What makes a super-hero? Super Strength? Super Speed? Flight? Wikipedia describes a Superhero as "A type of stock character dedicated to protecting the public." Well to understand what a superhero is let's take a look at heroes in general.
The word hero is thrown around a lot these days. A hero can be anything from a person who saves lives to one that shows courage and bravery in battle. However, if you've ever watched a TV show that shows a young girl swooning at the sight of her favourite pop idol after mumbling, "My hero...." you'll understand where I'm coming from.
I think perhaps that the word hero is being diluted more and more and may some day mean nothing more than someone famous enough to roll around in a pile of money because of some auto tuned piece of crap spat out by the music industry. I think this realisation has started to make me quite mournful as when I think of heroes I think of men and women that risk their lives to protect people in their day to day working life. I mean, soldiers, fire-fighters, ambulance workers and hospital staff are all incredible people. (The latter I've run into lately far too many times for my own good.) So why is it that we should let this word slip into the hands of those that don't deserve it?
Now, super-heroes usually take on the roles of the aforementioned professions but have some sort of mystical, magical or technological power that helps them to save people on a nightly basis whilst keeping their secret identity in tact. (Or in Bruce Wayne's case, not so much.) Super-heroes are entirely fictitious in the comic-book sense.
Do they have to be?
I really hope I live to see the day when military technology is no longer at the forefront of science, when trying to kill people takes a step back out of the long queue of priorities this world has. Technologically advanced fire-fighters? I'll have me some of those please. I'm all about the betterment of humanity and bettering ourselves as a nation, or even as a people. Giant robotic defence and security units? Well, might put a few people out of a job, but someone's gotta maintain that sort of thing. All of this is very well and good to speculate about but really are we ready to be super at all?
I mean, every couple of months, probably less, we hear of a policeman that abuse their power or authority and even some medical professionals that manage to harm the people they're trying to help through laziness or malpractice. Imagine the same things but super. That's a pretty terrifying notion, a dirty cop with a giant mech...Jesus christ, I think I might have changed my mind.
I know that there will always be someone using their power for their own gain, in every profession, just trying to get whatever they can for themselves which for the most part is something I believe in but when it treads on others or is so badly mis-used that it becomes a way of venting hatred towards others such as racial attacks it makes me sick to my stomach. It's all well and good trying to get the best you can out of life, squeezing everything out until nothing but the peel remains but when it comes to sheer abuse of power, I bow out.
Maybe we're not meant to be super.
I really don't know if I'm making a point, rambling on about nothing or even making myself out to be an idiot. At some stage though, I saved some of this as a draft and I might as well post it, I've been umming and awwing about my blog-writing abilities for months now, so I might as well stick up what I've been working on, even if it's crap.
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