They tried the same thing with a "What if he landed in Nazi Germany" as well but sadly missed the Mark. Primary reason for that is they had the Nazis pretty much wipeout everything American. Which is kind of odd. HItler adored history, he likely wouldn't of destroyed say the Statue of Liberty, nor the Liberty Bell, no Mount Rushmore etc etc. It's actually something Man in the High Castle got right because while he was alive, the Nazis 'Bent' American history to fit the Nazi worldview but didn't destroy America per se, but socialized it's citizens into the Nazi ideology and kept the concept of America alive with 'alterations' lets say. It's actually an interesting dynamic in the TV show and it's why Man in the High Castle personally got more right than it got wrong. Which is very rare as Nazis are often portrayed as a caricature not reality. Some of those stereotypes are more in common with Marxism than Fascism. Fascist may worp a society to fit the ideology. But Marxist sterilize it and destroy the whole identity of nations they take over. Yet Fascism is treated as a sterilizer, despite the whole point of Fascism is to achieve something similar to what Socialist want without destroying the National Identity of the Nation.
@@Alte.Kameraden The "Uber" comic book series gives a story line in that vein where Nazi scientists figure out how to create super soldiers in the last days of WWII.
Superman: Red Son is my most favorite Superman comic of all time ever since I first read it as a teenager back in high school! I’m 33 now. It makes me happy to know that it’s your most favorite Superman comic too. I’m pleased to know there are people out there that appreciated as much as I do.
my favorite is peace on earth and technically not a superman comic but kingdom come is my favorite comicline in general. But I'm weird because i normally love deconstructionist stories.
I'm not going to lie - i always find myslef taking a day or 3 to chew on each video. I did this especially with the Brotherhood of Steel video series. Very quickly becoming the sort of channel where i drop what I'm doing when i see an upload. Happy Independence Day guys.
Really strong analysis of Red Son. I read it several years ago, and while I enjoyed it, I felt like is also spent a lot of time making Easter Egg references to decades worth of mainline DC stories.
@@PeculiarNotions Agreed on accessibility. I've never been into comics, but I thought this was a pretty good story when I was gifted a copy a few years ago.
It's insidious because most of the steps toward creeping authoritarianism seem reasonable on their own. "You've already agreed to (a small infringement), why would you object to (a small expansion of that infringement)?" But the process only ever works in one direction, and so bit by bit "progress" devours... well, _everything._
Well, glasnost was, in many ways the foot in the door for foreign capital to rip the USSR apart so it kind of works in reverse. Though, I guess the same authoritarian measures that were made to protect the revolution were used to dismantle it, so I suppose you have a point.
@@seekingabsolution1907 "Glasnost" wasn't The West trying to pry its way into the Soviet economy to rip it apart. Rather, it was an attempt by Gorbachev to even _diagnose_ the problems in the Soviet economy so he could attempt to start fixing them. The problem was that the Soviet economy was so riddled with graft and corruption that when the head of the Party started demanding _honest_ answers as to what was being produced, and where, and in what quantities - as opposed to the gundecked reporting that had been the norm all over the USSR for the previous six decades - he found out that the whole system was massively dysfunctional.
The worst boss I ever had could not wrap her mind around daylight savings time. Every 6 months she'd get confused as all hell. And yes, it was an overnight shift job.
i think DC should embrace the elseworlds set up, They can make original stories and takes of the characters while not labeling it as a cinematic universe. They can experiment on it a lot and take different themes. technically Joker and the batman didn't feel like superhero movies it just felt like the classic movies from the 70s where its focused on story rather than theatrics. I feel like DC is not playing their cards with this kinds of idea. They can make Movies with super hero characters and make it into character driven movies with different genres like noir, surrealism or even horror. I think DC should focus on making original stories instead of a cinematic universe. I would like to see a Martian manhunter with noir elements and take inspiration from the invasion of the body snatchers, the sign and even the thing into one movie. Alot of these movies would be experimental and low budget compared to the block buster and the good thing about this is that if it flops it wont be a big damage monetary wise for WB and they don't have to worry about making a sequel or a series unlike if a movie from a cinematic universe sucked it basically impacts everything. My point, DC needs to embrace original ideas and stray from comic book adaptations especially if they cant make a plan. The focus should be noir type or even pulp like. Tbh i DESPISE CINEMATIC UNIVERSES, i do like things to connect but not everything needs to nor do you need a cinematic universe for everything to connect. Tldr: I hope dc really leans on more with alternate takes of the character, like i want to see a superman based on the ubermentsch of nietzche.
