Superman comes from a position of absurd privilege wherein he can do whatever he wants without risk to himself, and can put on a pair of glasses to become anonymous afterwards.
Everyone else has occasionally consider
a compromise between what they think is right and what is pragmatic or necessary.
and that’s not at all condescending and dehumanizing to those we want to ‘help’…
also one of the historical justifications for colonialism. we need to colonize you to help you because we are privileged and you are not, let us ‘raise you up’… and that went over so well…
I meet trust funders with graduate degrees who tell me they are the most oppressed people who ever existed and they are jealous of how good working class and immigrants have it. are they the ones who are the most oppressed?
because everyone thinks they are underprivileged and oppressed by someone more privileged than them.
nobody ever thinks they are in a state of privilege dude. it’s everyone else who is, but not them. they are oppressed.
the second you tell someone they are privileged the first thing they will do is point at someone else and say ‘no they are the privileged person’
and around and around we go. I know doctors and lawyers from multi-millionaire families who think they are the truly oppressed working class, and it’s they are being oppressed by other rich people.
ok, and how do you use your privilege to help the world then?
Do you volunteer 20 hours a month? I do. Should I stop doing because it makes me privileged or something?
I’ve certainly been lectured about my lifelong commitment to volunteering makes me a problematic privledged asshole, both on fediverse and in real life, and how I should just give the person lecturing me my money because that way they can go on a nice vacation since I am ‘wasting my life’ helping others rather than going on vacations in Europe.
Yea, and superman should be smart enough to understand that. They touch on it plenty of times in various stories. Of course the quality varies based on the writers’ understanding of self-determination, but it is a topic well addressed by Superman.
Superman is an ideal to strive for, not a model to emulate. Ideals are goals and guides. But pragmatism and necessity still factors into decision making
Superman comes from a position of absurd privilege wherein he can do whatever he wants without risk to himself, and can put on a pair of glasses to become anonymous afterwards.
Everyone else has occasionally consider a compromise between what they think is right and what is pragmatic or necessary.
Superman taught us to use the privilege we have to help those that don’t.
and that’s not at all condescending and dehumanizing to those we want to ‘help’…
also one of the historical justifications for colonialism. we need to colonize you to help you because we are privileged and you are not, let us ‘raise you up’… and that went over so well…
It’s not condescending or dehumanizing to recognize that some of us are less oppressed than others.
as defined by who?
I meet trust funders with graduate degrees who tell me they are the most oppressed people who ever existed and they are jealous of how good working class and immigrants have it. are they the ones who are the most oppressed?
Huh?
If you find yourself in an state of privilege, use it to help others. I don’t see how this concept is at all confusing.
Are there idiots who don’t understand their own privilege? Sure. Not relevant to this conversation.
because everyone thinks they are underprivileged and oppressed by someone more privileged than them.
nobody ever thinks they are in a state of privilege dude. it’s everyone else who is, but not them. they are oppressed.
the second you tell someone they are privileged the first thing they will do is point at someone else and say ‘no they are the privileged person’
and around and around we go. I know doctors and lawyers from multi-millionaire families who think they are the truly oppressed working class, and it’s they are being oppressed by other rich people.
I don’t think I’m underprivileged.
Not to put to fine a point on it, but I think this is starting to sound like a you problem.
ok, and how do you use your privilege to help the world then?
Do you volunteer 20 hours a month? I do. Should I stop doing because it makes me privileged or something?
I’ve certainly been lectured about my lifelong commitment to volunteering makes me a problematic privledged asshole, both on fediverse and in real life, and how I should just give the person lecturing me my money because that way they can go on a nice vacation since I am ‘wasting my life’ helping others rather than going on vacations in Europe.
You’re right for history, although it’s pretty obvious superman wouldn’t be OK with twisting words like that.
it’s not about twisting words.
it’s about how good intentions often lead to shitty consequences for those subjected to the ‘good’ imposed on them.
You don’t get to determine what is good for other people. They get to determine that.
Yea, and superman should be smart enough to understand that. They touch on it plenty of times in various stories. Of course the quality varies based on the writers’ understanding of self-determination, but it is a topic well addressed by Superman.
Superman is an ideal to strive for, not a model to emulate. Ideals are goals and guides. But pragmatism and necessity still factors into decision making
My personal compromise is that I wear my underwear on the outside, but I don’t do any of the other stuff Superman does.
Your underwear’s not on the outside if you aren’t wearing anything else at all
Technically if it’s on the outside it’s overwear!
Same here. Except I wear boxers and slacks.
This doesn’t invalidate the idea of doing the right thing just because it’s right when you can.
I wouldn’t call ‘being the only one who can take the call when Darkseid rolls up’ privilege.