real-life villains

In the "real world," a villain does not dress all in black; he does not proclaim his villainy with his fashion or his mannerisms. Likewise, he is not motivated by one-dimensional drives to evil and cruelty. He does not crouch in a dark cave plotting the torment of innocents for its own sake. No, the real-life villain sees himself a hero; his actions are motivated in the righteousness of his own imaginings. He, no less because he is a villain, is a paragon of his own standards of virtue. The wise man says: our certainty of our own righteousness is no guarantee that we are free from villainy.