I brought this when it came out in single issue form. Which goes way back. I told my brother about it. He was seriously into history and serious films but would watch the occasional cult thing. He expressed an interest. I lent him my copies. When he gave them back he said 'oh how clever!' in genuinely admiring terms. That's a good review.
New to your channel I really appreciate your straightforward presentation. This is also my favorite Superman comic but I’ve also read only a few. Now I’d quite like to hear you piece on daylight savings
This is also my favorite Superman story. I found your channel a couple weeks ago and have been tearing through all your videos. Wound up buying the Draka books and started reading them. It's odd I tried reading several other series from that author but couldn't get into them but Draka is really well done.
The People: It’s great that you two have solved your differences and realised the importance of freedom so now can we have democracy at work? Lex and Red Son: No
Have you ever read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham? My grandmother recommended it to me, I read it and thought it was pretty good, and I think you would the worldbuilding interesting.
I think this question about power should be part in a lot more superhero comic. I would have no way to hold Spiderman accountable, I have no idea who he is. Peter Parker doing photojournalism about himself is a pretty fun ethics question on a much smaller scale.
Fantastic video. I really enjoyed the movie that adapted the comic. Hope you a Happy Independence Day! 🫡🇺🇸 P.S. Will you talk about Westerns, specifically the Call of Juarez games? Well, the first two at least and the Spin-off Gunslinger which is my favorite. 👍
If your only exposure to "Red Son" is the animated adaptation, you missed the actual coda of the story that Millar wrote in the comic. It wasn't that "rah-rah, America and capitalism great, Soviets bad," it was that Luthor discovered that Superman's socialism had some good ideas that could work in combination with the best of what America has to offer. The final utopian system put into place was one run by philosophers, artists, and scientists, not capitalist businessmen or authoritarian demigods.
When i read it as a curiosity, honestly it felt like they didn't really know how to make the super-communist society "fail" and went like "society was too perfect, USA wins, the end" And it raises the question of why in the "normal" superhero universes people dont get too used to be saved and become careless 🤣
While the Modern passport was standardised in 1920, in 1793, Britain made passports compulsory, hoping to monitor the movement of people across the English Channel from France, where revolution was in full swing. Before this the world used letters of safe conduct, as free movement across many borders was not considered normal, or often even allowed. The first passports took the form of letters of safe conduct, such as the one issued to the biblical figure of Nehemiah in about 450BC for a journey from present-day Iraq to what is now Israel. This is often cited as the world's first passport, and is mentioned in the Old Testament: "Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah."
And the enforced seat belt(Sorry, European here). Excellent analysis and very glad to hear someone else talking about relic policies remaining active long after their time has passed.
In part because of a tacit agreement to allow the former Confederates to memorialize their honoured dead unmolested. A bit of wisdom that appears to have been forgotten recently...
