“We ordinary people might lack your great speed or your X-Ray vision, Superman, but never underestimate the power of the human mind. We carry the most dangerous weapon on Earth inside these thick skulls of ours.”
Mark Millar, Superman: Red Son
I recently watched “Superman — Red Son”, and I can’t really recommend it. It just displaces Superman’s landing to the Soviet Union (and Batman’s as well), and it annoyingly woke (Really, “Wonder Woman”, you make this about sex? You should know how bitchy women can be.)
But there is one great moment when the Soviet Superman finds out about the Gulags. He confronts Stalin and the conversation is … yup:
“Millions of people dead. Explain that to me, Premier Stalin. Help me to understand how… Why you could do this?”
“I tried to protect you, my son. To keep you untainted by the grim realities of governments.”
“I asked you, why?”
“Because, as much as it breaks my heart … it is necessary.”
“How could such atrocities be necessary?”
“What you call atrocities … I call terrible necessities. For our vision of a better world to succeed, we must weed out the insurgents. The weak. The ones whose minds have been poisoned against the State.”
“They’re human beings.”
“You’re like a blind kitten, comrade. So good, so pure. But you just can’t see. You must understand. You must believe that everything I’ve done has been for the ultimate good of the people and the welfare of the Soviet State. The State’s welfare …”
“Or your welfare?”
“They’re one and the same.”
“We need to close the gap between our highest communist ideals and the cruel reality I saw today.”
“Then I urge you to try. But you’ll quickly find that the only way to achieve that goal is to follow my example. The unpleasant truth, my son, is that certain people must die in order for the system to work.”
Thing is, Stalin is right. To create that kind of “Utopia” (watch the quotation marks), you’d have to kill a lot of people. Hell, you’d likely have to kill all people.
And that’s the best argument against it.
Because it’s not that mankind cannot live up to that standard, but that this standard is inhumane. It’s not human to think to act this way. It’s, in the lack of a better term, a perversion of human nature.
And yeah, countries can try it … but they will pay for ashes.
