeur.”
They’re both true. They’re ain’t no foundationless pompousness like manosphere pompousness.
But…this is all there is. It’s us. And what we talk about (though we may have come to it by selfish paths) is more important than any of us in particular. There’s a freedom shared by the nihilistic and the saved—the freedom from being imprisoned by selfishness. It still threatens, of course, but it’s confrontable, beatable.
http://www.counter-currents.com/2012/12/the-dark-right-rises-christopher-nolan-as-fascist-filmmaker/#more-34081
And since I am also a pompous fanboy with delusions of grandeur, I would recommend the following films, as I always do:
The whole Batman trilogy
Tron: Legacy
The Last Samurai
All of them have to do with: decline, perfection and the unattainability thereof, the necessity of sacrifice.
But DKR is probably the most mineable. Understand DKR as a fight between most of us (Batman), and a hypothetical offshoot of us that was determined to hasten the decline in hopes of stimulating rebirth (the PUA’s would like to call themselves this, but they lack the will to sacrifice themselves in the effort).
And since it may not be clear what I think: Bane is wrong, but only because God has said “Vengeance is mine.” Absent God…I think a very strong case can be made that Bane is the hero and Batman the villain.
March 27, 2014 at 1:44 am
Very well said, SPDI,
Thanks for the comment.
March 19, 2014 at 3:22 pm
This is a great metaphor.
Admittedly, I would love to be in a situation where I don’t need the nom-de-plume.
But I ain’t there yet, so I’ll be keeping the mask for a while.
It is amusing seeing the pathetic, nonsensical arguments against our points of view from feminists and white knights. You can almost see them stumble over their inability to personally attack someone.
I do love that part!
March 27, 2014 at 1:43 am
Many thanks, vM.
Very pleased it resonated with you.
March 20, 2014 at 10:22 am
Ace … I really can’t put into words in a comment string about how magical your posts are. This one is no different. I just want to take the time to thank you. Writing in this form, and taking the time to think through the themes – yet allow them to be both impactful and minimal is amazing. As the saying goes “No more, no less”.
One of these days, we will share a whiskey and smoke together – and have a wonderful conversation about life, love, and learning. I look forward to it.
March 27, 2014 at 1:43 am
I’m honored, Tin Man.
Truly.
Thank you.
March 20, 2014 at 4:02 pm
[…] was hanging out at Ace’s site today (if you haven’t visited him yet, I highly recommend it) when I read this comment from […]
March 27, 2014 at 7:53 am
I’m reminded of a portion of Rorschach’s journal from The Watchmen:
“The alleyway was cold and deserted. My things were where I’d left them. Waiting for me. Putting them on, I abandoned my disguise and became myself, free from fear or weakness or lust. My coat, my shoes, my spotless gloves. My face.”
April 1, 2014 at 8:06 am
While I am not (now) writing to specifically be within the ‘Sphere, I feel irrevocably linked to it. Choosing to write without the mask adds a bit more gravity to every word written.
I look forward to where it takes me.
April 2, 2014 at 12:17 am
[…] nasty hits in the process. It’s not exactly how Ace describes in that I subconsciously desire to be caught, I know I’ll be caught. If I’m saying what I’m meant to say, my enemies will […]
May 26, 2014 at 8:02 am
Hey, Ace, what’s with the vacation? We miss the insights.
And Thornley clips. But mainly insights.