I love Benevolent Dictator Superman. He doesn’t push anything inherently wrong, if anything he’s making things work and isn’t a leader who can be assassinated or die of old age. He’s fought against for ideological reasons not factual ones. Although I’m certainly biased, having always preferred Superman to Batman and this story puts Batman solidly in the villain role.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” - C.S. Lewis. I think from "God in the Dock". This Red Superman is basically a sort of retelling of Macbeth. Starting out good and pure, but to save the Kingdom his soul and the soul of his wife descend, as they bring down Scotland with them. Yes, the previous King was a real piece of work. But in trying to seize power for the good of the realm, corruption and horrors follows. Stalin's power lay in his control over the system. But Superman wouldn't even need this. He could laser anyone at any point. While at the same time being completely immune to coups and assassination. There would be no paranoia. Instead, you would have an omnipresent boot in charge of your life for your own good. He, a perfect being, but still having to use the State to provide for people, which will fail and corrupt. While creating a horrifying air of terrified oppression, as everyone around him treats him like Homelander. Madness from this new corrupt human interaction would probably lead to madness. And then some form of Superman from "Injustice" would probably emerge. On another note, it's interesting that Superman stopping to fight because of a letter in a pocket. But when he stoped fighting after hearing the name of his mother, Zack Snyder was torn to pieces over Batman V Superman. ------- Now, for passports! Out of all the inevitabilities that humanity have inevitiabled for ourselves, identification papers is certainly one of them. A welfare State was demanded by the people. But if you have a welfare State plus open borders, then everyone will flood in to get their care. Causing a flood of takers outnumbering the givers. And so, the entire Welfare State has to be abolished. And if you ask people between making the choice of open borders versus a welfare state, you'd probably get a 95% in favor of the welfare state. Which means the welfare state has to be protected. Which means you need to restrict access. In Europe, we "experimented" with flooding our countries to save ourselves from demographic collapse. New immigrants are given housing, generous pensions, and given full access to the welfare state. The percentage that enters the workforce is abysmal. Which leads to a complete lack of even trying to integrate into a Western way of living. Because why would you? You get free housing, free money, free education, and free healthcare. So why do anything? If you'd like a "paperless" world, then first you need to dismantle all the things that requires it. And you need to dismantle it first. If you don't, Nativism takes a full hold, and obsession with papers follow. But even before the passports you had all sorts of less sophisticated forms of identification papers. You had racial classification and the blood laws in early America, defining who is what. And the clear classification that an Irish Catholic is someone who could never be fully American. And all of this was way before the 1900s. Going all the way back to ancient Rome, you had papers that classified who you were. I don't know when it started. But travel papers with the army were widely used during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). And generally, after the Reformation, there was a clear difference in separation between nationalities. French Huguenots hiding in the Holy Roman Empire. English Puritans staying in Holland and Geneva. Adding identification papers and passports to such a situation is only natural. It's like firearms. We may love the longbow, but the adoption of firearms was only natural and inevitable. But, having said that, identification papers can easily go too far. Even if it is a natural thing to happen in our lovely modern techy world. In Norway, as well as Europe in general, when you are born you are given a "National Identification Number". You do EVERYTHING with this number. Everything that you are is entirely tied to this number. ALL forms of healthcare goes through this number. ALL banking is done through this number. ALL interaction with the State goes through this number. Paying taxes goes through this number. At the pharmacy you must use this number. Everything that I am as a Norwegian citizen goes through this number. And the only way to "opt out", is to surrender your citizenship and surrender your ability to interact with... anything. But, in a world of Suitcase Nukes and mass migration between incompatible cultures. I will have to defend passports. And I doubt anyone would get far in politics if they advocated an open border into the United States. You'd have to listen to Milton Friedman first, and abolish welfare first. And even that assumes that people will just hold hands and not divide along racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, and historical lines.
The one word that defeats the classless society: "no". If I won't comply, then you have to enforce your rule. if you're enforcing, you're oppressing. you have become a class-based society. So, this silly ideal is impossible.
Let me get this straight -alternate timeline where baby Superman lands in the Soviet Union -in the Ukrainian SSR -in 1938 -at the height of the Great Purge and less than three years before Operation Barbarossa His childhood essentially consists of him witnessing... -the fucking Holocaust -Nazi "security warfare" (i.e. the Holocaust, but the Einastzgruppen murder Ukrainian Christians instead) -some of the most savage fighting on the Eastern Front, including the Battle of Kiev, 1st Kharkov, the Siege of Sevastopol, 2nd Kharkov, Case Blue, 3rd Kharkov, the Dnieper-Carpathian offensive, and Operation Bagration, in that order -starvation and privation on an unimaginable scale ... and none of this ever so much as mentioned mentioned, despite Superman's alternate Soviet upbringing being the key turning point in his life
Perhaps none of that happened. I did find a reference to "a memorable “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which the Kryptonian visitor lands in Nazi Germany, becoming Uberman"...which I wasn't able to track down, though I know it is in S04E10, Michael Palin and the Doobie Brothers.
When Lex becomes president, he constructs an economy in which he has absolute control over every dollar spent. At first I thought this was the author not understanding the fundamental difference between a socialist command economy and a free market. But from your perspective this is a statement that nations must adopt the mechanisms and powers of their enemies to even remain competitive.
The movie version of this is my favorite superman movie. Superman is used to represent the altruistic danger of Marxism. A man of altruism who faces the reality of "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely."
