Originally Posted by
Vakanai
Okay, okay, I know I said I was done with this thread but damn it...
Your whole point, what you believe everyone should do if given Superman's powers, only makes sense if you honestly, genuinely believe that by serving as a role model you can inspire people, humanity, to become better. I don't believe that. I don't believe that they will merely stumble and fall trying to join me in the sun as Jor-El puts it, I believe they will, without a doubt, fail, collapse, and die. If I were to merely act as an inspiration, well, we've had plenty of inspiration over the years, and it largely hasn't done much. No one will join Superman in the sun. Most likely, either humans will bring about our own extinction, or we go back to the stone age, or the very best scenario, the future basically has the same sociopolitical background of today, but you now, mega storms, droughts, etc. are frequent, political divides are bigger, wealth gaps are larger, and millions of the most vulnerable people today will have died, never mind the wildlife. People won't join Superman-me in the sun, but I could be the last one to join them in the grave.
In real life, no one is likely to inspire a better future. Either you build it yourself, or you sit back and watch the world slide. Maybe keep count of the millions you think it best to let die than to upset certain laws.
Comic books can teach us valuable lessons about morality, but don't confuse it for how the world works. Comics don't have to show the hard decisions, but if Superman were real, and was like the comics, the screams of people in political prisons, being stoned by Sharia (law), tortured in black sites, and so forth, have to keep him up at night. And no, reporting on all he can isn't likely to change very much of that.