I elaborate on how a framework consisting of these two variables could inform our decision-making with respect to shaping the long-term future, as well as facilitate cooperation among differing value systems and further moral reflection.
Two variables seem particularly important and action-guiding in this context, especially when trying to make informed choices about how to best shape the long-term future: 1) One’s normative goods-to-bads ratio (N-ratio) and 2) one’s expected bads-to-goods ratio (E-ratio). This overview focuses on beliefs about population ethics and exchange rates between goods (e.g. All because he's a sadistic little twerp who enjoys bringing the powerful to their knees.Descriptive ethics is the empirical study of people's values and ethical views, e.g. He also kidnaps Martha Kent to blackmail Superman into fighting Batman to the death, and then creates Doomsday and unleashes him on the Earth just to be spiteful. Yes, it was ridiculous, and yes, it was a terrible movie, but it doesn't make his attempted killing of millions for selfish reasons any less deplorable.Īnd then there's the DCCU/DCEU version, who tries to frame Superman by murdering large numbers of innocents (including his own assistant Mercy) and making it seem like Superman is the perpetrator. I'd make a case for the Donnerverse version too, given that he's outright admitted that he enjoys causing the deaths of innocent people and in Superman Returns tried to kill millions over some silly and stupid plot involving land. Also the version seen in the "mainstream" reality in Injustice Gods Among Us, who was fine with nuking Metropolis all in the service of his own ego.
This includes the version killed by Justice Lord Superman seen in the episode "A Better World". He also expresses remorse that he's not able to torture/brainwash Damian Wayne into a loyal servant (but he does still brutalize him a bit just to be spiteful). The version in "Son of Batman" and "Teen Titans: Judas Contract" also, given that he betrays Ra's al Ghul and murders him to try and take control of the League of Assassins, turns people into Man-Bat ninja monsters against their will, and later manipulates Terra into helping him take down the Teen Titans before turning them over to Brother Blood to have them killed.along with Terra, who he betrays without batting an eye. And even when he helps the Teen Titans against Trigon, it's only because Trigon betrayed him, not because he's a good guy. But he's as bad as he could have been given his limited number of appearances.Īs Slade in the Teen Titans cartoon, where he not only lacks any kind of sympathetic backstory, but is also guilty of among other things trying to blackmail Robin into being his protege by threatening to kill his friends if he doesn't comply, blackmails Terra into working for him and abuses her when she tries to leave his service, and becomes a devoted (and openly sadistic) servant to Trigon that tries to help him usher in the end of the world. Granted, all of that might seem like small change compared to the actions of say, the Joker, but remember that Branden hasn't had anywhere close to the number of appearances of Joker, or for that matter Zsasz or Black Mask. He was also in on the Falcone's plan to use Gordon's wife and infant son to blackmail him.
In fact, during his attempt to take Batman down, Branden resorted to using fire bombs that killed innocent people, something he didn't care about in the slightest. Branden was also prepared to gun down a man who had taken child hostages, not seeming to care for the latter's well-being at all, and when Batman showed up Branden and his SWAT forces opposed him not because he believed Batman to be a dangerous vigilante, but simply because his activities hurt the corrupt GCPD and their mob friend's business. According to Gordon, when he and his "lunatic Gestapo" calmed down a riot, they did so in such a way that they "didn't even leave the statues standing". Easily the most psychotic and bloodthirsty of all of the dirty cops to ever be a part of the GCPD.