I fully support soviet superman but cmon you defeat brainiac but u let luther go are you insane, guy will probably make half of the world piss in bottles slaving in iphone factories...
Also - not just inherently antihuman but altruistic. self-immulation for good of others is what socialism preaches which is anit-human. I want to throw in a stone just in case - to give a proper definition of what antihuman means in socialist lense. Yes, I am a geopolitics student. studying it. first year.
This was one of my favorite Elseworlds stories. It's a shame that the animated adaptation completely butchered the plot and themes. A particular shame because of how good the other Superman adaptations (All-Star Superman, Superman vs. The Elite) were.
Now they need to reboot Superman, where he is fully indoctrinated into US hegemony and captialist accumulation. It would be hard to give him a good guy arch. But that's basically the point you made or the story made here.
I’m broadly sympathetic to to your views about foreign entanglements and whatnot but I think it’s been a dead letter since the 1801 and the Barbary pirates.
It’s funny because there was a Phillip k dick book that posited that the world would get to a one world government, except for Israel. To my mind that makes more sense.
@@feralhistorian I think it was a remnant of the general Cold War thinking. Everything that isn't the Soviet Block must be some kind of honorary capitalism. Otherwise we would have to start to ask some hard questions about what a keiretsu or the House of Saudi really is. And accept that the rest of the world is filled with more types of buggery and nonsense. I can still find fanboys who think Chile under Pinochet was a capitalist nation... In a positive way.
as an EU citizen, I havn't renewed my passport since it expired and haven't had to use one for the last 15 years. may the sweet norse gods of the Æsir bless the Schengen area..
Jeffersonian democracy was a product of having more land than people. Once labor becomes cheaper than capital, power passes into the hands of the elites who manage that capital. Whether that’s feudal nobles, business men, or technocrats is immaterial. The decisive tipping point is a question of population density not simple creeping authoritarianism. The population density making labor cheap is what gives power to the elites. The creeping authoritarianism is just the mechanism they use to exercise that power. If your society is sufficiently populous you will be ruled by an elite class. Your choices are nobles, merchants, or priests; pick one.
Off all the attempts in recent years to reboot or find new angles on old franchises, this is probably one of the best.
They tried the same thing with a "What if he landed in Nazi Germany" as well but sadly missed the Mark. Primary reason for that is they had the Nazis pretty much wipeout everything American. Which is kind of odd. HItler adored history, he likely wouldn't of destroyed say the Statue of Liberty, nor the Liberty Bell, no Mount Rushmore etc etc.
It's actually something Man in the High Castle got right because while he was alive, the Nazis 'Bent' American history to fit the Nazi worldview but didn't destroy America per se, but socialized it's citizens into the Nazi ideology and kept the concept of America alive with 'alterations' lets say.
It's actually an interesting dynamic in the TV show and it's why Man in the High Castle personally got more right than it got wrong. Which is very rare as Nazis are often portrayed as a caricature not reality.
Some of those stereotypes are more in common with Marxism than Fascism. Fascist may worp a society to fit the ideology. But Marxist sterilize it and destroy the whole identity of nations they take over. Yet Fascism is treated as a sterilizer, despite the whole point of Fascism is to achieve something similar to what Socialist want without destroying the National Identity of the Nation.
@@Alte.Kameraden The "Uber" comic book series gives a story line in that vein where Nazi scientists figure out how to create super soldiers in the last days of WWII.
Nothing is more permanent than a temporary measure.
Superman: Red Son is my most favorite Superman comic of all time ever since I first read it as a teenager back in high school! I’m 33 now. It makes me happy to know that it’s your most favorite Superman comic too. I’m pleased to know there are people out there that appreciated as much as I do.
my favorite is peace on earth and technically not a superman comic but kingdom come is my favorite comicline in general. But I'm weird because i normally love deconstructionist stories.
Luthor is very great in this. the letter about putting the whole world in a bottle really got me. great comic.
I'm not going to lie - i always find myslef taking a day or 3 to chew on each video. I did this especially with the Brotherhood of Steel video series. Very quickly becoming the sort of channel where i drop what I'm doing when i see an upload.
Happy Independence Day guys.
I really like that they didn't just do the "oh he's a Soviet so he's an evil communist who just wants to conquer the world"
Really strong analysis of Red Son. I read it several years ago, and while I enjoyed it, I felt like is also spent a lot of time making Easter Egg references to decades worth of mainline DC stories.
