# Villains with a point **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [September 5, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885 "2020-09-05T16:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/101 "2020-09-09T18:33:57Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Who shoots a talking rabbit, though? Much better economically to trap him humanely and than take him on Vaudeville. You wouldn’t need to trap him, just offer the right part. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ESEiJlseLWo/hqdefault.jpg "What's Up, Doc? - We're the Boys of the Chorus") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESEiJlseLWo) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/102 "2020-09-09T18:45:58Z")
And, Bob’s your uncle! (Did I use that right?) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/103 "2020-09-09T19:02:52Z")
Surely Bjorn Stronginthearm is my uncle? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlax/32/2927_2.png) [@Scarlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlax)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/104 "2020-09-09T19:38:21Z")
It may have taken 25 years, but I believe that without Michael Douglas’s character in ‘Falling Down’, the world would have never known all day breakfast mcsandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/105 "2020-09-09T19:51:05Z")
I think William Foster is, like, the opposite of a villain with a point. A good guy who turns out not really trying to make a point at all, except ‘I’m crazy!’. Plus now, every 7 or 8 months when I think I want a McGriddle for lunch I can get one and be thoroughly disappointed with its soggy oversweetness. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlax/32/2927_2.png) [@Scarlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlax)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/106 "2020-09-09T20:14:01Z")
Your disappointment is proof that he really is a villain. 😋 A well written villain believes he is the good guy. Authentic convictions and moral ambiguity is far better than mustache-twirling. Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men” is worthy of this list too. He truly believes that he is providing an essential service- not just physical protection, but more importantly he is protecting citizenry from the truth of how bad the world really is. While I do not agree that it is a true long term benefit in a democracy, I’d wager that most low information consumers prefer the illusion to the challenging truth. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/107 "2020-09-09T20:23:11Z")
Yeahbut. . .While Jack Nicholson’s character may have had a reason, it wasn’t a point. Not a good one, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlax/32/2927_2.png) [@Scarlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlax)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/108 "2020-09-09T20:39:48Z")
Indeed, I’d wager that a nontrivial number of Americans are adherents to the idea, regardless of its merits. We’ve been at war for 19 years. Look about you! Americans appreciate the illusion more than dealing with the collateral damage. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/109 "2020-09-09T20:43:28Z")
Colonel Jessup may think he has some noble purpose, but the whole “we use words like ‘honor’, ‘code’, ‘loyalty’…” bit while he’s on the stand lying his ass off betrays that he’s just a hypocrite trying to cover his own ass. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/110 "2020-09-09T20:44:56Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I think William Foster is, like, the opposite of a villain with a point. A good guy who turns out not really trying to make a point at all, except ‘I’m crazy!’. The director is the true villian. Not sure about his point. I thought from the trailers that the movie was about a “Joe Everyman” who snaps one day and loses it. Instead, it’s about a barely functioning loser who was already a failure at everything he did and had “lost it” some time ago. Even his personalized plate was stupid. “Nut job does nut job things” isn’t really a basis for a good movie, not without a side of satire or irony or better action. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/111 "2020-09-09T20:45:32Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Surely Bjorn Stronginthearm is my uncle? Excellent. I can’t help but hear that followup anytime I hear/see “Bob’s your uncle!”. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/112 "2020-09-09T20:49:57Z")
Jessup’s point wasn’t actually, “We do hard, dangerous, often morally compromising work so that people like you can sleep peacefully at night.” His point was, “Because we do that, little pissant pieces of shit like you don’t get to question me when one of my illegal orders leads to the murder of one of the men under my command.” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/113 "2020-09-09T20:50:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Colonel Jessup may think he has some noble purpose, but the whole “we use words like ‘honor’, ‘code’, ‘loyalty’…” bit while he’s on the stand lying his ass off betrays that he’s just a hypocrite trying to cover his own ass. Exactly. If he had admitted the Code Red from the beginning, and the movie was about the morality of treating your own troops like that to protect your country, he’d have been a more ambivalent character. But the only reason to lie about the Code Red was to protect his (and Kiefer Sutherland’s) career. > [@Drum\_God](#): > > I think that recon mission is what poked the bear, but the Cylons had a decent reason to hold a grudge. The Colonial society had some huge rotten spots. Yes, I was agreeing with you, sorry I was unclear. The Cylons had zero reason to trust the Colonists, and the fact that the Colonists violated the treaty just led them to the reasonable conclusion they should strike first, not wait for a Colonist invasion. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/114 "2020-09-10T09:00:38Z")
“Traffic Jams will be a thing of the past”? In L.A.? Ha! ---
**Author:** ![smilingbandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@smilingbandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smilingbandit)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/115 "2020-09-11T02:03:05Z")
The villain from Jurassic Park 2 wasn’t really very evil, and had the heroes not screwed things up (well, one of them anyway) they would have nabbed some herbivores and that would have been the end of it. Then there’s the non-villain from Twister which wasn’t a very good movie but pretends that “real” scientists are rough-hewn anti-establishments types… not people who actually do science. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/116 "2020-09-11T04:26:19Z")
I always felt Bill Paxton’s new girlfriend was unfairly portrayed as a bit of a villain in the movie, simply because she stood in the way of Paxton reuniting with his ex-wife Helen Hunt. The part where she asks if there’s such a thing as an F5 tornado after they describe how powerful an F4 tornado is and they all gasp because Hunts dad died in an F5, but asking about an F5 is literally the next logical step if you’re going through the entire tornado catalog. ---
**Author:** ![Acerbic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acerbic/32/3695_2.png) [@Acerbic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acerbic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/117 "2020-09-11T05:12:35Z")
Yeah. And, come on, if you’re a tornado chaser you’ve got to be a bit inured to people talking about F-5 tornadoes even if someone you loved died in one. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/118 "2020-09-11T13:39:43Z")
In one of “The Matrix” movies, Agent Smith compares humans to viruses. Can’t say I disagree with him. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/119 "2020-09-11T15:14:33Z")
In the _Order of the Stick_ webcomic, even the heroes have accepted that Redcloak and the goblins have a valid complaint to be addressed. Redcloak is still a dick, though. Xykon, however, has no point other than petty tyranny and destruction. Whether the Snarl has a point remains to be seen. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885/120 "2020-09-11T15:24:09Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > In one of “The Matrix” movies, Agent Smith compares humans to viruses. I found Agent Smith’s demonstration admirable, compelling (similar in quality with Al Pacino’s speech in The Devil’s Advocate where the devil argues that he is the perfect humanist). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-with-a-point/919885.md?page=7)