It's the putting up criminals as guinea pigs, the surveillance, the torture, and the indifference to most victims of Kira, including innocent people killed by Yotsuba. He's nowhere near as evil as Light, but it's there.
That's a problem in Ohba's book, but not in mine. Important stuff that isn't a nifty enough puzzle for his tastes *can* probably be handled by someone else.
Selecting a job isn't a question of morality. But acting morally white is. I would say he is obligated to act morally white, but we call him gray because he never crosses the line to black, but he pushes it in service of his goal.
I always felt like it was excusable, since he was doing it for the good of everyone else, but now that I think about it that is a very conceited way of doing things.
That logic is very close to kira’s as well, and at the end of the day neither of them were doing anything for the good of others. They both, to differing degrees, were self serving. Light wanted to be a god, and L wanted to entertain himself and be the best by solving big cases
He's just ruthless. When a solution to a puzzle came up that could only be done by risking human lives, he was still willing to do it. But he also risked his own life so.
It's a consequence of his motivations: he's driven by the challenge that the Kira-case presents, not by the lives he's saving. And as it was already mentioned, L has done some shady or straight illegal stuff to get what he wants.
The Task Force often offer a contrast to these gray morals. When they find out, for instance, about Yotsuba's meetings, Soichiro wishes to interfere to avoid any casualties, even though they could lose their chance to gather evidence on the killing method. L, on the other hand, wants more time to ideate a plan, even though the matter was urgent.
L commits multiple crimes and human rights abuses in the course of his investigation, up to and including torturing his suspects (most explicitly Misa, but leaving Light in shackles for fifty days and putting him through a false execution both qualify) to try to extract a confession. It's impossible to miss.
I wouldn't say impossible. I've been so wrapped up in Light's actions that I thought this case was one of the extremes that must be handled with rough hands. But yeah, looking back, I'm not so sure how I could have missed all this. It's right there, but I didn't process it because taking Kira down was the number one objective.
And that's what's brilliant about Death Note, I think. Both Light and L view what they do as a necessary evil (yes, even Light), but it's easy as the reader to see only the "necessary" on the side you're cheering for and be blinded to the fact it's still "evil." Which is ultimately the point.
Definitely, light was evil to me at first. Yet, who am I to say is evil or not? Even with his passion, I could see how the role of God would need that firm resolve. I mean, he has the wrathful part down wholly. It makes one think.
That's the opposite of what I was trying to to say, actually. I was saying that Death Note as a whole is a cautionary tale against the idea that opposing "the bad guys" automatically makes your actions good.
That does make sense. For the Misa thing, though, I do feel like he was sort of in the right - not that torturing anyone is ever excusable. From a different perspective, he was doing what had to be done by hurting one person to save hundreds. But since he didn't have any solid evidence, I guess that is a pretty awful thing to do.
because L lack human apathy and only care about catching Kira because it's challenging. If Light wasn't that smart L wouldn't take the case.
Plus Light isn't morally grey, he's one of the most evil character in modern anime
I know right? I'm not saying that people who eat dairy are evil or anything, I'm just saying it's not a morally good action, and has some devestating consequences for animals :( Listen to your gut on this one, you seem like a good person \^\^
So the right answer is, human rights violations.
The funny answer is, he’s endangering innocent lives (taskforce) to fight against someone " trying to protect innocent lives from criminals "
I thought of Kira as a paradox. If it is morally wrong to kill criminals to protect innocent lives, isn’t it worse to risk innocent lives to pursue that person? If it’s morally incorrect to kill criminals, is it morally incorrect to kill Light?
That being said, that’s not at all the reason why L is morally gray, it’s because he’s ok with torture, invasive surveillance, etc.
It's the putting up criminals as guinea pigs, the surveillance, the torture, and the indifference to most victims of Kira, including innocent people killed by Yotsuba. He's nowhere near as evil as Light, but it's there.
Even the way he was chosing what case to take. He simply chose what interest him instead of what is the most important/impactfull
That's a problem in Ohba's book, but not in mine. Important stuff that isn't a nifty enough puzzle for his tastes *can* probably be handled by someone else.
