{"id":13990,"date":"2015-07-12T19:21:56","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T00:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/?p=13990"},"modified":"2015-07-12T19:21:56","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T00:21:56","slug":"superhero-appreciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/superhero-appreciation\/","title":{"rendered":"Superhero appreciation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Sacramone<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Believe me, you don\u2019t want to live in a country that doesn\u2019t have Comic-Cons, that doesn\u2019t know how to play\u2014even well into adulthood. When exactly are you too sophisticated, too grounded, too spiritual, too concerned with the plight of the suffering masses, too damn serious\u00a0to set out on bold intergalactic adventures, even if you never leave the confines of a climate-controlled auditorium?
\nYou know when? When you\u2019re part of the problem.
\nYou know which countries don\u2019t have\u00a0Comic-Cons? Syria. Sudan. North Korea. Saudi Arabia. Venezuela. Cuba.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bradley J. Birzer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Throughout the western tradition, man has craved heroism. We may find it in an Odysseus, an Aeneas, or a Beowulf. We may find it in a St. Perpetua, a St. Ignatius, or a Sir Thomas More. We may find them in an Ivanhoe, a Natty Bumppo, or a Sherlock Holmes. Or, we may find them in a Superman or a Batman. There is a continuity from an Aeneas to a St. Ignatius to a Superman. We long for heroes, and we will have them. Indeed, the entire genre of the superhero most closely resembles the stories of the saints. While more modern comic authors have often shaded the areas of morality, in terms of violence and sex, the great figures of the genre\u2014Superman and Batman, to name two\u2014remain, at essence good. Their goals are for a just and merciful society. The powers of the superheroes\u2014when so endowed\u2014are the powers of the Catholic and Orthodox saints. They can levitate, bi-locate, teleport, and see visions of the past, future, and into other realms. Should we be surprised? The Greeks and Romans had their gods, demi-gods, and heroes. The medievals had God and His saints. Consequently, we moderns, no matter how sophisticated we believe ourselves to be, have our new demi-gods and heroes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Sacramone: Believe me, you don\u2019t want to live in a country that doesn\u2019t have Comic-Cons, that doesn\u2019t know how to play\u2014even well into adulthood. When exactly are you too sophisticated, too grounded, too spiritual, too concerned with the plight of the suffering masses, too damn serious\u00a0to set out on bold intergalactic adventures, even if … Continue reading “Superhero appreciation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-and-anti-culture"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xam3-3DE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13991,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13990\/revisions\/13991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}