(Dang. I just
know that I'm going to regret this post. I just can't stay away. And please forgive the off-topic part.)
Ann, I feel that I must respond to your last two posts. The instances which you relate are indeed recorded in the Old Testament, but there's a very important difference between the slaughter of the Amelekites and the other instances you mentioned. In the first story, the Amelekites are killed because they were deadly enemies of Isreal and had tried to wipe the Isrealites from the face of the earth several times. The Old Testament also records that God told Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." This is an extention of that promise. In the worldview of the Old Testament, the Amelekites started a war of extermination against God's chosen people and they suffered the consequences.
You accurately relate the story of Lot in Sodom, but you've left out an important detail: Lot is there in the city to satisfy his own selfish desires. When Abraham offered him the choice of pasture land to prevent their respective servants from fighting over water and grazing areas, Lot chose the well-watered plain where Sodom and Gomorrah sat. Lot put financial gain ahead of his family's welfare and ahead of his relationship with his God. No wonder he was so stupid with his daughters. It was consistent with his poor character.
The story in Judges ends not with the violence, but with the book's author noting that "In those days, there was no king, and every man did what was right in his own eyes." Some of the greater lessons are that man - even God's chosen people - when left to his own devices, turns invariably to selfishness and self-gratification and violence, and that without some rule over him, man will not behave properly towards his neighbors. The entire story is there to shock the reader and make him/her realize that without strong moral guidance, man is a pretty pathetic creature.
Whew. Now for some on-topic comments.
Ann also wrote, in reference to Lois's death by freezing in two fics on the archives and one video:
How can there be any doubt that Clark chose his parents' lives of Lois', if he froze her to death to save his parents?
In the TV show, Clark didn't freeze her to death. He put her in a state of suspended animation to allow them to fool Nigel and Jason Mazik. And it wasn't his idea, it was hers. She
begged him to do it, to let her help Clark, even at the risk of her own life. And even in the moment when she realized that Clark and Superman were the same person, she still closed her eyes and allowed him to continue.
If I had been writing that episode, she would have stopped him just before he exhaled, called him Clark, and together they would have thrown together some crazy scheme to save Jonathan and Martha which would have avoided the whole freezing thing. But I didn't. And to condemn Clark but not Lois for moving ahead with such an impossibly dangerous plan is a little slanted. They were both responsible for taking that huge risk. And they were lucky.
I, like others, see Superman's goodness as a deliberate choice rather than something innate within him. Certainly the other Kryptonians we saw on the show were susceptible to pride, arrogance, anger, racism, and a desire to conquer. So he's not a good guy just because he's from Krypton, but because he chooses to be a good guy.
As far as good Clark versus evil Clark, I don't think I could write an evil Clark and make it believeable. And here I'm confessing a fault in myself, not casting stones at anyone else who is good enough to do it. I'd much rather write an evil Lois, because there are so many character traits and so many negative experiences in her past which might have pushed her towards the dark side. That's a story I could sink my teeth into, if only I weren't already so busy.
Let me say again that so far this has been a civil debate among reasonable people, and I think it's a fine thing. Some of us disagree with some of the rest of us! Horrors! No, it's a good thing, because we're all intelligent, thinking people who present our positions with grace and tact. I, as a mere member of the boards, commend all who have behaved in so civilized a manner. Thank you.
Edit: I did not get to read Elisabeth's post before I posted my comments, because it wasn't there when I started writing. Please forgive me if anything I wrote seemed redundant.
