Superman and Geek Culture
Superman — the creation of two Jewish friends, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — emerged from their shared imagination and friendship in 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Children of immigrants who fled religious persecution in eastern Europe, the character they created wasn’t far from their own origin stories. Superman was a refugee from a faraway place who found a home in America’s heartland.
Siegel and Shuster were socially awkward and intensely focused on their creative work. These traits are associated with autism, what used to be called Asperger syndrome. This term is now rejected as Hans Asperger, a nazi, declared these lower support needs autistics be spared from the gas chambers because they were not “useless eaters,” as the German totalitarian ruler designated autistic people who had higher support needs.
The social ill of fascism that had consumed Europe in 1938, and these two creatives were assimilated outsiders: people who were deemed “different,” for a variety of reasons, and who had to hide or “mask” to avoid prejudice and persecution — if that was at all possible.
Siegal and Shuster understood the value of differing perspectives, and what it was like to be punished as outsiders.
They also knew how that combination of characteristics could benefit society.
The empathy that Superman’s creators came by honestly led them to forge a character who looks out for minorities and outsiders, for they were that, too. Superman was very clearly and deliberately against authoritarianism and fascism.
Today’s nazis like to fashion themselves as ubermensch: someone whose power, privilege, and presumed exceptional qualities puts them in a superior position, above traditional morality.
But what is and has always been true of a real Superman: he does not position himself above the common good. He champions it. Fundamentally, he is empathetic and protective of others, because he has consciously cultivated the capacity to do so.
It’s not about superpowers. It’s about doing what you can to look out for people who can use a little help.
Take Stetson Kennedy for example. A rich, white Southerner and author who despised the evils of slavery and Jim Crow, he pitched an idea to the Superman Radio Show: expose the KKK through a 16-episode series, called The Clan of the Fiery Cross, in which Superman takes on the Klu Klux Klan.
Those days — before television, the internet, podcasts and social media — families gathered around and listened to the radio. And the kids of the Klansmen were playing Superman against the KKK, which made those fathers and uncles and grandfathers leave the Klan. Superman made sure that the people of the United States looked at the KKK as totally ridiculous.
Because lonely, isolated humans need to belong, they are vulnerable to the tactics used by the far-right ideologues, like white supremacy. But the remedy is to get in community with real people where you live, and to use skills and discernment to cultivate those relationships. Find your fellow beautiful geeks, and get into your special interest together. Simple…not easy. And totally worth the work.
Our four 8 week summer sessions started this week, and it's been a joy to see these brave teens and young adults come to us with vulnerability, curiousity, and the desire to know and be known by their peers. And they deserve to have that.