In defense of history's worst: The Joker's actions in The Dark Knight were justified (Part 2)

For a guy who loves loves loves The Dark Knight, any excuse to talk about its characters is greatly welcomed. Thanks for setting this debate up. For my opening arguments, I will begin by showcasing some of his bad deeds and then linking them back into what the Joker's real motivation is. It should also be noted that a new definition for 'justified' is in the comments' section. First I'd like to talk about the decision Batman is forced to make between Harvey and Rachel[1]. We know that the Joker switches the buildings and Rachel dies. Did Rachel deserve this? Is Rachel some kind of threat to society and the whole benefits with her dead? No, of course not! She's a para-legal who helps clean the streets of Gotham. Aside from the woman who dies, the two guys who loved her are crushed. Batman will go into a 7 year retirement, and Dent will go on a grief driven killing spree. It is hardly good for the people of Gotham to have Batman retire and have Dent kill people. You can't give good justification for this. All this does is hurt people. Next there's the 'tryouts' scene[2]. He makes three guys who are probably friends fight to the death for survival. Next, consider the ferry scene[3]. The Joker is trying to get one of the two boats to kill the other in order to survive. He's trying to make them act selfishly. So what do all these have in common? The Joker is trying to bring people down to his level, because he hates himself. I'll get to the hates himself part later, but for now I'll show the similarities in these actions in regards to the Joker trying to bring people down to his level. With all of these actions, the Joker is trying to make people act in an uncivilized an selfish way. He's trying to bring out the worst in people. The death of Rachel brings about selfish feelings in Batman and Dent. Batman goes off wallowing in his own sadness to leave Gotham alone, and Dent can't see past his own grievances to show any traces of empathy on his animalistic killing spree. The Joker tosses the three bodyguards a broken pool cue and tells them to get to work because he wants them to forsake more civilized notions of honor and friendship and fight like animals for survival. He wants them to act purely in each of their own interests, so much so that they kill their friends. With the boats, the Joker is trying to get one group to kill off the other boat in order to show that people are selfish and animal deep down. Again, he's trying to take away their civilized tendencies. Now here's where I get to why the Joker is trying to get people to do this. The Joker is the least civilized of all of us. He acts purely for his own selfish desires. I presume that he doesn't like himself for this. Ordinarily I would reach a different conclusion: that he sees society as a bunch of animals pretending they're not what they are. And that is probably part of his outlook, but I believe that isn't all. When the Joker first talks to the gang bosses[4], he is interrupted by Gambol. Joker: "You see a guy like me-" Gambol: "A freak!" At this the Joker looks visibly affected. He looks down, which I may add, is one of the facial expressions associated with shame[]. Not only does he do that, but he struggles to find his words for a moment, and once he does, he cuts right to the chase, perhaps a sign his confidence and willingness to monologue extensively has been extinguished. That's not all. Same video, someone cuts him off and says he's crazy. This seems to affect him too. From this scene I theorize that The Joker feels insecure about himself to a certain degree, and seeks to make others like himself in order to feel 'normal'. But hey, you don't have to buy that to still think that The Joker has no acceptable reason to do what he does. Even if you don't think he's insecure, you should be able to see that he's on a mission to make others like him. And how is that a justified mission? To make a world full of Jokers would cause completely unacceptable suffering to others. The only thing The Joker could accomplish was make the world a worse place. It doesn't matter if The Joker is right, and we really are all animals underneath. It doesn't matter because the world is a better place without animals for humans. Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4]