Batman: The Animated Series
The Caped Crusader's rocky relationship with property rights.
I began watching the highly acclaimed cartoon a couple days ago. I’m three episodes in at present. I have my final written examination for my course on Adam Smith and Political Economy tomorrow, so this one is going to be brief.
Oh, and spoilers ahead.
The first two episodes inspire confidence in Batman’s respect for the law and property rights. He works directly with Commissioner Gordon of GCPD, thwarts a terrorist attack, and even turns in the criminal whom he loves: Cat Woman, a.k.a., Selina Kyle. So far, so rights-respecting.
The third episode is where the moral train careens off the rails. The villain of the episode is a monstrous man-bat whom the police misidentify as Batman. In order to put an end to this man-bat’s violent, thieving rampage, Batman… breaks, enters, and incapacitates private security guards to gather evidence on the creature.
If the police department’s crusade against the Caped Crusader was indefensible and ill-motivated at the outset, Batman’s actions in this episode vindicate the inquisition. The cops need search warrants to conduct investigations (as they should, due to the presumption of innocence), and so does Bruce Wayne.
The world’s greatest detective famously refuses to use lethal force, regardless of the circumstance, as a means to a desired end. He should hold all other rights-violating means in similar contempt.
No man is above the law… except for the Batman, I guess.