Another post I saved from a failed posting attempt several weeks ago. Again, the moment's past but I might as well make my point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hordriss
The revelation that Ben and Widmore have, apparently, been "playing" with other people's lives is not massively conducive to sympathy for Ben: so he didn't really mean it when he claimed Alex was a "pawn" to him, but he all-too-clearly thinks that so many other people are. I agree that his decision to avenge her by killing the (as far as we know) innocent Penny demonstrates an unreformed and immature personality. I will avoid the word "evil", as I still suspect that Ben has justified his actions within his own warped little ethical world. Nevertheless, we could hardly ask for more certain confirmation that Ben is indifferent to human life unless a) he has a personal attachment at stake, or b) he can use a person to achieve some end (whether it for assassination, sexual harassment, or sacrificial / revenge purposes).
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Yes, I agree with all of that. Even with the 'Ben isn't evil' thing - for all that I think Keamy could not unreasonably pull out the hackneyed old 'glass houses' line at Ben, he's in another league again. I feel as though Keamy obeys foul orders from above because he doesn't mind doing so ... perhaps because he even gets something out of it ... but not because he thinks there's anything meaningful at stake. Ben, on the other hand, has justified his behaviour to himself at least. It's still awful, but it makes him more than a 2D killing machine and I don't believe he either gets a kick out the killing/torturing etc. or that it doesn't personally affect him if he lets his guard down. I just think he has a horribly basic understanding of 'good' and 'bad' - equating to 'doesn't matter' - and a terrifying sense of his own importance, and that makes him able in his mind to do as he wishes to those that don't matter to him ('If anyone tries to stop you, kill them') if it keeps him where he wants to be (eg. he reasoned killing Locke when his own special relationship with Jacob was under threat).
Ki - I made a post to you that disappeared this morning, so sorry about that. I just wanted to update my previous post to say I didn't mean I couldn't empathise with Ben in the moment of his suffering, but it was kind of hard to feel much in the way of sympathy when my overwhelming feeling was 'Now you know what it's like'. I also think it's likely to be better for Ben's character if he isn't protected from personal knowledge of grief ... or I would think that if I hadn't seen his flashforward at any rate.
Reminds me of, oddly, a scene from an episode of All Creatures Great and Small when a man who'd recently lost his mother took out his anger in killing a dog. He regrets this and asks the vet what he's going to say to the dog's owner, and Farnon says: 'I'm going to say to them exactly what I'm going to say to you now - I'm terribly sorry for your pain, and I wish I could do something to make it better'. That broke the man up a bit - being made aware that he'd caused someone else the same kind of awful pain he was currently experiencing - and it's the kind of sympathy I'm able to muster for Ben. He must be in the same sort of terrible pain that his own victims have long experienced and will, if he has his way, do again in the future.