We yearn for an all-powerful deity to strike down our foes and restore order to the world. Generally, it works out badly in real life.
I was thinking the other day - a dangerous pastime of mine - and wondering why, in recent years, comic-book superheros have become so popular. You can't go to the multiplex without being inundated by the latest superhero movies. There are so many superheros that they have to form "leagues" or associations. Instead of the "good old days" when we had just Superman and "The Bat-Man" today we have hundreds, if not thousands of superheros with super-powers, except of course for Batman, whose only super-power is staggering wealth and a brooding backstory.
What is the deal with superheros today? And how did this all start? Then it struck me - fascism.
Superman #1 came out in 1939 and Batman #1 came out in 1940. Sure, there may have been superheros before then (and certainly comic books) but those two really got the ball rolling. The 1930's were a time of upheaval. Severe economic depression - the worst in modern history, so far - and a buildup to war worldwide was also accompanied by the rise of fascism. Hitler and his ilk talked about the Übermensch, a philosophy of Nietzsche from the previous century.
Interestingly enough, Übermensch literally translates (from German) to "Superman" - funny how that works.
It occurred to me that people pined back then for a powerful super-human to solve the world's problems, either in the form of a fascist dictator, or a superhero who will save the day. Either solution is a bad idea, although the fantasy is appealing. I am not the first person to make this connection, either. Like most things in life, they occur to me only after everyone else has thought of it.
I mentioned before that even Kurt Vonnegut in one of his early short stories, fantisized about a man with telekinetic powers who would systematically disarm the entire world. In the post-war atomic era, no doubt that was an appealing fantasy:
Saving the world reminds me of a short story I read, by Kurt Vonnegut, in a collection edited by Robert Heinlein. In the story, a professor of metaphysics develops mental abilities allowing him to manipulate matter remotely. He goes about disarming the world by making all the weapons of the world disappear. Sounds like a nice fantasy, and a way of solving the world's problems. But it was a short story and didn't explore the real-world consequences. If you eliminated all the nuclear weapons, tanks, missiles, cannons, guns, and whatnot, the country that could mount the largest army and just pummel people to death, would win. Odds are, that would be China. World war would not be eliminated, but merely changed. Human nature being what it is, people would just fine new ways to be cruel to one another. You can't save the world, but it is an interesting fantasy.
It isn't hard to understand the appeal of superheros - or fascism. In a world beset with what appear to be easily-solvable problems, we get tired of people bickering with each other and trying to jockey for position or to feather their own nest. If only a strong-man would take charge, put the criminals in jail (lock her up!) and knock heads together and kick some butt then great things could be done!
So in 1930's Germany - or even America - the idea of a strong-man who would "triumph" with his willpower to "get things done" and "make the trains run on time" was seen as desirable. Cut out all the red tape! Cut to the chase! Put those corrupt politicians and "special interest groups" in their place!
Superman works the same way. He has absolute power (other than the Kryptonite thing) and he extra-judicially deals with criminals. Of course, in the comic books (and television shows, and movies and whatnot) he always rounds up "the bad guys" and deposits them, in a big net, at the police station - as if the big problem the Police have is catching these guys. The problem is, of course, convicting them, which Superman doesn't help with, as half the time, his actions destroy evidence or what evidence exists cannot be admissible in a court of law.
It is like these people with their "catch a predator" videos - they make the videos not to catch predators, but to generate clicks and make money. Sadly, the "evidence" they produce is often inadmissible in court, and thus while they might expose a predator, they haven't necessarily taken him (or her) off the streets.
In other words, "taking the law into your own hands" is often a bad idea. It is like these folks who defend themselves with their "gun rights" only to end up in jail as a result, or if not that, subject to civil litigation that bankrupts them, and if not that, marks them for life as killers. It isn't as easy as they show it on television.
But what about today? Why do we have a rise in fascism yet again - and this time accompanied by literal legions of super-heroes?
I think the same effect is in play - it seems we have a litany of
easily-solvable problems and
we want easy answers to them. But those darn politicians and special-interests are getting in the way! If only some strong-man could take power and knock heads together, we'd live in paradise!
That's the snake-oil being sold, anyway. The reality is, of course, you are one of those special interests and one of those "bad" politicians represents, in part, your views. It is always the "other guy" who is the obstructionist, but to him, the obstructionist is you.
The reality is, of course, that inefficiency and deadlock are sometimes the best thing. I get e-mails from a left-leaning group claiming that the Post Office is being destroyed by Trump's appointee. Maybe this is true, maybe not. I suspect that in the end, we will still get our mail - or won't care if we don't - and that inefficient or not, the Post Office will struggle onward, through rain or sleet or snow or gloom of night, etc. etc. etc. It isn't quite as bad as not having enough coconut to make Ambrosia for 50 people at a Christmas party.
It's not quite the end of the world, Katie-bell!
Superheroes or fascists, it works the same way. You put one person in charge, give them absolute powers, and odds are, you aren't going to be happy. Since they have absolute powers, they will not relinquish power, willingly. You are stuck with them for life - assassination is the only way out.
And let's be clear here - fascism comes in all flavors. Putin likes to say there are "fascists" in the Ukraine, but he is just using the classic Trump playbook of "bounces off me, sticks to you!" After all, Putin is the de facto warmongering dictator-for-life of Russia. He is a fascist.
We dodged the fascism bullet in the 1930's when the Supreme Court invalidated a lot of the New Deal. It wasn't that Roosevelt was Hitler (although many in the GOP would like you to think so) only that people voted for him to "get things done" and "knock some heads together" in Washington and get us out of this depression. We dodged a bullet in 2020 when Biden was elected and people didn't go along with Trump's attempted
coup d'etat or insurrection or whatever you want to call it.
We dodged that bullet, but he's still firing. There are people in our own country who still think that Trump is a genius and he should be made dictator-for-life and only then, can we
line up the trans people and shoot them.
First, they came for the trans people, and I said nothing..... this is how it begins. Not that the sports thing isn't a real issue, though. But shooting people? What sort of drugs is he on? Oh, right. Meth.
Anyway, it just struck me that this whole superhero genre and how popular it has become in recent years, is not a healthy thing. We are imprinting ourselves and our children with fascist ideals and not even realizing it. Instead of thinking how to solve problems, compromise, and get along, we are pining instead for a world of black-and-white, good-versus-evil, where "good" prevails always and we smite evil.
Problem is, what some perceive as "evil" is the other man's "good." This shit backfires in a big way. You pine for a strong-man and the first thing he does, once in power, is line his supporters up against the wall. Ask the Brownshirts. Ask the folks "purged" by Stalin. You are not safe just because you supported the dictator - particularly if you have second thoughts later on - ask the many people poisoned by Putin.
By the way - a final thought - the Romans considered poisoning to be a woman's form of assassination. Real men, in their mind, stabbed someone, and not in the back, either. You looked your opponent in the eye and killed them, personally. Putin would be deemed an effeminate coward back in the time of the Caesars.
I guess you can say that for Superheroes - they never resorted to such cowardly tactics!
