Fascism is the marriage of concentrated capital and the state, making it not much different than the situation in many countries these days, where corporations purchase government officials and their policies, as well as other techniques such as ALEC. Nazi Germany was merely one type of fascism and is not the archetype.EternallyBored said:Wow that's a little hyperbolic, also extremely factually suspect, with the way most superhero comics are. I'm honestly not sure if you even read comics or know what Fascism actually is since what you described has very little to do with it. Facism is the glorification of the state, I.E. the government, and national or cultural identity above the self; it is about looking to a strong central authority figure, and relying on nationalism and military conquest to obtain autarky, economic self-sufficiency and independence. Hitler's ideas on genetics and racial superiority, are not a necessary part of Fascism, and even then much of German propaganda was about celebrating the common (non-Jewish, non-gay, or pretty much any race other than white) German man as superior to the rest of the world, I don't know where you got this idea that he thought the German people were dead, when he spent so much time telling them how much better they were than everyone else.briankoontz said:Snip
Just like the self-esteem movement in the United States, the only time people need to be told they are awesome is when they feel they have no value. Examine the history prior to World War II - Europe has a long history of in-fighting which culminated in World War I. After the war harsh economic policies (detailed excellently by Keynes' Economic Consequences of the Peace) were enforced against Germany which decimated the German economy, which had long been strong and a source of German pride. The prolonged economic stagnation that resulted allowed a right-wing populist party, the Nazis, to come to power. Hitler used the despair of Germans, their injured pride as well as their empty bellies, to justify extreme nationalism and genetic cleansing. Hitler wanted them to be proud again, to eat as much as they want, and whoever stood in the way of that (real or imagined) got the gas chamber.
The Allied Powers of WWII were not anti-fascist, they simply weren't keen on Germany ruling the world. They would have opposed Germany's quest for world domination regardless of their type of government. Many American corporations did business with the Nazis, for example. The "anti-fascist" aspect of the war was used as propaganda to gain popular support for the war. Americans were just fine with America ruling the world, which they effectively did for a few decades after WWII, until transnational corporations (many based in America) took over.EternallyBored said:Now here's where I question if you even read comic books, because any time normal citizens get off their ass and does something, they basically either end up kicking the superheroes in their ass, or the superheroes fall on their knees in praise of the "awe-inspiring" efforts of the normal citizens. Although we could just use the whole superheroes as mythical figures thing, since we have had superheroes doing their thing thousands of years before Fascism was even an organized political concept, but that sinks your entire argument before we even get into modern comics.
So, in Marvel who runs the Avengers? it's S.H.I.E.L.D, which used to be a primarily U.S. organization, but later became a more world-wide anti-crime organization. And this super -organization that controls a good chunk of superheroes in the world is run almost entirely by normal people. Of course this is before we get into the fact that the major superheroes will immediately start talking about how awesome they think normal people are the second they get the chance. Superman will talk random people out of committing suicide by telling them how awesome they are, and anytime a public servant is brought up (policeman, doctor, firefighter) most superheroes will immediately start talking about how they (the public servants) are the real heroes, and how they couldn't do what they do without them. This is because a lot of comic books are still set in the "modern real-world" just with superheroes, so they act as morality lessons to their younger readers. So many superheroes also preach about multiculturalism and how all the countries need to get along to stop wars and international problems, which is pretty much the polar opposite of Fascism. Very few superheroes are also pro-government, with many of them being outright considered criminals by the governments of their respective settings, another facet that is pretty much the opposite of Fascism.
With a lot of modern superheroes getting their start fighting Nazis in WWII, a lot of influence on the comics industry is downright anti-Fascist, so I'm really confused on where you got your impressions from.
You display a lot of faith in superheroes when you believe their words of "regular people are awesome!". People generally don't need to be told they're awesome, and you may wish to consider the possibility of subconscious patronizing condescension on the part of the "super" people.
I've read very few comic books but according to everything I've heard the TV shows and movies based on comic books are usually very true to the source material, and I've watched many of those. Time and again in these shows and movies the super people team up with other super people to cause great destruction to some unfortunate city in the name of stopping some super villain, who only ever exists in the fictional universe itself. The actual human beings who are having their city destroyed are rarely even shown except as props for the super people to show their awesomeness by saving them from the super villain. One can only imagine the body count of actual humans who are in buildings that collapse, in cars that are crushed, etc. - I say imagine because of course the superheroes are too busy displaying their awesomeness to much care about that. They defeat the fictional big bad guy, smile and give each other high fives, bow in acknowledgement of their awesomeness, and then fly away to their false human lives, secretly wishing for another super villain to show up so that they can be super-awesome once again and having their wishes eternally granted with seemingly infinite sequels.
If superheroes were serious and not vain narcissistic glory seekers they would become law enforcement agents, tracking down criminals BEFORE they became super-powerful super-villains, but of course that would defeat the whole purpose which is to display their super-awesomeness. That countless regular people die in order for them to display said awesomeness is mere collateral damage, a small price to pay. Your death was not in vain, John Smith - Superman got to display his fucking laser eyes again!