I think this story might actually be better for readers coming into it with very little knowledge of DC comics generally.
@@Philistine47 You may be right. The story as a whole is accessible. I just recall my reaction to at at the time.
@@PeculiarNotions Agreed on accessibility. I've never been into comics, but I thought this was a pretty good story when I was gifted a copy a few years ago.
This has quickly become my absolute favorite channel. Thanks.
It's insidious because most of the steps toward creeping authoritarianism seem reasonable on their own. "You've already agreed to (a small infringement), why would you object to (a small expansion of that infringement)?" But the process only ever works in one direction, and so bit by bit "progress" devours... well, _everything._
Like the slow expansion of bureaucratic authority in the West every since the the turn of the 20th century.
Foot on door step always be the most devious trick
Well, glasnost was, in many ways the foot in the door for foreign capital to rip the USSR apart so it kind of works in reverse. Though, I guess the same authoritarian measures that were made to protect the revolution were used to dismantle it, so I suppose you have a point.
@@seekingabsolution1907 "Glasnost" wasn't The West trying to pry its way into the Soviet economy to rip it apart. Rather, it was an attempt by Gorbachev to even _diagnose_ the problems in the Soviet economy so he could attempt to start fixing them. The problem was that the Soviet economy was so riddled with graft and corruption that when the head of the Party started demanding _honest_ answers as to what was being produced, and where, and in what quantities - as opposed to the gundecked reporting that had been the norm all over the USSR for the previous six decades - he found out that the whole system was massively dysfunctional.
@@Philistine47 Not only dysfunctional, but had been falling apart to the point of no return.
The worst boss I ever had could not wrap her mind around daylight savings time. Every 6 months she'd get confused as all hell. And yes, it was an overnight shift job.
How the funk!
8:45 Oh, that happened to the other side. Vojvoda Radomir Putnik was in some Chech spa when war broke out and got back home in time to lead an army.
Great video as always.
I thoroughly enjoy your essays
YES! And probably quite close to the ideas of the very first writers & artists of Superman.
i think DC should embrace the elseworlds set up, They can make original stories and takes of the characters while not labeling it as a cinematic universe. They can experiment on it a lot and take different themes. technically Joker and the batman didn't feel like superhero movies it just felt like the classic movies from the 70s where its focused on story rather than theatrics. I feel like DC is not playing their cards with this kinds of idea. They can make Movies with super hero characters and make it into character driven movies with different genres like noir, surrealism or even horror. I think DC should focus on making original stories instead of a cinematic universe. I would like to see a Martian manhunter with noir elements and take inspiration from the invasion of the body snatchers, the sign and even the thing into one movie. Alot of these movies would be experimental and low budget compared to the block buster and the good thing about this is that if it flops it wont be a big damage monetary wise for WB and they don't have to worry about making a sequel or a series unlike if a movie from a cinematic universe sucked it basically impacts everything. My point, DC needs to embrace original ideas and stray from comic book adaptations especially if they cant make a plan. The focus should be noir type or even pulp like. Tbh i DESPISE CINEMATIC UNIVERSES, i do like things to connect but not everything needs to nor do you need a cinematic universe for everything to connect.
Tldr: I hope dc really leans on more with alternate takes of the character, like i want to see a superman based on the ubermentsch of nietzche.
"Acknowledge the truth; recognize what we've become, and try to fix ourselves instead of everyone else." I fully agree! Well said!!!!
This is also one of my favorite Superman comics. Excellent analysis, sir!
Fantastic video. Red Son was one of my favorites. Youve done a really apt job of covering all the themes of it!
Congrats on 8k. Wonder where you'll be at the end of the year? Keep up the good work. Great video as always.
I've always loved this superman story. Thanks for your insight.
Red Son is one of my favorite graphic novels ever. This was a fantastic video! Keep up the good work!
I brought this when it came out in single issue form. Which goes way back. I told my brother about it. He was seriously into history and serious films but would watch the occasional cult thing. He expressed an interest. I lent him my copies. When he gave them back he said 'oh how clever!' in genuinely admiring terms. That's a good review.
The motion comic is a great piece of work. I appreciate the differences between it and the more recent movie.
Yeah, the comic was much better, especially the ending. I did like the animated movie though.
