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In his graphic novel, Watchmen, Alan Moore (V For Vendetta, Lost Girls) re-imagines the course of the Cold War and creates a fictional world in which the fear of ‘mutual assured destruction’ has allowed America to become a police state with a dictatorial Richard Nixon serving a perpetual term as president whilst America’s population allows what Thomas Hobbes refers to as “the introduction of that [dictatorial] restraint upon themselves… [with] the foresight of their own preservation” (Hobbes, 223). When examining the events of Moore’s novel through the lens of a Hobbesian perspective, it becomes clear that the motivation for the allowance of a police state has arisen through the “Passions that encline men to Peace” (188), and the “Feare of Death” (188), providing insight into not only Moore’s work, but the social atmosphere of the Cold War that he satirizes in his work.

Throughout Leviathan, Hobbes outlines human nature as being impelled by “Appetite, or Desire… Hunger and Thirst… and Aversion” (119), stating that humanity pursues the “Presence of the same” (119) objects that they desire and also seek the “Absence of the Object” (119) or objects for which they have an aversion. Hobbes also claims that ‘man’ will use what power ‘he’ has for the “preservation of his own Life” (189) and that because “Nature hath made men so equall… that… the difference between man, and man, is not so considerable” (183), humanity is has “perpetuall and restlesse desire of Power” (161) in order that one might secure their own happiness over their competitors. When humanity doesn’t share a “common Power to keep [humanity] in awe… warre …is of every man, against every man” (185) and because, according to Hobbes, war leads to death, and humanity has an aversion to death and a desire for life, humanity is inclined to seek a common authority to ensure peace (185-186). This brief outline of Hobbesian theory, is the basis for Moore’s narrative.

This Hobbesian peace is provided by the Nixon-lead police state presented in Moore’s Watchman. When rioting reminiscent of the race riots during the ‘Long Hot Summer’ pop up in New York and Washington, the government employs masked vigilantes to break the rioters and threaten them with “riot gas and rubber bullets” (Moore, Chapter II, 16) with the aim to provide the people protection “from themselves” (16) until the government gets a “new act… herded through” (16) that will control people, a practice that correlates with Hobbes, who states that people need to have a “common Power to keep [them] in awe” (Hobbes, 185) and in turn maintain peace. Tragically, this representation of excessive force on the part of police in the name of protecting people from themselves has proven far too prophetic in America with a rash of highly publicized instances of excessive force and police brutality on the part of policy enforcers, notably when peaceful Occupy protest in Oakland resulted in an Iraq War veteran being unlawfully assaulted by police, and likewise when a great-grandmother who was severely beaten by a member of the California Highway Patrol (not Eric Estrada) who claimed he was trying to remove her from danger. When saving the public from themselves results in more damage than they would have otherwise endured, the process needs to be questions.

Civil rioting, however, is not the primary source of concern, but rather international security as Americans seek to push their ‘containment’ strategy to minimize the spread of communism and Russian influence. One of the major fronts of the Cold War was technological, and as Hobbes states that humanity will “find three… causes for quarrell; Competition… Diffidence…[and] glory” (185). America first engaged in ‘Competition’ on an intellectual level to gain intellectual/technological property. When an accident involving scientific researcher Jon Osterman turns the scientist into an anomalous being with the power to “control atomic structure” (Moore, Chapter IV, 13), as well as the ability to step back and forth through time, America quickly subdues the enemies with fear and renames Osterman: “Dr. Manhattan, a name “chosen for the ominous associations it will raise in Americas enemies” (12) as it would link the Manhattan Project and its aim to “affect the race in weaponry and space technology” (13) with Osterman’s nearly omnipotent powers. By placing their enemies in a state of fear, the Americans halt the arms race and impel an era of peace, using the superior technology they gained to bolster their “Glory… and… Reputation” (Hobbes, 185), both of which are needed to compensate for the diffidence that Hobbes speaks of. In turn, this provides safety from the ‘mutual assured destruction’ that the arms race threatened. The ‘Reputation’ end of this is what impels the Russians to back off on the arms race as America developed a reputation that threatens Russia, a reputation that was earned through the ‘glory’ of their technological advances.

This newly acquired authority is maintained for over two decades, but when Dr. Manhattan enters a personal crisis and abandons the planet in favour of Mars (unfortunately he doesn’t meet or grok Valentine Michael Smith whilst there), America no longer has dominant authority over Russia. Without a “common Power to keep [the world] in awe” (185), Moore’s dystopian society enters into “that condition which is called warre” (185). The day after news of Manhattan’s desertion hits, the papers read: “Russians Invade Afghanistan” (Moore, Chapter III, 25). The same day Pentagon informs Nixon that they “can be ready for First Strike within seven days… [and] advise against leaving it longer” (26). Days later the papers question; “Is Pakistan Next?” (Chapter V, 12), indicating that the individual condition of war that Hobbes warns of between individual men has escalated at a state level when a dominating power is not present. This polarization is further heightened as the novel progresses as the headlines read “Tanks Mass In Eastern Europe” (Chapter VIII, 8) in what is described as a defensive strategy, illustrating Hobbes belief that “nature of man… causes quarrel[s]… [based on] diffidence” (Hobbes, 185). In this instance tanks have amassed to compensate for Europe’s diffidence with the aim of secure “Safety” (185) against a Russian military that they fear is stronger than their own.

