Hmmm. I have to say I agree and disagree. Lex as you're presenting him, I think he is definitely on that road, will definitely reach that point (and soon) that he is doing all those things.
But he's not there yet. He's not imprisoning all meteor freaks, as far as we know - he wasn't imprisoning people in "Freak;" he was 'tagging' them, which is dehumanizing, but bowling-pin guy wasn't locked up (and while the ep never says so, I am convinced his death was an accident, and no one else died.) What's driving me nuts about SV is its propaganda campaign against 33.1 - there are definitely questionable things happening there, but it implies things a lot more questionable than what has actually been shown. So far we do not have any evidence that 33.1 is holding anyone who wasn't already being held in Belle Reve or the like - so it's not like they would be free if Lex didn't have them, and from what we know of Belle Reve, 33.1 is the better place (Lex, as far as we know, is not putting his patients into cage matches to the death...)
Admittedly they could show him catching random freaks next episode and torturing them and say it's been happening all along. And very likely will, but we haven't seen this yet. It's a case of innocent until proven guilty, and as far as 33.1 goes, I haven't seen the proof.
Hmm. Let me rephrase. I haven't seen proof to convict Lex in a superhero world. In the real world, Lex is guilty as hell for taking these matters into his own hands (a private citizen with no oversight), for threatening Moira in "Progeny", for tagging people, etc.
In a superhero world, though, where the good guys always take law and justice into their own hands, where Batman is constantly threatening to drop crooks off buildings to get info (and Moira was a criminal; Lex didn't threaten her until after Moira had attacked him), where Superman eavesdrops and x-ray spies on friends and foes alike...at this point, I'm not seeing much difference between Lex and a superhero. Most superheroes draw the line at murder and Lex is going to be crossing that one soon; but the way Oliver & his boys are gong at it, I'm amazed they haven't killed at least a few guards, and then there's the people Clark has let die...
Torturing Arthur Curry is definitely wrong. AC trying to blow up Lex's lab was also wrong. As you said, it's a slippery slope. You can go around in circles arguing who is more wrong; in "Aqua" the 'hero' and the 'villain' are pretty even. They're both dangerous people who ought to face justice, though neither of them will.
(Ahh, didn't mean to go off on you here! I gotta say thanks, this helped clarified some things in my mind about why I've been arguing for Lex's side - because I do believe he's doing wrong; if in the real world I heard of someone doing what he's doing, I'd be horrified...but the rules are different in SV, and it's unfair to judge Lex by those of reality and the "heroes" by the rules of comic books!)
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winterfish
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Date: 2007-04-23 03:48 am (UTC)But he's not there yet. He's not imprisoning all meteor freaks, as far as we know - he wasn't imprisoning people in "Freak;" he was 'tagging' them, which is dehumanizing, but bowling-pin guy wasn't locked up (and while the ep never says so, I am convinced his death was an accident, and no one else died.) What's driving me nuts about SV is its propaganda campaign against 33.1 - there are definitely questionable things happening there, but it implies things a lot more questionable than what has actually been shown. So far we do not have any evidence that 33.1 is holding anyone who wasn't already being held in Belle Reve or the like - so it's not like they would be free if Lex didn't have them, and from what we know of Belle Reve, 33.1 is the better place (Lex, as far as we know, is not putting his patients into cage matches to the death...)
Admittedly they could show him catching random freaks next episode and torturing them and say it's been happening all along. And very likely will, but we haven't seen this yet. It's a case of innocent until proven guilty, and as far as 33.1 goes, I haven't seen the proof.
Hmm. Let me rephrase. I haven't seen proof to convict Lex in a superhero world. In the real world, Lex is guilty as hell for taking these matters into his own hands (a private citizen with no oversight), for threatening Moira in "Progeny", for tagging people, etc.
In a superhero world, though, where the good guys always take law and justice into their own hands, where Batman is constantly threatening to drop crooks off buildings to get info (and Moira was a criminal; Lex didn't threaten her until after Moira had attacked him), where Superman eavesdrops and x-ray spies on friends and foes alike...at this point, I'm not seeing much difference between Lex and a superhero. Most superheroes draw the line at murder and Lex is going to be crossing that one soon; but the way Oliver & his boys are gong at it, I'm amazed they haven't killed at least a few guards, and then there's the people Clark has let die...
Torturing Arthur Curry is definitely wrong. AC trying to blow up Lex's lab was also wrong. As you said, it's a slippery slope. You can go around in circles arguing who is more wrong; in "Aqua" the 'hero' and the 'villain' are pretty even. They're both dangerous people who ought to face justice, though neither of them will.
(Ahh, didn't mean to go off on you here! I gotta say thanks, this helped clarified some things in my mind about why I've been arguing for Lex's side - because I do believe he's doing wrong; if in the real world I heard of someone doing what he's doing, I'd be horrified...but the rules are different in SV, and it's unfair to judge Lex by those of reality and the "heroes" by the rules of comic books!)