I've officially begun my wait for your channel to grow enough to score an interview with Tom Woods, Dave Smith, or the Human Action podcast.
New to your channel I really appreciate your straightforward presentation. This is also my favorite Superman comic but I’ve also read only a few.
Now I’d quite like to hear you piece on daylight savings
I would also recommend All-Star and Action Comics 775 for really good stories.
This is also my favorite Superman story. I found your channel a couple weeks ago and have been tearing through all your videos. Wound up buying the Draka books and started reading them. It's odd I tried reading several other series from that author but couldn't get into them but Draka is really well done.
Great video and loved the presentation style - nice 👌
8:36 Crisis and Leviathan.
I bought the comic some time ago but haven't had the time to read it yet. Great analysis as always.
I know I'm a day late, but Happy 4th of July 🎉 Feral Historian. I hope you, and everyone else, had a pleasant Independence Day.
The People: It’s great that you two have solved your differences and realised the importance of freedom so now can we have democracy at work?
Lex and Red Son: No
Ur channell is a hidden gem . Loved the BoS series
great videos, I'm going thought them today, love the 90's era soviet paratrooper camo :)
My favorite TH-cam channel
I remember reading this standing up in one go in A1 comics. So damn good
Oh hell yeah! I'm saving this one to watch with supper.
I've got a lovely bunch of algorithms
Have you ever read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham? My grandmother recommended it to me, I read it and thought it was pretty good, and I think you would the worldbuilding interesting.
I think I read it decades ago, I have only the vaguest memory. I'll have to give it a fresh look.
@@feralhistorianWyndham started the “prepper” genre. He had a bunch of books about societal collapse and survival.
I think this question about power should be part in a lot more superhero comic.
I would have no way to hold Spiderman accountable, I have no idea who he is.
Peter Parker doing photojournalism about himself is a pretty fun ethics question on a much smaller scale.
3 hours of sunshine before we even wake up is wasteful bro.
Fantastic video. I really enjoyed the movie that adapted the comic. Hope you a Happy Independence Day! 🫡🇺🇸
P.S. Will you talk about Westerns, specifically the Call of Juarez games? Well, the first two at least and the Spin-off Gunslinger which is my favorite. 👍
I'm kind of curious what you'd have to say about Daylight Savings Time now.
Nice old school Altima combat boots.
If your only exposure to "Red Son" is the animated adaptation, you missed the actual coda of the story that Millar wrote in the comic. It wasn't that "rah-rah, America and capitalism great, Soviets bad," it was that Luthor discovered that Superman's socialism had some good ideas that could work in combination with the best of what America has to offer. The final utopian system put into place was one run by philosophers, artists, and scientists, not capitalist businessmen or authoritarian demigods.
When i read it as a curiosity, honestly it felt like they didn't really know how to make the super-communist society "fail" and went like "society was too perfect, USA wins, the end"
And it raises the question of why in the "normal" superhero universes people dont get too used to be saved and become careless 🤣
bro nice VSR M88, don't think i didn't notice
While the Modern passport was standardised in 1920, in 1793, Britain made passports compulsory, hoping to monitor the movement of people across the English Channel from France, where revolution was in full swing. Before this the world used letters of safe conduct, as free movement across many borders was not considered normal, or often even allowed. The first passports took the form of letters of safe conduct, such as the one issued to the biblical figure of Nehemiah in about 450BC for a journey from present-day Iraq to what is now Israel. This is often cited as the world's first passport, and is mentioned in the Old Testament: "Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah."
And the enforced seat belt(Sorry, European here).
Excellent analysis and very glad to hear someone else talking about relic policies remaining active long after their time has passed.
The most amazing thing in US history is that after the Civil War/War Between the States, she did actually return to the plough.
In part because of a tacit agreement to allow the former Confederates to memorialize their honoured dead unmolested. A bit of wisdom that appears to have been forgotten recently...
Don't even get me started on daylight savings time 😂😂😂
Reminds me of Babylon 5 : about the centauri guard who stood near a patch of grass.
Dope jacket
I love Benevolent Dictator Superman. He doesn’t push anything inherently wrong, if anything he’s making things work and isn’t a leader who can be assassinated or die of old age. He’s fought against for ideological reasons not factual ones.
