THE CHOICE or, What Makes a Superhero

By Zero
The general consensus among the public at large is that Superheroes have Superpowers. Be it supernatural, science related or simply resulting in special training to become the pinnacle of human development. “They” (the same “they” that speaks so prolifically throughout the annals of time, debunking and dissolving and disproving) say that we’re not Superheroes if we don’t have Superpowers. They say that without Superpowers, we can’t really be effective.
I disagree. Wholly.
Before I tackle the semantics of this subject, I’d like to state simply that while we do seem to emulate the more current comic book Superhero meme, there is a much older and more substantive meme that is being overlooked.
Research the Scarlet Pimpernel. Tomo Gozen. Joan of Arc. The Sons of Liberty. The Bald Knobbers. Don’t recognize the names? Google is your friend. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Compassion and True Justice are older than superheroes. They’re older than Superman, Batman, they’re older than Coca-Cola.
A lot older.
Superheroes are simply the modern manifestation of this recurring theme, and the fact that an entire group of people has been driven by discontent and injustice to emulate these fantastic and literally incredible characters is proof of a sad age, indeed. But instead of embracing or supporting this marvel of human spirit to fly in the face of apathy, the majority chooses to ridicule from the safety of their armchairs without a second thought. Understandable, to a point, but it’s a knee-jerk reaction.
Really, people. Your main criticism is based on aesthetics alone. I’ve seen some of you, out in public, wearing your snuggies and your Uggs. Your button-up, popped-collar Kmart specials. You’re no prize to fashion.
It’s time to stop making decisions based on image. Hasn’t American Beauty taught you anything?
I think the reason for this criticism overkill is that the public secretly wishes that Superheroes were real. They’ve been waiting for it, subconsciously on the edge of their seats, and now that it’s in the eye of the media they want nothing less than leaping tall buildings, laser vision and adamantium claws. They want a huge change, a quantum leap in evolution because all the old tricks aren’t working for this country anymore. It’s a product of desensitization, in my opinion.
Any president that took over for Bush was screwed for this exact same reason. People want too much, and when they don’t get what they expect, any and all efforts are discounted and criticized into the ground. But now we’re getting into the realm of politics, and at this point I’ll bring my ADD rantings back to the subject at hand.
A real hero doesn’t fool himself into thinking that he can cure all with one solid blow to the heart of some perceived “evil”. That’s grossly naïve. It’s a child’s solution, albeit one that is often used to satiate a pre-existing bloodlust.
Changing the world is something that is going to take patience, persistence in character, and above all the unspoken choice that the people of this community make every day of their lives. The choice to go beyond random acts of kindness, or simple decency. The choice to become the antithesis of apathy, simply by getting out there and doing anything. Sacrificing the need to be cool, in the old sense of fashionable aloofness, for a new unity.
You think we crave the spotlight? You’d be right in some cases. As with any loosely organized bunch of universal misfits, we have a few of those types. But ask yourself, has the typical celebrity done much beyond perform onscreen, or produce a hit album every few years?
If that’s the extent of their contributions to society, how does that put them above a person that braves the cold to feed the homeless, or risks their neck just because they’re tired of watching the world crumble around them? Is it simply the aesthetic, or the image, or the lifestyle that makes America worship them so?
What does that say about our country?
The world has lost perspective, we’ve given over to the things that should take up a very small percentage of our time, and the demand for these things have caused supplies to boom. This has resulted in the current lifestyle-obsessed society that is clogging the arteries of human progress.
The saddest consequence of all is that kindness and compassion are lost to mystique and drama. Conflict is more exciting than peace. It’s an overindulgence that has crippled us.
I’d say that the RLSH community is a direct consequence of this.
So how could we expect anything less, in our image obsessed world, than these strangely dressed people vying for your attention? How many good cops or charity workers do you see in the mainstream media, calling attention to simple acts of human decency?
Not many. Not enough. In the end, that choice is all it takes to be… something more.
Think about it.