I want to work out some version of what superhero’s mean
and should mean to us…
first of all, superhero’s, by definition are the good guys…
they protect us from the ‘‘bad’’ guys… in broad strokes,
good guys/superhero’s are people who do good…
Thanos is considered to be a ‘‘villain’’ a bad guy…
but one with superpowers… and the question comes
before us, how do we know that Thanos is evil
and Iron Man is good? in the movies, it is done
to create conflicts within a movie… the vast majority
of ART is done within the good guy/bad guy conflict…
take away this guy guy/bad guy conflict and pretty
much most ART is gone…and this has been true
since the very beginning of human existence…
Life has been seen as a conflict between good and bad
even to the actions of the gods within most religions…
and we examine life within the confines of this good vs
bad actions…
but the reality is that without some sort of examination of
values, we can’t tell what actions are actually good or
are bad/evil… take the current dismantling of Social
Security… taking away people’s ability to eat, to make rent,
to get medicine… it will cause quite a large number
of deaths… and by most reckoning, that is bad/evil,
and yet, these actions of destroying Social Security
and Medicare, is cheered on by certain elements
of our society… and who are they? Those like
Musk and every single member of IQ45 cabinet,
all of whom are billionairs… and their focus
in on taxes… putting money/taxes before people’s
life… the ever present cry “What about the taxpayers?”
do we value those taxpayers ahead of those who very
existence depends upon Social Security? According to
Musk, yes, paying taxes is a higher value then people
being able to live…
So, how are we to rank or value this question of who has
a higher value, people or the ‘‘almighty taxpayers’’
who is clearly a subset of people…
I am 66 and have paid into Social Security for decades
as a taxpayer, which is to say, current taxpayers have more value
then people who, like me, who has paid into SS for almost
50 years…
in paying for SS my entire adult life, is to make a contract with
the government… I pay my taxes, Social Security and when
the time comes, you return my money… that is a contract…
when Musk reneges on that contract, he violates that
contract that was made before he was even born…
and anyone will tell you, that violating a contract is
bad for everyone… and there are laws preventing
contracts from being upended by a simple changing
of one’s mind… this violation of the contract made
between the government and myself is the very definition
of bad… and making it impossible for people to
be able to get back their money, via actions that severely
limit how people can contact SS, is also, evil/bad…
for it changes the conditions of the contract…
for part of the contract comes from the ease of
getting one’s money back… to force people to jump
through hoops to get their own money back is bad/evil…
So, now back to our superhero’s… would it be a good
superhero or a bad superhero to stop people from getting
their money back after decades of paying money into SS…
is breaking the contract a good or a bad thing?
Musk has called SS a ‘‘Ponzi scheme’’ and yet, after
80 years of SS being the single best run government
agency in America, by the very success of SS, disproves
Musk’s lie…
and how does a billionaire from South Africa, be
the voice of what is or isn’t a ‘‘Ponzi scheme’’ in terms
of American governmental programs that he doesn’t even pay into…
he has no skin in that game… as someone who has paid into SS
longer than Musk has been alive, I have a much greater voice
into that program because I am invested into it…
and that is the exact same argument the right uses
to claim the priority of taxpayers… those who pay more
have a greater voice into it… as I have paid more into
SS than Musk, I have a greater voice in it than Musk…
if you disagree, then you have also lost your argument
for the superiority of taxpayers over anyone else…
So, what is good and what is evil? I return to my
needs theory… if it prevents or stop my needs
from being met, like food, water, shelter, education,
health care, then it is bad, evil… as taking away
my SS damages my ability to live, to lead my life,
then it is bad/evil…
if it allows me greater access to food, water, shelter,
education, health care, that is good… to met our needs,
either bodily or psychological needs, that is how we
understand good and evil… meeting our necessary needs
is good, preventing us from meeting our bodily or
psychological needs is bad…evil…
Kropotkin