Although I’m certainly biased, having always preferred Superman to Batman and this story puts Batman solidly in the villain role.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”
- C.S. Lewis. I think from "God in the Dock".
This Red Superman is basically a sort of retelling of Macbeth. Starting out good and pure, but to save the Kingdom his soul and the soul of his wife descend, as they bring down Scotland with them. Yes, the previous King was a real piece of work. But in trying to seize power for the good of the realm, corruption and horrors follows.
Stalin's power lay in his control over the system. But Superman wouldn't even need this. He could laser anyone at any point. While at the same time being completely immune to coups and assassination. There would be no paranoia. Instead, you would have an omnipresent boot in charge of your life for your own good.
He, a perfect being, but still having to use the State to provide for people, which will fail and corrupt. While creating a horrifying air of terrified oppression, as everyone around him treats him like Homelander.
Madness from this new corrupt human interaction would probably lead to madness. And then some form of Superman from "Injustice" would probably emerge.
On another note, it's interesting that Superman stopping to fight because of a letter in a pocket. But when he stoped fighting after hearing the name of his mother, Zack Snyder was torn to pieces over Batman V Superman.
-------
Now, for passports!
Out of all the inevitabilities that humanity have inevitiabled for ourselves, identification papers is certainly one of them.
A welfare State was demanded by the people. But if you have a welfare State plus open borders, then everyone will flood in to get their care. Causing a flood of takers outnumbering the givers. And so, the entire Welfare State has to be abolished.
And if you ask people between making the choice of open borders versus a welfare state, you'd probably get a 95% in favor of the welfare state.
Which means the welfare state has to be protected. Which means you need to restrict access.
In Europe, we "experimented" with flooding our countries to save ourselves from demographic collapse. New immigrants are given housing, generous pensions, and given full access to the welfare state. The percentage that enters the workforce is abysmal.
Which leads to a complete lack of even trying to integrate into a Western way of living. Because why would you? You get free housing, free money, free education, and free healthcare. So why do anything?
If you'd like a "paperless" world, then first you need to dismantle all the things that requires it. And you need to dismantle it first. If you don't, Nativism takes a full hold, and obsession with papers follow.
But even before the passports you had all sorts of less sophisticated forms of identification papers.
You had racial classification and the blood laws in early America, defining who is what.
And the clear classification that an Irish Catholic is someone who could never be fully American.
And all of this was way before the 1900s.
Going all the way back to ancient Rome, you had papers that classified who you were.
I don't know when it started. But travel papers with the army were widely used during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714).
And generally, after the Reformation, there was a clear difference in separation between nationalities. French Huguenots hiding in the Holy Roman Empire. English Puritans staying in Holland and Geneva.
Adding identification papers and passports to such a situation is only natural.
It's like firearms. We may love the longbow, but the adoption of firearms was only natural and inevitable.
But, having said that, identification papers can easily go too far. Even if it is a natural thing to happen in our lovely modern techy world.
In Norway, as well as Europe in general, when you are born you are given a "National Identification Number".
You do EVERYTHING with this number. Everything that you are is entirely tied to this number.
ALL forms of healthcare goes through this number. ALL banking is done through this number. ALL interaction with the State goes through this number. Paying taxes goes through this number. At the pharmacy you must use this number.
Everything that I am as a Norwegian citizen goes through this number.
And the only way to "opt out", is to surrender your citizenship and surrender your ability to interact with... anything.
But, in a world of Suitcase Nukes and mass migration between incompatible cultures. I will have to defend passports.
And I doubt anyone would get far in politics if they advocated an open border into the United States.
You'd have to listen to Milton Friedman first, and abolish welfare first.
And even that assumes that people will just hold hands and not divide along racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, and historical lines.
Nice
The one word that defeats the classless society: "no". If I won't comply, then you have to enforce your rule. if you're enforcing, you're oppressing. you have become a class-based society. So, this silly ideal is impossible.
I want to get you started on day light savings time :D
This channel makes me wish I were nicer to the comic book, D-D and video game dorks of my youth.
No, next question?
Let me get this straight
-alternate timeline where baby Superman lands in the Soviet Union
-in the Ukrainian SSR
-in 1938
-at the height of the Great Purge and less than three years before Operation Barbarossa
His childhood essentially consists of him witnessing...
