"Superman is enforcing the will of America's white, Christian, capitalist system by ignoring crimes against the poor, consumers, labor unions, the environment, etc"
There is a whif of racism and religious bigotry in this. Non-Christians and non-Whites are found a-plenty in the "American way" that Superman defends. Whites and Christians are also found a-plenty (and perhaps dominate) the numbers of poor in the US, and there are probably over a billion Caucasians in poverty outside the US.
Too bad Superman looks like an Anglo-Saxon. It would have been an interesting idea if his racial appearance was somehow different from this after his resurrection.
As for him ignoring crimes against labor unions, he'd do better to go after the crimes committed BY labor unions: all the harassment and assault suffered by people who want to work for a living and dare to cross picket lines manned by those who are throwing their jobs away. I have NO respect for unions as long as they force people to join against their will (most do) and as long as they encourage harassment and violence against working people (picket line behavior).
His record on the environment isn't too shabby in some ways, as well, if you consider the earth-endangering schemes that he stopped. One, I recall, had young Luthor accelerating global warming in order to help Smallville crops :)
A whiff of racism? Not. The US is something like 70% white. Many Third World countries are something like 98% nonwhite. They also have many more problems than the US: droughts, plagues, civil wars, etc. Guess where Superman spends most of his time.
Your statistics on race--a controversial subject, to be sure--are way off. There are only about a billion Caucasians total. Since most live in the US and Europe, they're relatively well off. If you assume 20% of them live in poverty, that's only 200 million people, not a billion.
Since unions rarely go on strike, attacking scabs is an extremely small part of their business. A much larger part is fighting companies that violate wage and safety laws. And fighting the government for not enforcing those laws.
I don't consider saving the earth the same as saving the environment. When you save the entire planet, you're saving the loggers and miners as well as the plants and animals. You're maintaining the status quo, NOT protecting the environment at the expense of developers.
By the way, how often has Superman stopped a fire or flood when that's nature's way of renewing itself? Did he ever check with ecologists to determine if his actions were environmentally sound? No, of course not.
I addressed the issue of giving superheroes credit for saving the world in http://www.bluecorncomics.com/gl76.htm Check it out.
Yes, it's too bad Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Hawkman, the Martian Manhunter (the original John Jones, anyway), and most of the Legion of Super-Heroes look like WASPs, even though they come from foreign or alien cultures. Hmm. Could that be a problem? Yes, I think it could.
"There are only about a billion Caucasians total. Since most live in the US and Europe, they're relatively well off."
Your statistics are way off. If you count the United States, Canada, Europe (incuding the sizable western Russian population), you get many hundreds of millions of Caucasians. If you then add in the people of Iran, Pakistan, and India, you get well over a billion MORE Caucasians from these additional countries alone.
"Since unions rarely go on strike, attacking scabs is an extremely small part of their business."
Scabs? I would hope we would have grown up beyond using playground-level insults for working people.
"Heroes look like WASPs, even though they come from foreign or alien cultures. Hmm. Could that be a problem? Yes, I think it could. "
As someone without any racism, I really don't care what someones skin color is. Even superheroes. However, I will admit that I gound the African American Steel character who was one of the "resurrections" of Superman as the most appealing and interesting of the four.
I agree with your other points about Superman not solving other problems (at least back when I read his exploits). However, I do draw the line when you said "By the way, how often has Superman stopped a fire or flood when that's nature's way of renewing itself?"
I don't think that is the best wording. It implies that the fires and floods are directed by someone, instead of randomly occuring natural events. This is not the case, unless Johnny Storm has been frolicking in the forest or Galactus has disrupted tides with his Cyclopean machinery. In other words, such events are not anyone's "way". They just happen.
"Superman is enforcing the will of America's white, Christian, capitalist system by ignoring crimes against the poor, consumers, labor unions, the environment, etc"
ReplyDeleteThere is a whif of racism and religious bigotry in this. Non-Christians and non-Whites are found a-plenty in the "American way" that Superman defends. Whites and Christians are also found a-plenty (and perhaps dominate) the numbers of poor in the US, and there are probably over a billion Caucasians in poverty outside the US.
Too bad Superman looks like an Anglo-Saxon. It would have been an interesting idea if his racial appearance was somehow different from this after his resurrection.
As for him ignoring crimes against labor unions, he'd do better to go after the crimes committed BY labor unions: all the harassment and assault suffered by people who want to work for a living and dare to cross picket lines manned by those who are throwing their jobs away. I have NO respect for unions as long as they force people to join against their will (most do) and as long as they encourage harassment and violence against working people (picket line behavior).
His record on the environment isn't too shabby in some ways, as well, if you consider the earth-endangering schemes that he stopped. One, I recall, had young Luthor accelerating global warming in order to help Smallville crops :)
A whiff of racism? Not. The US is something like 70% white. Many Third World countries are something like 98% nonwhite. They also have many more problems than the US: droughts, plagues, civil wars, etc. Guess where Superman spends most of his time.
ReplyDeleteYour statistics on race--a controversial subject, to be sure--are way off. There are only about a billion Caucasians total. Since most live in the US and Europe, they're relatively well off. If you assume 20% of them live in poverty, that's only 200 million people, not a billion.
Since unions rarely go on strike, attacking scabs is an extremely small part of their business. A much larger part is fighting companies that violate wage and safety laws. And fighting the government for not enforcing those laws.
I don't consider saving the earth the same as saving the environment. When you save the entire planet, you're saving the loggers and miners as well as the plants and animals. You're maintaining the status quo, NOT protecting the environment at the expense of developers.
By the way, how often has Superman stopped a fire or flood when that's nature's way of renewing itself? Did he ever check with ecologists to determine if his actions were environmentally sound? No, of course not.
I addressed the issue of giving superheroes credit for saving the world in http://www.bluecorncomics.com/gl76.htm Check it out.
Yes, it's too bad Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Hawkman, the Martian Manhunter (the original John Jones, anyway), and most of the Legion of Super-Heroes look like WASPs, even though they come from foreign or alien cultures. Hmm. Could that be a problem? Yes, I think it could.
"There are only about a billion Caucasians total. Since most live in the US and Europe, they're relatively well off."
ReplyDeleteYour statistics are way off. If you count the United States, Canada, Europe (incuding the sizable western Russian population), you get many hundreds of millions of Caucasians. If you then add in the people of Iran, Pakistan, and India, you get well over a billion MORE Caucasians from these additional countries alone.
"Since unions rarely go on strike, attacking scabs is an extremely small part of their business."
Scabs? I would hope we would have grown up beyond using playground-level insults for working people.
"Heroes look like WASPs, even though they come from foreign or alien cultures. Hmm. Could that be a problem? Yes, I think it could. "
As someone without any racism, I really don't care what someones skin color is. Even superheroes. However, I will admit that I gound the African American Steel character who was one of the "resurrections" of Superman as the most appealing and interesting of the four.
I agree with your other points about Superman not solving other problems (at least back when I read his exploits). However, I do draw the line when you said "By the way, how often has Superman stopped a fire or flood when that's nature's way of renewing itself?"
I don't think that is the best wording. It implies that the fires and floods are directed by someone, instead of randomly occuring natural events. This is not the case, unless Johnny Storm has been frolicking in the forest or Galactus has disrupted tides with his Cyclopean machinery. In other words, such events are not anyone's "way". They just happen.
correction; substitute "found" for the "gound" word.
ReplyDelete