There’s no such thing as ‘surprise’ anymore. But that’s not to say things don’t change. On the contrary; there’s always some new hero flying around, some new villain wreaking havoc, some new crisis to be averted.
But it’s always the same story. Hero vs. Villain. Good vs. Evil. Right vs. Wrong. Except the heroes change, and so do the villains.
‘Good’ changes from person to person. ‘Right’ is a matter of perspective. Try telling a little alien girl she’s not welcome just because of who she is. Imagine being able to give the entire Eastern seaboard unlimited free power and you don’t.
They tell us they’re not our keepers, that we have to live our own lives and make our own decisions. They say they’re meant to protect, not control us, and that’s a nice tune when you hold the power. But with disaster and calamity around every corner, it’s difficult to sing along.
Corporations are killing the planet with toxic sludge and lethal pollutants. Where are the heroes? Internet trolls spread fake news and hate-filled vitriol, influencing global morality. Where are the heroes? Dictators on gold-plated thrones murder their citizens every single day. WHERE ARE THE HEROES?
I’ll tell you.
They’re fighting their own battles, taking swings and shooting lasers at one another while ordinary people like you and me shoulder the consequences. The silver lining of constant devastation is low unemployment – reconstruction jobs are in abundance. Otherwise, it’s a dark world only made darker when heroes don’t fight the real battles, when villains squander their gifts for selfish gains.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the thinkers, the ones who’ve rejected violence and actually tried to make the world a better place. They’re few and far between, but it’s their efforts that truly change the world.
Doctor Terrific cured smallpox. Golden Gleam helped NASA develop multi-range satellite imaging. Fission’s unique DNA was integral in the development of clean nuclear energy. Even former super-villain Sonic Rider eventually used his unique connection with ocean life to inform deep-sea environmental research.
But these are just the exceptions to the rule of cruel negligence, the outliers whose actions can’t convince a whole generation of self-indulgence to give up their dreams of wearing capes and being fantastic. Some of the smartest men and women on the planet can’t see past their own two hands. They hurl insults and punches and bombs and heat-rays while the rest of us live with it.
This is the struggle – a daily reminder that we’re not super and they are, that the real world is all we have, and that it’s slowly crumbling down around us as devious demagogues rise to power.
Society is devolving and the heroes and villains don’t care. They’re blind to anything but their own sins, stuck on their personal issues, and plagued by constant infighting. They’re deaf to the pleas of ordinary people who can’t influence a congress or persuade a corporation. While gods and monsters fight in the sky, money and power control the world.
I used to be a cautious idealist, a believer of self-accountability and social equality. But that can’t possibly exist. Not when they can change the world and don’t. Corruption, hate, prejudice, and fear have become our norm: a daily existential crisis. Constant fear for our lives and our souls.
The handful of times they banded together and stopped worldwide destruction means we can’t tell them no. They put themselves on a pedestal so high they rarely remember we can’t see them, can’t understand why they do what they do, or know who to blame when everything falls apart.
Why were there no white heroes in the South during the Jim Crow era? Where was Legacy when the Cuban Missile Crisis threatened global nuclear fallout? How can they ignore the poaching and whaling and illegal hunting rampant across the second and third worlds? When did Blue Lighter decide to abandon his wife and two children? Why do they use their powers to fight one another when they could be reforesting barren wastelands and feeding incalculable masses?
They tell themselves lies disguised as benevolence; propaganda of the mind. They truly believe they’re doing what’s right – “sacrificing” themselves for us even though it was never about that.
Ours is the faceless mass, indistinguishable individuals, just more heads in the crowd in between their brawls and melees and ever-violent outbursts. We are props in their stories, the background noises they can’t completely tune out. And when they do acknowledge us, when they finally deign to either save or harm us, it’s still all about them.
(Original Draft: March 28, 2017)
THE SUPERFLUOUS 