Week 9: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Dear Avid Reader,

Today it's hard for me to come up with an angle. I kinda have half of an idea.

Why am I telling you this?

When You Have To Shoot, Shoot. Don't Talk

First off, Blondie isn't necessarily "good". The guy double-crosses Tuco, tricks lawmen with his collect the reward scheme, and he kills folks. He's kind of moral in that he feels disgust over the deaths of Civil War soldiers, but he's hardly ethical. Now I know ethics and morals are essentially the same thing, but for this post I am making a distinction. Watch me use my posting kung-fu.

Here are the definintions for this post. Morals will mean inherent goodness: Empathy, compassion, a fairness. Ethics, for this posting, will refer to rule-following: Laws, decorum, an obedience.

People With Ropes Around Their Necks Don't Always Hang

So when we see Blondie we see a man who is willing to break some rules but still has a "code". In addition to the fallen soldiers, he shows emotion when the Union Captain is wounded at the bridge. He expresses regret when Shorty is hung. He has a goodness. But he is a bandit. He steals and kills in order to survive. He also has a badness.

Angel Eyes is much easier to define. The dude is definitely "bad". He robs and kills just like the others, but there is something different about him. It's that he has no code. He tortures, he manipulates, he doesn't care about the soldiers that he works with dying. Angel Eyes has neither ethics or morals. And he loves every minute of it.

The World Is Divided In To Two Kinds Of People...

So obviously Tuco is some combination of the two. He tortures Blondie in the desert. He allows Shorty to die even though Blondie could have saved him. But he also wants to reconcile with his brother. I could go on, but I feel like you could fill in the blanks here. The guy is both good and bad.

And I think this is where we reside mostly, even though thought repulses us. But we don't want to be Tuco in the movie because we want to be good people, it's because Tuco is bullied by the other two. He gets beaten for information that he eventually gives up. Blondie isn't even touched because Angel Eyes knows it Blondie will never break. But with Tuco, Tuco will break. Tuco is weak.

Tuco he even gives up the goods to Blondie, and Blondie doesn't lay a finger on him. Blondie also steals Tuco's bullets while he's asleep. Tuco always seems to be a step behind. He gets the drop on Blondie, but Blondie quickly regains the upper hand in the relationship. Is it Tuco's bad luck, or is he just bad at being a bandit?

Canon Fire Or Storm It's All The Same To You

I think folks are willing to accept the fact that we are morally ambiguous like Tuco, but they are slower to admit that they are just as vulnerable as Tuco. Not hardened like Angel Eyes, able leaving people weak and afraid. Not as compassionate as Blondie, and thereby leaving his insight out of reach. We are blind and groping in the dark, powerless.

But as humanity collectively stands on the tombstone, rope around our neck, we know that the "good" will show pity on us. But that doesn't make us any less angry about our impotence to change the predicament. We still scream and curse the one who saved us. Out of jealousy, out of ignorance, out of madness, the music rising to cut us off.

This post is kinda depressing. AND it was like pulling teeth to write it. I guess I'm distracted this week. I'll try for more funny stuff next time.

Until Next I Blog,

James