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Dr. Brian A. Schwartz's avatar

Such immature attacks may make you feel better but are totally divorced from reality. I am almost 80 years old and have been a constant combatant against American imperialism. Marvel Comics do serve their purpose in beckoning to the universal desire for people to become their own heroes, to rescue themselves from abusive societies as well as rescuing others. In that sense, Marvel Comics actually become a potentially effective way to keep alive the hope that people will rise up against The Machine.

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Feral Finster's avatar

So much rhetoric, so little substance. That you suggest myths and fantasies as inspiration speaks volumes. Most humans stop playing action heroes when they turn four or so.

I prefer to focus on the real world. and I probably know more of Russia and Ukraine than you.

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Dr. Brian A. Schwartz's avatar

Feral....why make this into a competition about how much you or I know about Russia and Ukraine. For those of us who are working hard to understand the complexities that is the current proxy war in Ukraine, there is much to try to understand. Mearshimer, Chomsky, Haque, Tanner, Vexler, Snyder and a host of others have done a great job of laying out facts and interpretations of what is taking place now to even further threaten world peace. Frantz Fanon in his historic Wretched of the Earth famously said that every generation must discover its mission and then proceed to realize its mission or betray it. I am a very early Baby Boomer and my generation has terribly fumbled our mission ball. Post World War II we were to keep world peace, step back from nuclear confrontation and go forward in laying down frameworks to ensure sustainable civilizations. What a mess we have left the younger ones.

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George Cornell's avatar

The mess is undeniable and the blown opportunities?

1) 1/60 of the $21 trillion pissed away on IraqNamAfgan would abolish world hunger

2) with the collapse of the USSR the US could have led nuclear disarmament but went for more nukes, and more “defense” spending than ever.

3) America leads the world in pollution and leads by a mile in.the total pollution since the Industrial Revolution.. instead of leading reduction of its pollution, it has not reduced it a bit.

Any sensible species would never have allowed nuclear weaponry sufficient to end our lease on this planet. But nooo.

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George Cornell's avatar

We need heroes, new ones with ideals and principles. Redaction heroes won’t do.

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George Cornell's avatar

You’re not including G.I. Joe in that, are you?

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Dr. Brian A. Schwartz's avatar

Absolutely not....a childhood toy I despised. My father was a hand-to-hand combat trainer in World War II and shifted over his lifetime from an FDR New Deal Democrat to a Nixon and Reagan supporter....poles apart of where I grew. At age 17 I told him that his values and politics indicated he fought on the wrong side in World War II

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Phillip's avatar

Despite their obvious faults, Nixon and Reagan look good compared to the crowd in Washington today. Nixon took the US out of Vietnam and forged d'etente with Russia and China, while Reagan negotiated peacefully and respectfully with Gorbachev. Both would be amazed at the crudity and aggression of the US today.

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Feral Finster's avatar

Since you like comic books so much, here's one:

https://dsss.be/hitler-vs-stalin/index.php?img=0

Some of the jokes don't really translate from the original Russian.

That's the thing about fantasies and superheroes. Anyone with an imagination can make one up and play at Superman.

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Dr. Brian A. Schwartz's avatar

Feral, Superman or any other superhero is either primarily a protector of the good and ally of Eros or a promulgator of evil and an ally of Thanatos. That is the essence of all cultures and the morality plays that define the human condition. Superheroes in the Nietzsche sense is abhorrent as it is a justification for domination of the few over the many and the philosophical basis for fascism. Comic books can be a tool in either direction, both yin or yang. What is it that you choose?

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poodle56's avatar

You, sir, are beginning to suggest the characteristics of a troll.

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Phillip's avatar

Am I alone in being fed up with the ubiquity of 'superhero' bullshit today? I can't believe that adults watch movies based on comic books. The whole thing is weird and sinister. IMO people are seeking increasingly infantile forms of escapism. Creepy and demoralising.

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Feral Finster's avatar

Sez you.

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Dr. Brian A. Schwartz's avatar

And what sez you?

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Feral Finster's avatar

I focus on the real world.

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Dr. Brian A. Schwartz's avatar

Great....we at least share that orientation

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KW NORTON's avatar

Good comment.

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