Danny:
Jes:
| Culture 7/3/2006 |
Superheros, well meaning as they might be, have been on the loose for ages.
The Superhero Registration Act is now.
Sure, they saved your cousin, but how many dollars did they cost to the city in the process? How many supervillans donned their costumes, because of escalation? What happens if they screw up, and who says they have skills at all?
Why is it acceptable that cops and FBI need to be trained; people need licenses for guns; but people with lasers in place of eyes can keep their weapons free of restriction?
People against registration, Ms. Bohn for example, will tell you that Superhero Registration treats people like objects. It robs them of humanity. It views Captain America as a weapon, as opposed to a person. This is dramatization. We are not requiring registered heros never to use their powers, in private. We are not requiring them to restrain themselves for using them for self-defense or to live in special protected arenas. We don't require registered people to have their powers removed.
We are requiring simply that, if you choose to be a hero - and not just a powered individual - you must be trained and licensed.
Our "heros" must be required to train before taking people's lives into their hands. Police train, federal agents train, and army members train. Unfit members are filtered out. To think that anyone put into life-threatening situations should not be made to learn their trade is simply ludicrous.
They may be born with powers, but not with crime enforcement skills. Not with negotiation skills. And not, neccesarily, with the self control to keep their weapons in check.
Remember Stamford.
Hell. These people are not being made to work as slaves due to some unforgiving birthright. A far cry from it. SHIELD - our nation's best kept, most powerful military tool - is offering these "heros" jobs. And they don't have to take them.
If you have a power, and would like to be a crime-fighter, there's a job for you at SHIELD.
If you have a power, and want to work as a teacher - or nurse - or clown - or hobo, you can. No arms are being twisted.
If you have a power, and want to be a vigilante, you can't. Just like a lunatic with a rifle can't just stop muggings, you just can't.
And I, for one, feel safer knowing there's no exception for people who shoot webs from their hands. Or fire from their mouths.
Some say that this is backlash only to the Stamford incident. This is naive.
Metahumans have been out of control for decades now, and we haven't dealt with them properly. The X-Men were once viewed as terrorists. Spider-Man was once viewed as a menace. Heros were looked at with the same suspicion as the villans.
This is a step forward, not back. Progress.
We're treating metahumans as humans, now. We're applying to them the same law we apply to ourselves. We are holding them neither above or below our own standards. We're simply making explicit the laws we keep ourselves to.
We're just now viewing metahumans as the regular people they are.
And making identities public could only add to this.
The final outcry that I hear is safety for metahuman relatives. Girlfriends, wives, and parents in danger.
Where's that outcry for our Senators? For our men in Iraq? What about for our police officers?
Yes, police officers. These people operate in complete translucency, their identities public to the world. It's not like gangsters don't have friends with power, readers.
Metahumans' registrations will be kept confidential to all except the government workers. This keeps them a step safer than your average law enforcer.
And god forbid it give them a sense of responsibility. Culpability for jobs poorly done, and reward for those done well.
In this humble reporter's opinion, it is about time the Superhero Registration Act came to pass. It was a long time coming, and metahumans are finally being treated as they deserve.
They are made to train, to take responsibility, and work real jobs. This should simplify heros' lives. No working a part-time teacher gig, Parker. The Fantastic Four have made this work for years.
It's about time vigilantes stopped roaming our streets free. I'm all for putting our resources to work efficiently.
But costumed tradition is no excuse for not training or filtering the people who police our world.
| Jes's Opposing Viewpoint Here "Which side are you on?" |
By Danny
| Comments (4) | ||
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Little do you know that Ben Ulrich was my mentor. And Jes works for The Pulse, I guess.
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Marteney's input On the "Pro-Powers" agenda.
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Deeeear Danny - You are a fool if you think you will ever have the pleasure of never talking to me again! I think I should come to LA if that's where you're stationed now, you hot grad you. I promise I'll call soon...
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