Scene In “Sin City” Connects Lying With Violence

A very thought provoking commentary at the Foundation for Economic Education’s website demonstrating a link between lying with violence.

Being sick is never fun. But when I was struck by a virus a few weeks ago, I took the opportunity to watch one of the great pulp action movies of the 2000s: Sin City.

The film adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novels is one of the most visually stunning movies ever made. Directed by Miller and Quentin Tarantino collaborator Robert Rodriguez, it contains plenty of sex and violence—but it’s done with style and story, which makes it feel more artistic than gratuitous.

Among a star-studded cast that includes Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson, and Elijah Wood, it’s still Mickey Rourke who stands out above and beyond the rest in Sin City. The onetime pretty boy of the 80s plays Marv, a tough-as-nails hard case who exacts revenge against the crime lords of Sin City who murdered a young prostitute. Marv’s murderous methods of revenge are unjust, and he pays the ultimate price for his actions, but Rourke shines in his role as a street tough taking on the real bad guys of Sin City: corrupt politicians and a wicked police state.

And this is where I gleaned something new from Sin City, a movie I had not watched in at least a decade (probably much longer).

Lying and conducting violence are trademarks of the political left so it is no surprise that over time leftists have become not only more violent, but also open about their doing so (including their willingness to cheat in elections) in recent years since the quickest way path to achieving and holding power is through the use of violence. As the author, John Miltimore (correctly) points out quoting Alexander Solzhenitsyn: [V]iolence can conceal itself with nothing except lies, and the lies can be maintained only by violence.

Miltimore and everyone else has a right to be concerned about the debasement of truth which has ratcheted up even more so in recent years. However, when it comes to the totalitarian culture cultivated by the left since 2016, it would be appropriate to lie in certain instances to avoid different types of persecutions especially if your life is at risk.

Ayn Rand and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, for example, lied to avoid having their lives destroyed in the situations they were in and the two were justified in doing so. But a good way to resist the left’s political dystopia is to follow Solzhenitsyn’s advice and not participate in the left’s culture of lies including telling the truth about the opposition which is also the purpose of this website.