Embrace your friendly neighborhood superheroes

By Sharon Miki

Bunny’s dead, but if you find yourself face to face with

a unlawful situation or criminal scoundrel, you can
legitimately hope that a Wonder Woman-incarnate will save you,
thanks to Real Life Superheroes.

Sure, it’s easy to write off the latest crop of Real Life
Superheroes as nothing but loons and crazies. After all, people
who register with and live by the code of the Real Life Superhero
organization are just everyday citizens who have committed
to dress and act in the same vein as their iconic comic book,
superhero idols. This is not exactly what most would consider
“normal” behavior; not everyone is willing to swath themselves
in lycra and stand up to random law-breakers. However, not
everyone needs to be normal to find a cause. If someone wants to
strap on a codpiece and help keep my community and me safe, I
say go for it, Batman.

First of all, it’s important to understand that while Real
Life Superheroes are proud, self-declared crime fighters,
the organization is not a vigilante gang of thugs. Rather, the
organization encourages citizens dedicated to community service
to participate in a visible culture of crime reduction. Individuals
register on the organization website and become part of an
online society which, according to the organization’s website,
encourages heroics in the form of civic activities, charity work,
public safety patrols, hospital visits, school talks, distributing
wanted and missing person fliers, helping the homeless,
community clean-ups and crime fighting. In this way, Real Life
Superheroes take on the nitty-gritty, low-prestige tasks that most
of us non-superheroes are too lazy or lethargic to do. Where’s the

He kids, there’s no such thing as Santa and the Easter

= wf Cc >
harm in that?

Further, while they may stand out in a crowd, the tights,
capes and body armor of Real Life Superheroes are both
functional and symbolic. These “superheroes” dress in homage
to the comic book superheroes that have become a part of our
pop-culture vernacular to clearly display their intentions to make
a positive difference in the community. In criminal situations,
the superheroes say that their unusual outfits function to disarm
criminals who may be confused or put off by the hero garb, as
well as to alert police of who the “good guys” are.

For the skeptics that say that crime fighting should be left
entirely to the police, and that organizations like Real Life
Superheroes are encouraging people with mental-health issues to
utilize false power and authority over people, I say that if people
are crazy they’re going to be crazy no matter what. Participating
in a fun, community-minded association dedicated to making the
world a better place is not going to suddenly make a sane person
a vigilante. Moreover, if a supervillian were to emerge, would it
not be helpful to pick them out if they were wearing a cape and
goggles?

We live in an apathetic society that breeds crime—no one
cares, no one wants to get involved— because the vast majority
of us are ill-equipped or fearful of confronting danger. If we
are not all willing to take a stand against crime, we should at
least support those who are instead of laughing at them. I, for
one, can tell you this: the next time I see a guy patrolling the
neighborhood in tights, I will not scoff. Instead, I will give him a
wink from behind my super-mask and wave my cape in salute.

 

 

 

 

 

Real life super heroes
Nothing Super about the Idea

By Jacey Gibb

ook in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a delusional
fanboy trying to live out a lifelong fantasy! While news
that everyday, normal people are donning capes and masks
in an effort to help protect their neighbourhoods may sound
exciting at first, people need to look at this phenomenon from a
different perspective.
After all, who when they were younger didn’t dream of
conjuring up a second identity; one with super powers and
cool gadgets that would aid in stopping the nefarious villain of
the week? These fantasies were harmless when we were kids
because they were just that: fantasies. With people releasing
these ambitions upon the real world, they’re jeopardizing not just
themselves but others as well.
The obvious concern would be for the hero’s own personal
safety. In comic books the hero always stumbles into some
trap where they’re seconds away from death or are about to
have their brains tured into wallpaper by a criminal who is
about to pull the trigger. Yet the hero (almost) always finds a
way to evade death and save the day/town/girl/cat from up in a
tree. Real-life situations aren’t always as happy-ended as those
above. In real-life, if a criminal has a gun, they’re probably
going to skip their explanatory monologue and go ahead and
shoot you, no hesitation. These Real Life Super Heroes aren’t
being complete idiots with their personal safety; on their website
there’s information on what articles of protection work best
against bullets, knifes ect. But those things don’t make a person
invincible.
Another issue I have is with how the RLSH’s operate. One

look at their website makes it seem like a promotional campaign
for a new movie coming out. As soon as the page loads, you’re
greeted with an ad for a site that asks you if you “need some
super threads before you destroy evil?” with a chiselled man
beside it. There’s also a gallery with fan-art of RLSH and even a
registry where you can a glimpse of what these people look like
and where they operate out of. If these people really wanted to
make a difference, you think they would want to stay more low-
key than this. How are they supposed to stop crime if they’re too
busy dealing with public relations? It seems the majority of these
people aren’t interested in actually doing good but are rather
seeking to become an overnight celebrity. And hey, its working
isn’t it?

My personal opinions aside, having people roaming
the streets playing superhero will no doubt have long term
consequences. The people most likely to be influenced by it:
children. When you're a kid, superheros are, well, your heroes.
Yet at that age it’s harder to differentiate between make-believe
and real world. An image from the movie V for Vendetta where a
young girl is killed while impersonating the vigilante V is exactly
what comes to mind here. If children are exposed to the idea that
dressing up and fighting crime can be done in real-life, what’s to
stop them from doing it themselves? A situation where a twelve
year old decides it’s their time to ‘accept their destiny’ and
protect the innocent can’t end well.

The idea of ordinary citizens taking it upon themselves to
clean up the streets works better when it’s a movie or a TV show,
but when it’s executed in real-life, there’s real-life repercussions.
I strongly suggest these superheroes keep their underwear on the
inside their pants, where it’s supposed to be.

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