Bandits and Outlaws

Here's a surrealist joke: Why are bad guys good guys?
I don't actually have an amusing answer to that. But a lot of 'bad guys' in history were portrayed as good and decent people. For example, look at Robin Hood. His motto was "rob from the rich to give to the poor", the very opposite of the modern Tory. He was so famous for his good deeds, Walt Disney even gave him a film!
But was he all he seemed? What he apparently actually did, was rob from the poor, to give to the poor in the next village. Which is disillusioning, but there you have it.

There are two types of bandits: bandits and 'social bandits'. The social bandits were the champions of the weak, like Robin Hood. They were peasants who lived in the forests.
Social Bandits didn't have any political agenda, they were just all about self-liberation and well-being. but were they good champions of the weak? in reality, bandits like Robin Hood were very unreliable allies and if the price was right, they would kill anyone.
After this 'social bandits' era, and the peasants were freed, the social bandits disappeared, and other types of bandits turned up.

Jesse James (1870-1882) was a hero in his own lifetime. He and his gang robbed many banks and trains, and many were shot during these robberies. He was popularly seen, like Robin Hood, as a champion for the poor, but he was politically motivated. he fought in the civil war, and his family were wealthy. Conversely to his public image of 'standing up for the poor', he was pro-slavery.

Most of the robberies he carried out, he kept the money for himself, and on top of this, he would mostly target banks that were anti-slavery.

In conclusion, bandits - even 'decent heroes' always have an agenda, or the real them have got lost through time.
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