In the novels final act, Adrian Veitd, a vigilante/self-made multi-millionaire with a brilliant mind who renamed himself Ozymandias, decides to do the one thing his childhood hero could not: unify the entire world. His childhood hero was Alexander the Great, and in a monologue delivered to his fellow vigilantes, Veitd praises his hero for conquering “Turkey and Phoenicia… Egypt [and]… Persia” (Moore, Chapter XI, 8), knocking out his competition and replacing their leaders with one unified sovereign that brought peace a leadership that was “without barbarism” (8), but only whilst the populace of this conquered territories were under what Hobbes refers to as the “terrour of some power” (Hobbes, 223). With a nuclear Holocaust on the horizon, Veidt takes extreme measures to unite the world. His plan is “to frighten governments into co-operation [by convincing] them that Earth faced imminent attack by beings from another world” (Moore, Chapter XI, 24). To do this Veidt creates an artificial alien being that is several stories high and has it destroy half of New York, killing millions of people in the process (25-26). The destruction of New York puts an “immediate end to hostilities…. and [Russia agrees to] end the war in Afghanistan as a gesture” (Chapter 12, 19) of peace, showing how the Hobbesian assessments of human nature, in Moore’s world at least, are very true in that the “Passions that encline men to Peace, are Feare of Death” (Hobbes, 188). This again reaffirming Hobbes claim that people are in a “perpetuall and restlesse desire of Power” (161), and that once this sort of power is obtained, peace can be enjoyed. In this instance the fear of death is the fear of alien invasion which encourages the nations of the world to unite.

When Veidt admits to his action to a small circle of friends, he assumes that his fellow vigilantes will see the value in this mass murder, but not all the masked heroes are in agreement. The Second Nite-Owl agrees to stay quiet about the scheme, as does Silk Spectre, but Rorschach, an objectivist hero whose real name is Walter Kovacs, believes that the truth should be known and leaves the Veidt compound with the intent of telling the world the truth about what has happened in New York. Dr. Manhattan though, who himself sees the benefit of Veidt’s plan meets Rorschach and instantly tears him apart at the atomic level to prevent him from making the truth known to the public, believing that peace for all is greater than either the truth, or Rorschach’s life. By taking Rorschach’s life, Manhattan has, as Hobbes says all men have the right to do, used “his own power… for the preservation of his own Life” (Hobbes, 189), as well as the preservation of all life on Earth. Likewise, Veidt’s plan to massacre half of New York is an example of self-preservation, and Veidt has done what “his own Judgement, and Reason… conceive[d] to be the” (189) best means of preserving his life. Faced with a nuclear holocaust that would have destroyed the entire planet, both Veidt and Dr. Manhattan acted in a way that appears to be in concert with the Hobbesian assessment of human nature: man will do, and has the right to do, what is in his own best interest. In this instance allowing the death of two and a half million people, rather than allowing a nuclear war to wipe out six billion. It may seem an unreasonable and unlikely decision, but it is not dissimilar to the one Harry S Truman made regarding Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the film adaptation, the end is different in plot structure, but similar in spirit as it is the unifying fear or a rogue Dr. Manhattan, fabricated by Veidt, that unifies the world in peace under the fear of Dr. Manhattan’s wrath.

Hobbes argues that fear and desire dictate all of human nature; that self-preservation motivated all action; and that humanity has sought to find shelter from war under the umbrella of an overarching authority. In Moore’s novel America kept war at bay as long as Dr. Manhattan superiority invoked the fear of their enemies, and when his power was neutralized, war broke out again, leading Veidt to seek a way to unify all of humanity under one fear that peace might be revived, illustrating the Hobbesian logic that “Passions that encline men to Peace, are Feare of Death” (188) . When that peace is threatened Dr. Manhattan is more than willing to preserve peace, even at the cost of a human life, keeping in tune Hobbesian view “each man hath, to use his own power… for the preservation of his own Nature” (189) and illustrating the viewing Moore’s work through a Hobbesian lens offers great insight into the work and motivations of the characters within it.

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Works Cited:

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. London, England: Penguin Books, 1651.

Moore, Alan. Watchmen. New York, DC Comics, 1986-1987.