Superman

 

Don’t Mess Around With Jim

You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim

If you are tugging on Superman’s cape to ask for help, then that’s different.

Like Jerry Seinfeld, I am an enormous Superman fan.  Superman ( created by Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster) fights for Truth, Justice, and the American Way or as I would prefer to say Certainty, Mercy and Pluralism.  The Superman origin story is a thinly veiled retelling of the Moses story where, instead of a baby being saved in a basket in the bulrushes of the Nile, he is saved in a rocket escaping the dying planet of Krypton.  He is adopted by the Kents and he grew up to bring oppressors to justice.  He believed in the government of the People, which was also true of Batman (created by Bob Kane, nee Kahn) until the 1980s, when those who disagreed with Batman must be crazy and were confined to Arkham Asylum, not jail. It went from a situation where both costumed heroes assisted the government, to one in the late 1980s where Superman supported a corrupt government and was opposed by an individualistic Batman (The Dark Knight Returns).  At the height of Superman’s popularity in the 1940s, he assisted the downtrodden by capturing oppressors FOR the government, functioning much like a Golem in Jewish folk tales.

In the most recent incarnation on TV, Superman and Lois, he has saved a Russian village from an avalanche and a North Korean submarine.  While these are often considered to be enemies of America, Superman is for what was once America’s shining example, its pluralism, supporting all, not just American WASPs.  For him love of country is NOT merely hatred of other countries.  He is  the living embodiment of “My county right or wrong. If it is right, keep it right. If it is wrong, make it right.”  “Might for Right", not “Might makes Right”