Dodging the rules.

I often wonder why more smart people (and I mean actual smart people, not the kind that win 'Sale of the Century') don't become really, really dodgy people. I'm not talking about a company CEO that writes up a contract that screws over their client/opposinge company/etc. Nor do I mean the kind of people that manage to skim off millions of dollars off the profits of their company. I'm talking Mafia dodgey. Not to say that the real Mafia is dodgey of course, I'm talking movie Mafia.

Sounds odd I know, but really, with a bit of planning and foresight, you could accomplish amazing things. Again I should point out that not all dodgey activity is 'bad' or 'evil'. Dodgey can just mean side-stepping a few laws that get in the way of things that should happen sometimes. For example, Batman is a little dodgey in his opperations, but he does undeniably good work.

Either way, it's sad to see that so many fools and idiots try get away with things that they really don't have the capacity for. Saying that though does bring to mind the fact that they never put on T.V. shows such as 'Worlds Smartest Villans' do they? It's always 'Worlds Dumbest'. I guess the masses prefer to see some moron getting caught so that they can feel superior. A wasted gesture in my books as the majority of people who watch for that reason wouldn't have the capacity to come up with the plan that those guys mess up.

This is probably why I've come to love movies such as 'Ocean's Eleven' and 'The Score'. The criminals are smart and they have a plan. They know how to adjust to counteract any unknown variables. Then you have movies like 'The Princess Bride' and 'The Three Musketeers' where the heros are definately dodgey, but they get the job done through raw skill and precision.

For me, I've had some serious opportunities to be dodgey. Running cars for instance. I lived on the N.S.W/Vic. boarder and was offerd a job taking stolen cars from the N.S.W. side down to a Melbourne chop-shop. Turns out that stolen cars become a lot more difficult to trace once they cross a state boarder and if you're quick, you can get something like that done before anyone can mobalise to get in the way. A quick change of plates makes all the difference. The point is though that it was there even though I knew better than to take it.

Personally, I'd rather try be the anti-hero: Be dodgey, get the job done and in the end, although I've broken a few laws here and there, the end result is a morally favourable one. The problem with this option though is that if you get caught in the process, you will be tried and conviced over the laws you have broken and no thought will ever be given to the good you were trying to accomplish. I guess it's just easier to be bad.

Wrapping up, I think society has almost degraded enough for me to feel that we need the odd vigilante on the streets. Not the crazy kind that thinks he's the Highlander (that little incident in Sydney was hilarious by the way), but a Batman-esque kind of guy that knows what he's doing, has a solid and irreproachable moral compass and the guts to get the job done. If there's a benevolant benefactor out there that agrees, let me know and I'll be happy to send in my resume. After all, I'd love to change the world, even if nobody knows it's me that's doing it.




I love that I know just the right people that could make it work.