By day he is a mild-mannered financial adviser from Devon. But at night he dons an outfit that makes him look like a cross between a riot cop and a gladiator to become "the Dark Spartan", roaming the mean streets of...
The mean streets of...?
... the mean streets of Torquay on Friday and Saturday nights trying to keep the good people of the English Riviera safe.
Which as we all know is just swamped with violent crime...
The Dark Spartan – aka 27-year-old Will – is the star of a Channel 4 programme, First Cut: Superheroes of Suburbia. According to the programme, there is a growing band of upstanding citizens such as Will to be found trying to clean up the streets of Britain. As well as the Dark Spartan, there is a former soldier called Ken who operates as "the Shadow" and uses "ninjutsu" techniques and smoke bombs to tackle boy racers in Yeovil, Somerset. In Yorkshire, Keiran, a 17-year-old comic-book obsessive, takes on the persona of "Noir" to target muggers.
The programme does not appear to be a spoof.
Scary. The Dark Spartan, spoof or no, seems to be inspired by the fascist circle jerk movie 300. Legends of Spartan aristocracy were central to the ideology of early fascist groups, such as the Thule Society. The same ubermensch delusion inflicting Anders Breivik inflicts these people, people who, by the way, fit the classic fascist profile; the suburban and rural middle class. Fear is the steroid inflating their fantasies. The far-right love dressing up.
Laugh all you want, and these people are funny, but regardless of the particular truth of this documentary in these bleak times weirdos, vigilantes and fascists are spreading like mould on a bathmat. Carry bleach and watch where you tread.