I remarked to Erin this morning on the bus that we seem to be better at creating evil than good. It seems that the best we can do is create benign characters and beings, who mean us no harm, but do not actively do good. The exception is our usually hazy notion of angels. In every comic book there are usually three or four villains per hero, and those often have minions. Count up everyone who ever took on Batman, including minions, and you'll lose count.
I see it as our recognition that we live in a world where doing good is a struggle. Sometimes, as Douglas Adams noted, you get nailed to a tree for saying how nice it would be if everyone was nice to each other for a change. If heroes out-numbered the villains, the story wouldn't be as interesting, and we wouldn't be engaged by it. We have to identify with the hero who struggles against the evil we recognise in the world, and we want to see a triumph of good over evil, to give us hope.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I was going to write about creativity today.
PPS - Maybe tomorrow.
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