Laticauda

joined 2 years ago
[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He's also done a lot of wide-spread horrible things to get that money though, that's the thing, the good stuff billionaires do rarely makes up for the stuff they've done to get that money in the first place. The most fantastical thing about Batman is that he and his parents are usually depicted at face value as good rich people who get their money legitimately without hurting anyone and then only do good things with that money. And despite that Gotham is still an eternally crime-ridden cess pit. Most billionaires donate huge amounts to non-profits or start their own. Hell I bet trump himself has done plenty of philanthropy, but that automatically doesn't make up for the way they earned their blood money in the first place. Is Bill Gates going out of his way to lobby for taxing the rich, or universal healthcare, or other systemic changes that would help a lot of people but likely reduce the rate he accumulates wealth? Because he has more than enough money to make large waves in those political arenas and still be rich for the rest of his life. If he never made another cent and gave away 90% of his money to homeless people he would still have enough left to be rich for the rest of his life.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I mean yeah there are tons of other kinds. I can think of lots and lots of superheroes who are fundamentally anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, anti-nationalist etc. Spider-man for example is hardly right-wing, his motto is literally antithetical to the individualism of right wing ideology: with great power comes great responsibility. He's seen as a working class man's superhero who isn't an old rich guy, the friendly neighbourhood teenage hero. And when you get into iterations like Miles Morales it gets even less right-wing. I'm sure the presentation of Spider-man differs depending on the writer, but at the core he's not what I'd consider a right-wing fantasy by any stretch.

Heck, even if you look at the Punisher, I haven't read the comics so take this with a grain of salt but a lot of people who have read them have noted that the Punisher hates cops and the series does not actually align with right-wing ideals the way right-wingers seem to think he does. From what I've heard the Punisher comics, especially modern iterations, usually depict him as someone doing bad things as a result of the system failing him and driving him to try and take things into his own hands in all the wrong ways. Not a glorification of vigilantism but rather a deconstruction of it. But even if you set aside the problems with vigilantism, enjoying it as a fictional concept isn't exclusive to right-wingers. A lot of people who fall under other political ideals can enjoy it for different reasons. Robin hood isn't a superhero but he is a classic vigilante archetype who is not right-wing in nature. He literally steals from the rich to give to the poor. And enjoying the concept in fiction is fine, fiction can be escapist sometimes, what's important is understanding why it isn't a good thing in real life.

Even rich superheroes aren't automatically a right-wing power fantasy, it can be the fantasy of people with other political ideals for rich people to care about the little guy and take accountability. Tony Stark for example is someone who did become a billionaire by being a bad person and inheriting it from a father who was also a bad person. He becomes a superhero after being hit in the face with the consequences of that and seeing the truth of where his money is coming from, and after that point with most versions of his character he does use his money to try and enact real social change large scale and help people on top of funding himself and other super heroes, who are necessary in a universe with aliens and gods and magic and shit. His story is centered around him realizing that his money was ill-gotten and him trying to take accountability for that by trying to undo the damage he's done and use his money to help people instead. That is at heart a fantasy that isn't right-wing even if it is unrealistic. In comparison Batman as a character reads as more right-wing (if unintentionally) mainly because there's generally not much criticism levied at him as a billionaire. Even his father is usually depicted as a good person, a loving parent who didn't deserve to die, because the loss of his parents is his motivating factor, compared to Iron Man, whose motivating factor is making up for the things he and his father did to become rich in the first place. Batman is depicted as a good rich guy, son of another good rich guy, and you know he's good because he doesn't kill people. His money is bloodless and innocent. Though of course I'm sure there are iterations of him and stories which do address this, but the most well known version of him does present in a way that is appealing to right-wingers in a lot of ways.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm no expert but it seems to me like it's basically the kind of thing that is only technically legal only because nobody has been stupid enough to push their luck. If someone did try to do this they'd likely still be challenged legally in order to set a precedent, so I'm guessing it's not like Biden could do something like this and get away with it scott free.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

That's so lemon.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago

Fucking idiots, trying to act like the chatbot wasn't their responsibility.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

Look what happens when you refuse to call out your own side, the GOP has become a complete clown show because of it.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I have personally seen people say that so they do exist.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 80 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)

It's possible to criticize Biden and be unhappy about his age without acting like him and trump are equally as bad, which a lot of "centrists" do to justify not voting. Those people are the ones being criticized in this post.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago
[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 38 points 2 years ago (3 children)

You get used to seeing something your whole life and it becomes background noise, but it wouldn't have been like that for the mom's whole life, she'd be more likely to notice that she can see him that way.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 years ago

How small was this library? My town's local library is more than big enough that I would be able to move to a different room or floor or section to escape noise, and they had a designated children's area downstairs. Even in smaller towns I'd imagine the average library has more than a single room. I live in Canada but I wouldn't think it'd be that much different in most places in the US. Heck even my university library had multiple floors and was more than big enough to escape noise in one location especially with noise cancelling headphones.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Children in these situations don't need incarceration they need therapy and rehabilitation. Putting them behind bars is just a waste at best, and doesn't in any way make the world a better place.

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