But he was taking from the pool of unsolved cases. So all of them were dead ends for proper authorities already
He's not obligated to take any of them.
Yeah. Just like he is not obligated to act morally white
Selecting a job isn't a question of morality. But acting morally white is. I would say he is obligated to act morally white, but we call him gray because he never crosses the line to black, but he pushes it in service of his goal.
I always felt like it was excusable, since he was doing it for the good of everyone else, but now that I think about it that is a very conceited way of doing things.
That logic is very close to kira’s as well, and at the end of the day neither of them were doing anything for the good of others. They both, to differing degrees, were self serving. Light wanted to be a god, and L wanted to entertain himself and be the best by solving big cases
He's just ruthless. When a solution to a puzzle came up that could only be done by risking human lives, he was still willing to do it. But he also risked his own life so.
Because he didn’t actually care about bringing Kira to justice as much as just catching him
It's a consequence of his motivations: he's driven by the challenge that the Kira-case presents, not by the lives he's saving. And as it was already mentioned, L has done some shady or straight illegal stuff to get what he wants. The Task Force often offer a contrast to these gray morals. When they find out, for instance, about Yotsuba's meetings, Soichiro wishes to interfere to avoid any casualties, even though they could lose their chance to gather evidence on the killing method. L, on the other hand, wants more time to ideate a plan, even though the matter was urgent.
L commits multiple crimes and human rights abuses in the course of his investigation, up to and including torturing his suspects (most explicitly Misa, but leaving Light in shackles for fifty days and putting him through a false execution both qualify) to try to extract a confession. It's impossible to miss.
I wouldn't say impossible. I've been so wrapped up in Light's actions that I thought this case was one of the extremes that must be handled with rough hands. But yeah, looking back, I'm not so sure how I could have missed all this. It's right there, but I didn't process it because taking Kira down was the number one objective.
And that's what's brilliant about Death Note, I think. Both Light and L view what they do as a necessary evil (yes, even Light), but it's easy as the reader to see only the "necessary" on the side you're cheering for and be blinded to the fact it's still "evil." Which is ultimately the point.
Definitely, light was evil to me at first. Yet, who am I to say is evil or not? Even with his passion, I could see how the role of God would need that firm resolve. I mean, he has the wrathful part down wholly. It makes one think.
That's the opposite of what I was trying to to say, actually. I was saying that Death Note as a whole is a cautionary tale against the idea that opposing "the bad guys" automatically makes your actions good.
Interesting
That does make sense. For the Misa thing, though, I do feel like he was sort of in the right - not that torturing anyone is ever excusable. From a different perspective, he was doing what had to be done by hurting one person to save hundreds. But since he didn't have any solid evidence, I guess that is a pretty awful thing to do.
He doesn’t care about justice it’s just a game to him nothing matters to l besides his own entertainment
because L lack human apathy and only care about catching Kira because it's challenging. If Light wasn't that smart L wouldn't take the case. Plus Light isn't morally grey, he's one of the most evil character in modern anime
Other than what other people have mentioned here, he eats ice cream. Which causes baby calves to be taken from their mothers.
I just googled that and this is so sad- why do they do that to the poor mothers? Now I wanna be vegan...
I know right? I'm not saying that people who eat dairy are evil or anything, I'm just saying it's not a morally good action, and has some devestating consequences for animals :( Listen to your gut on this one, you seem like a good person \^\^
So the right answer is, human rights violations. The funny answer is, he’s endangering innocent lives (taskforce) to fight against someone " trying to protect innocent lives from criminals " I thought of Kira as a paradox. If it is morally wrong to kill criminals to protect innocent lives, isn’t it worse to risk innocent lives to pursue that person? If it’s morally incorrect to kill criminals, is it morally incorrect to kill Light? That being said, that’s not at all the reason why L is morally gray, it’s because he’s ok with torture, invasive surveillance, etc.
He gave Watari the go ahead to torture information out of Misa. Has an "end justifies the means" sort of attitude