Would you support superheroes?

[Silver Jelly]

In Spain, the military started a war to prevent the country of becoming communist. Then they decided to start a fascist regime.

As a rich family, my grandparent suffered in the hands of the "reds", having to spend the war in several forced work camps, losing everything he and his family had. As a catalan intellectual, he then had his culture forbidden by the fascist government (and he didn't suffer too much because, as an ex-prisoner of "the enemy", he had certain privileges).

Am I supposed to be for or against the spanish military, then, considering the historical precedents?

And how can I judge the american army?

 

[Chazwozel]

Let's say you read your morning paper and come across the local section. The main story is about how a group of thugs were found beaten to a pulp. Those crooks claim to have been clobbered by some guy in a hotrod red and yellow armor suit. Would you think "Oh my. Vigilantism is deplorable in this day and age."

Or would you think "Oh my God! This is so awesome!" Don't kid yourself.

I would probably think "Jesus christ, I hope the police catch that guy. "[/quote]

Sometimes even you lay it on a bit thick Charlie.[/quote]

I'm not just saying that. Seriously. Real life isn't Iron Man. If someone was taking out people in powered armor, there's no reason to think they would only go after the evil. Last time something like this happened, it was that Killdozer in Colorado that basically leveled an entire small town and caused millions in property damage.[/QUOTE]


I wish I had Ironman's suit. My first order of business would be to fly to Texas and turbo kick you in the balls.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

I wish I had Ironman's suit. My first order of business would be to fly to Texas and turbo kick you in the balls.

And I hope you'd go to jail for that.

 

[Chazwozel]

I wish I had Ironman's suit. My first order of business would be to fly to Texas and turbo kick you in the balls.

And I hope you'd go to jail for that.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry, I wouldn't...

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

I wish I had Ironman's suit. My first order of business would be to fly to Texas and turbo kick you in the balls.

And I hope you'd go to jail for that.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry, I wouldn't...[/QUOTE]

Dave don't delete this thread

 

[Espy]

 

[ThatGrinningIdiot!]

I wish I had Ironman's suit. My first order of business would be to fly to Texas and turbo kick you in the balls.

And I hope you'd go to jail for that.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry, I wouldn't...[/QUOTE]

Dave don't delete this thread[/QUOTE]

Chuck, I hope you never have to meet a robber or mugger.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

I wish I had Ironman's suit. My first order of business would be to fly to Texas and turbo kick you in the balls.

And I hope you'd go to jail for that.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry, I wouldn't...[/QUOTE]

Dave don't delete this thread[/QUOTE]

Chuck, I hope you never have to meet a robber or mugger.[/QUOTE]

Self-defense is a completely different matter, and I don't begrudge the responsible use of firearms for protection. And I hope I don't meet a robber or mugger ever either.

 

[Dave]

Oh hai guys! What's happening in THIS thread?

1. Desperate people do desperate things. Look at the story of that guy who tried to rob the Pakistani store owner. The store owner disarmed him, gave him some bread and $40. Here's the initial story. Here's the followup. The guy writes back and includes $50 and a letter thanking the shopkeeper for helping to change his life. The point is, superheroes would not be a deterrent for people who are in this situation, anyway.
2. As a former military person I can tell you that I knew some pretty courageous individuals and I knew some who I wouldn't shoot in the head as it would be a waste of time and a perfectly good bullet. Not all soldiers are heroic.

Turbo OUT!

 

[Shegokigo]

Oh hai guys! What's happening in THIS thread?

1. Desperate people do desperate things. Look at the story of that guy who tried to rob the Pakistani store owner. The store owner disarmed him, gave him some bread and $40. Here's the initial story. Here's the followup. The guy writes back and includes $50 and a letter thanking the shopkeeper for helping to change his life. The point is, superheroes would not be a deterrent for people who are in this situation, anyway.
2. As a former military person I can tell you that I knew some pretty courageous individuals and I knew some who I wouldn't shoot in the head as it would be a waste of time and a perfectly good bullet. Not all soldiers are heroic.

Turbo OUT!

