Comic Book Superheroes and Real Life Heroes

Hubber shareif13 asks why we do not do something about senseless death?

Some individuals are are doing plenty! Some others are afraid to move. Some people are doing nothing at all and, worse, taking from those that do something. That's life. The universe tends toward entropy, the ultimate do-nothing.

I've been reading a lot lately about people that have been adamant about the need for change in their youth and by the time they have worked at it for 30 years, are exasperated. This sentiment came from the band DEVO's member Jerry Casale before their performance at the Ohio State Fair on August 4, 2010.

Their music had raged against such things as materialism, bigotry, and non-thinking conformity from 1970 onwards, until they became overtired in their efforts -- But here they are back at it once again. protesting is doing something, indeed, and musicians, writers, artists, and actors have protested for 100s of years. They will keep doing so. DEVO protests in superhero-like costumes within the framework of capitalism and a little of the protesting gets through to people.

The writer Harlan Ellison® said the same for change as the early 1970's DEVO had done, back in 1974 in the introduction I just read to his collection of stories called Approaching Oblivion.

Humans are killing humanity, then and now. One thing links Ohioans DEVO and Ellison - their experience of the May 4, 1970 killings at Kent State University (DEVO members' school) of four unarmed students by the armed military of the Ohio National Guard. Why didn't someone do something?

DEVO Jerry Carsale says he's exasperated with the daily dilemma and Ellison said back in 1974 that he would sit back and write his stories as a warning to the stupid and laugh at human stupidity, except that human stupidity kills him just as it kills the stupid and he doesn't like it. Neither do I. The futurist author decided to write and to voice his exasperation at once and you can see and hear him in numerous YoutTube clips.

So why does not someone - anyone - do something? I say again that some people do so.

Four Kent State Students protested President Richard Nixon's wrong-headed move to invade Cambodia and were killed for it, while 9 unamred others (some merely spectators) were wounded. Doing something can cost one's life and this is one reason that many people will do nothing to intervene in political and social issues.

Still other people put themselves on the line of fire and even don costumes to fight injustice. We used to read about Superheroes in the comics and Stan Lee gave us the reality show Who Wants to be a Superhero? The film Mystery Men showed us whaty ordinary people can do in a costume and even without a second persona and today's citizens are taking up the mantel of Superman's Truth, Justice, and The American Way (the good part of it, we hope).

Excelsior!

Up into the 2000s, we heard on the news and saw in TV series like Law and Order, several instances of mentally unbalanced men in New York City dressing in superhero costumes of a sort and going into the streets to fight what they believed to be crime. Many of the real and the fictional were killed by accidents in the process and their neighborhoods grieved for them.

However, real-life champions of justice and helps ministries of a sort began making their own costumes and advancing on the quick and the evil in the streets.

A handful of organizations have arisen to register and recognize these everyday superheroes, but the most popular one is Superheroes Anonymous, with headquarters in Brooklyn.

Visit the link above in the links box to learn more about dozens of Americans in New York and elsewhere that put on costumes - or not - and fight injustice. A few of these individuals have their own webpages:

Captain Black: - Captain Black promotes crime prevention and self development in New Orleans and globally via the Internet.

The Guardians of the Gate: Kerry Davis and Ken Hopper stop people from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to commit suicide.

Zeta Man: Part Zorro, part Superman, read this superhero's former blog: reallifesuperheroes.com/2011/06/20/zetaman/ His chronicler is Peter Tangen (petertangen.com), who is a portrait photographer, including superheroes.

Additional Real Life Superheroes are at www.reallifesuperheroes.com Thanatos the Dark Avenger (helps the homeless of Vancouver BC), The Crimson Fist, KnightVigil (helps migrant workers in Florida and wears black and shining silver armor), and others.

All this is serious business for the superheroes. One woman dresses in costume and patrols bars in NYC, intervening on the behalf young women that have drunk too much alcohol and look to be in trouble. A few, including at least one doctor, go to the homeless camps in major cities at night and help the people living in them with food, clothing, and blankets.

Many contribute funds to a number of charities, but also put on a costume and help the recipients face-to-face. Others break up fights and stop muggings as they occur.

De-evolution (DEVO) is the state of humanity becoming worse and worse as time advances. DEVO was formed to protest this status.

Has much changed since the 1970s?

DEVO's new album is a collection of songs that warn us of disasters; for example, the effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and its long-term aftermath. Two of their selections form this album are presented below in videos.

The men of Devo are superheroes in costume and intent, calling out warnings and hoping we will listen while we are having fun with their music and dance. Their music is described by the press as "chirpy and chilly, perky and punky." Current group members include Gerald Casale, Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh ("Bob 1"), Bob Casale ("Bob 2"), and Josh Freese on Drums

Excelsior!