-the fucking Holocaust
-Nazi "security warfare" (i.e. the Holocaust, but the Einastzgruppen murder Ukrainian Christians instead)
-some of the most savage fighting on the Eastern Front, including the Battle of Kiev, 1st Kharkov, the Siege of Sevastopol, 2nd Kharkov, Case Blue, 3rd Kharkov, the Dnieper-Carpathian offensive, and Operation Bagration, in that order
-starvation and privation on an unimaginable scale
... and none of this ever so much as mentioned mentioned, despite Superman's alternate Soviet upbringing being the key turning point in his life
Perhaps none of that happened.
I did find a reference to "a memorable “Saturday Night Live” sketch in which the Kryptonian visitor lands in Nazi Germany, becoming Uberman"...which I wasn't able to track down, though I know it is in S04E10, Michael Palin and the Doobie Brothers.
The least evil of the evil Supermen.
Still did horrendous shit, though
So on Friday 2025 July 4 are you talking about ID4 INDEPENDENCE DAY??
Dunno what to say, but i must apease the algorythm god
Looking forward to video on Star Trek predictions for 2024 - did you see the Neo-Trotskyists just came to power in France’s National Assembly?
When Lex becomes president, he constructs an economy in which he has absolute control over every dollar spent. At first I thought this was the author not understanding the fundamental difference between a socialist command economy and a free market. But from your perspective this is a statement that nations must adopt the mechanisms and powers of their enemies to even remain competitive.
The movie version of this is my favorite superman movie. Superman is used to represent the altruistic danger of Marxism. A man of altruism who faces the reality of "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely."
I fully support soviet superman but cmon you defeat brainiac but u let luther go are you insane, guy will probably make half of the world piss in bottles slaving in iphone factories...
Oh, but we ARE gonna get you started on daylight savings time.
Yeah daylight savings are annoying as hell.
That looks like north Idaho?
Also - not just inherently antihuman but altruistic. self-immulation for good of others is what socialism preaches which is anit-human. I want to throw in a stone just in case - to give a proper definition of what antihuman means in socialist lense. Yes, I am a geopolitics student. studying it. first year.
But he is not potrayed as some kind of a Evil Twin of Americas Superman.
Rather that his good nature often gets misised by Dracaa
This was one of my favorite Elseworlds stories. It's a shame that the animated adaptation completely butchered the plot and themes. A particular shame because of how good the other Superman adaptations (All-Star Superman, Superman vs. The Elite) were.
Now they need to reboot Superman, where he is fully indoctrinated into US hegemony and captialist accumulation. It would be hard to give him a good guy arch. But that's basically the point you made or the story made here.
I’m broadly sympathetic to to your views about foreign entanglements and whatnot but I think it’s been a dead letter since the 1801 and the Barbary pirates.
No. Next question.
Please do read more about the Soviet Union.
Why Chile?
I'm sure it's the old Marxist canard of equating Pinochet with capitalism.
It’s funny because there was a Phillip k dick book that posited that the world would get to a one world government, except for Israel. To my mind that makes more sense.
@@feralhistorian I think it was a remnant of the general Cold War thinking. Everything that isn't the Soviet Block must be some kind of honorary capitalism. Otherwise we would have to start to ask some hard questions about what a keiretsu or the House of Saudi really is. And accept that the rest of the world is filled with more types of buggery and nonsense. I can still find fanboys who think Chile under Pinochet was a capitalist nation... In a positive way.
No.
:) For Me Not The Best But Sitll Good
no because he didn't understand what stalin was trying to communicate about the burdens of being a head of state or didn't care.
as an EU citizen, I havn't renewed my passport since it expired and haven't had to use one for the last 15 years. may the sweet norse gods of the Æsir bless the Schengen area..
Jeffersonian democracy was a product of having more land than people. Once labor becomes cheaper than capital, power passes into the hands of the elites who manage that capital. Whether that’s feudal nobles, business men, or technocrats is immaterial. The decisive tipping point is a question of population density not simple creeping authoritarianism. The population density making labor cheap is what gives power to the elites. The creeping authoritarianism is just the mechanism they use to exercise that power. If your society is sufficiently populous you will be ruled by an elite class. Your choices are nobles, merchants, or priests; pick one.
It's the hard part to explain about Europe to Americans who suggest "Just buy land lol".
Best nah fun yes