/

 

[Ravenpoe]

Super heroes kinda go against the very idea of due process and justice for all.


Not that the US justice system is perfect (far from it), but it beats a bunch of vigilantes running around, taking the law into their own hands.

This is the difference between reality and fantasy.

 

[fade]

Then again, that was the whole point in the beginning. Even the first Superman comic if I recall correctly talks about how due process won't work against these guys. Of course this is right before Supes tosses some gangsters literally across the city, presumably to their off-panel deaths.

 

[@Li3n]

Desperate people do desperate things. Look at the story of that guy who tried to rob the Pakistani store owner. The store owner disarmed him, gave him some bread and $40. Here's the initial story. Here's the followup. The guy writes back and includes $50 and a letter thanking the shopkeeper for helping to change his life. The point is, superheroes would not be a deterrent for people who are in this situation, anyway.

What, that store owned is obviously some sort of muslim superhero solving the worlds problems one conversion at a time.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

Who watches the Watchmen?

Not me, not yet anyway. I haven't actually got around to watching the Watchmen. Maybe when I see a copy at the used DvD shop.[/QUOTE]

Go for the comic book itself.[/QUOTE]
Maybe I already have. Maybe I haven't. I ain't gonna go say, cause Droill didn't go ask who reads the Watchmen.


*goes for a soda*

 

[Iaculus]

Who watches the Watchmen?

Not me, not yet anyway. I haven't actually got around to watching the Watchmen. Maybe when I see a copy at the used DvD shop.[/quote]

Go for the comic book itself.[/quote]
Maybe I already have. Maybe I haven't. I ain't gonna go say, cause Droill didn't go ask who reads the Watchmen.


*goes for a soda*[/QUOTE]

Check the fridge.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

I'm a little afraid to. Last time I checked there was a little has-been Canadian rock star chilling out in there.

 

[fade]

That was just Zuul.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

hmm.

I don't think we're on the same wavelength here, man. I've been alluding to this:

 

[Adam]

Superheroes beget supervillains. Batman created the Joker, Superman creates Lex Luthor, the Flash creates the Reverse Flash.

In each of those cases, escalation ends up killing more people than if the superhero never originally existed, so no, I don't want superheroes.

A mugger can be foiled by any ordinary person with a bit of luck. Lex Luthor not so much.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

What the heck's The Reverse Flash? The only thing I can think of would be a never-nude.

 

[drawn_inward]

If you could find someone or a group of people that would be totally self-less, and not do it for money or fame like Batman then I wouldn't have too much of a problem with it.

People are corrupt. We have corrupt cops, politicians, etc. They're not all corrupt, but a lot are and a lot become corrupt once they get some power. As much as I'd like to see some real justice for some murdering/child-molesting scum, I don't think we'd find a person like Bruce Wayne in this world. We read those books and watch those movies b/c we wish for that, but it won't work in the real world.

 

[Null]

Superheroes are a symptom of a society that is unwilling to protect itself and instead wants someone unaccountable, untouchable, unknowable, to step in and do it for them. Instead of being able or willing to protect yourself, Spiderman will save you. Batman will take down the badguy. Just call for Superman.

Superheroes do indeed beget supervillians, because without supervillians, there's no real need for superheroes. You take places like Dodge City, Deadwood, Tombstone - places where shootings were not uncommon when various groups were in town, where the murder rate could get unreasonably high when the whiskey flowed, the town was packed, and desperation ran high. A small group of deputy marshals, including Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp, pacified the town to a reasonable level. They did this without huge collateral damage, or even a high body count. Earp, for example, is only known to have killed one man in a gunfight during his work in Dodge City. What happened was that they were willing to break up fights before they got unreasonable, and they were willing to take down people who needed to be taken down. They had the legal right to do so, and they rode that to, and sometimes over, the limit. They used their pistols as clubs when need be, and pulled shotguns on crowds that even looked at them ugly. What made it work, was that the people on the other end of their guns, knew they'd use them if they had to, without being mean drunk and crazy.

Were they superheroes?

No. They were lawmen, doing their job the way it needed to be done.

So would I support superheroes? No, I'd rather support the ones we already have.