Superpower
Several years ago, a few of us went to the opening of the Tesla plant in Austin, Texas. Since we had VIP passes, we watched the spectacle from the raised VIP section in front of the main stage. The whole event was called the Cyber Rodeo. From rock concerts to renewable energy conferences, I have a long history of producing events. But this event was way beyond almost anything (except for the Paris Olympic opening) with its drone light show floating outside in the sky while the sounds, laser light, and music filled the inside to the brim.
Soon Elon Musk would drive up on stage in his stainless steel cybertruck to the cheers of thousands. Since it was Texas, he sported a big black western hat. My partner commented that he had to take it off to get out or in this new version of a pick-up truck.
Later, Elon joined us in a special roped off section of the VIP loft and we had a chance to visit with him. We talked for a while about energy and my work in the renewable energy sector, but I later talked with his brother's partner who was instrumental in getting the huge facility built. Amazingly, the whole project went from an idea to reality in not years but months.
It was then that he told me that Elon Musk's superpower is the ability to execute.
That stuck with me.
We are all well versed in superpowers thanks to Stan Lee and the other comic book makers of our childhoods. And of all the superpowers, being able to get shit done was not in the pantheon.
Superheroes have changed how modern pop culture thinks about superpowers after countless stories of gods, titans, and heroes shaping the world. Comics, TV, and movies have explored and deconstructed extraordinary abilities but fans still love fantasizing about wielding incredible superpowers like flight or telepathy.
Of course, the best superpowers in comics and movies are the ones that help superheroes win battles and save lives. Superheroes are a kind of modern mythology, and their great powers define characters like Spider-Man and The Flash as much as their decisions and personalities.
Generally superheroes with superpowers fight evil, but some times they are evil themselves. And in our world, sometimes they transform from fighting for good to simply scheming for themselves. It was only a year or so after I met Musk that I realized that he had turned into Batman villain
Gone are the days of him talking about Climate Change and the importance of electrifying the transportation sector. Gone are the days when he considered his satellite network to be a public utility for all to share. And now as he deconstructs the most powerful and effective government force on the planet so that it can be privatized and placed in the hands of a non-benign plutocracy, he is using his superpower to ultimately enslave millions under another form of human order.
For him and his fellow billionaires, the time of democracy has passed, and we need to get more comfortable with CEO dictators. It is after all, almost 250 years old.
And to make it happen, he had to join forces with another creature who has a superpower that is also unknown to the Marvel world, although it is a marvel. And of all the superpowers, it stands out because it transforms the minds of those who fall under its spell.
That superpower is the power to lie.
Many of us can lie rather well, but no one but the orange felon can lie with impunity over and over and over again. The fact that any newspaper, reporter, or media personality would repeat anything he says as being truthful is downright mystical. But there are reasons.
Dan McAdams, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, wrote this about Drump’s approach: “Truth is effectively whatever it takes to win the moment, moment by moment, battle by battle — as the episodic man, shorn of any long-term story to make sense of his life, struggles to win the moment.
“Among the many reasons that Drump’s supporters excuse his lying is that they, like Drump himself, do not really hold him to the standards that human persons are held to. And that is because many of his supporters, like Drump himself, do not consider him to be a person — he is more like a primal force or superhero, more than a person, but less than a person, too.”
Another factor is the sheer depth of the anger among many Drump supporters. Anger, it seems, encourages deception.
Jeremy Yip of Georgetown and Maurice Schweitzer of the University of Pennsylvania demonstrated through a series of experiments that, they said: “Anger promotes the use of self-serving deception.
When individuals feel angry, they continued, “They are more likely to deceive others. We find that angry individuals are less concerned about the welfare of others, and consequently more likely to exhibit self-interested unethical behavior.
Many of his supporters have become so angry and alienated that they act like part of a cult. They regard this as a time of war, one to be fought day-by-day by a superhero who uses lies as an acceptable weapon.
The Truth is, Fox makes their viewers angry.
And Rachel and Jon make us laugh.
And the lies flow out of the sewer untreated.
And into our lives.
There are demonstrations in the streets today in all 50 states.
That is our Superpower
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Labels: american fascism, Constitution, economic philosophy, political philosophy, the world
posted by oZ @ 1:03 PM
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