A serious problem that has always plagued the revolutionary movement is the ‘superhero mentality’. This could also be referred to as the ‘messiah complex disorder’. Basically these are individuals who believe that they only will save ‘the people’. This mentality doesn’t aid a mass movement it only hampers it.

A mass movement of the people does not require a ‘superhero’ to save them. It does not require a ‘messiah’ to lead them. A mass movement needs the active participation of the masses working together in solidarity to achieve their ends.

People do not need leaders they are capable of leading themselves. People should not follow a leader because it gives them the opportunity to cop-out and watch the ‘leader’ do all the work.

However leadership is important in a mass movement. The leadership takes the role of empowering others to actively take charge of their own lives, which in turn the people will take on more and more leadership roles. The leadership doesn’t lead the people to the ‘promised land’ but rather they walk with them. The leadership encourages the masses to keep moving forward. Yet the leadership is not one individual or a handful of individuals but rather it is everyone that is involved with the revolutionary movement.

People who act like superheroes may be able to awe the masses for a little while with their super powers. However after some time the mask of the superhero will come off and the simple human being behind the mask is found to be not that super. The people will see that the super powers they are using are really not that special and that everyone possess these powers. The people will not understand how to harness the power that everyone possesses and they will remain apathetic.

If the people were organized into a mass movement they would understand what powers that each one of them truly possesses. They will see that by combining their powers collectively they will be able to achieve anything. That will empower them and the people be united, which will create great change.

A person who acts like a messiah and preaches from the mountaintops may awe the people with their amazing insight into the world for a little while. However after some time the people will see that the messiah is not so divine. They will see the person for what they are. Just a simple person not any greater than any of the rest. They will see that the words that came from the tongue were basic thoughts that have flaws just like everyone else’s thoughts do. This will lead them to apathy.

If the people were organized into a mass movement they would understand that they possess some amazing thoughts. That if they share these thoughts with others they will give people the opportunity to see the world from their perspective and they will be better understood. At the same time they will be encouraged to hear what others have to share about their life perspective. Then the people will see that they share a lot of common issues. They will see how they are all connected to each other and that working together will help them to achieve a better world. The people will learn from each other and notice the flaws in their own thoughts so that they may correct their view, which will bring everything into a better focus.

The superhero or messiah will not create revolutionary change for the people. No one individual will create a revolution. The people working collectively together in solidarity will achieve the revolution. There are no superheroes or divine individuals. This people are only found in fables, mythology, movies, cartoons and comic books.

Build a mass movement of the people. The people need no saving. The people need to be empowered to actively take charge of their own lives.

"They are not even real." ANIMAL FARM AND 1984 WERE FICTIONAL TOO, SO I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD TOSS THEM IN A BONFIRE IN THE NAME OF THE REVOLUTION, HUH?

"Oh and look they are all men. Hmm I wonder why that is." HOW LAZY ARE WE? GRANTED, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS DEFINITELY LONG OVERDUE WHEN IT COMES TO THIS SORT OF THING, BUT ALL IT TAKES IS THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF EFFORT ONLINE, AND--OH, LOOK ..!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=wonder+woman

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=xena%2C+warrior+princess

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=BUFFY+THE+VAMPIRE+SLAYER&btnG=Search

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_superheroes

... AND CHECK THIS OUT ...

http://www.ubergirls.co.uk/

"we have on this website are of super human women who are strong, sure of themselves and will not hesitate in beating a man if she wishes."

I myself have created Silverbullet, the world's first black lesbian superheroine ...

http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/silverbullet/

... here's a thought, why don't you CREATE YOUR OWN CHARACTERS ..??!!! What's that? You're afraid no one will fund/mass distribute your work? Well, welcome to the communist party--where one of our goals is FUNDING THE ARTS!! Remember this ..?

http://www.eugenevdebs.com/pages/women.htm

And then a long and cordial argument between these two giants was engaged: “Give us suffrage,” [Susan B.] Anthony said with good humor, “and we’ll give you socialism.” [Eugene] Debs’s good natured reply was: “Give us socialism and we’ll give you the vote.”

* * * *

I'm sick and tired of this anarchist, ego-paranoid bullshit! Heroes/heroines don't give folks "the opportunity to cop-out and watch the 'leader' do all the work", they inspire people TO do the work!!! Do you want to take inspiration itself away?! Let's just burn down some churches, why don't we? HERE'S a "cop-out" if there ever was one!

"The people will not understand how to harness the power that everyone possesses and they will remain apathetic."

IF YO' ASS DON'T "understand how to harness the power", THEN ASK A MOTHERFUCKER WHO'S IN THE KNOW! DON'T JUST SIT THERE ..!

FINALLY, "The people need no saving." FUNNY, I THOUGHT THERE WERE A SHITLOAD OF FOLKS BEING TORTURED IN ABU GHARIB, GITMO, ETC. I KNOW THERE'S A WHOLE BUNCH OF BROTHERS ON DEATH ROW WHO NEED SAVING REAL BAD, BUT MAYBE YO' ASS IS TOO WHITE AND SPOILED TO CARE ABOUT A BUNCH OF NIGGERS! CHECK OUT THESE NEWS SITES AND THEN TELL ME AGAIN HOW "The people need no saving." ...

http://www.commondreams.org/

http://buzzflash.com/

http://amnesty.org/

http://www.soaw.org/new/

http://www.sentencingproject.org/

The only thing you managed to get right is this:

"No one individual will create a revolution."

This is true, which is why you need to find some actual right-wingers to pick on and leave the motherfuckers trying to help yo' ass out the fuck alone! Find a right-wing blog/chat room and attack the enemy, NOT your allies! We need all the help we can get--and putting a motherfucker down just because they won't completely submerge their individuality into the "grass roots" as if they're part of the Borg collective or something is wrong, w-r-o-n-g, WRONG ..!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg

This wasn't a personal attack. It was an critic on an ideology that I disagree with.

I am sorry if you were not able to see it that way. For some reason you took it personally.

On the point about whether or not people need saving. I would say that the people who are suffering in prison or in the ghettos don't need to be 'saved' that don't need a saviour. They need to be released, they need to be freed. And a superhero is not going to be able to do that. If so it would have happened already. The only way for the people to be freed from their imprisonment is by mass mobilization.

Tookie Williams is not being saved by the protest. The people who are protesting are joining with Tookie to fight against the rascist prison industrial complex. If more people were united in this cause with Tookie then he could be released from Death Row. Much in the same way with Mumia.

Mumia doesn't need the people to come and save him. He needs the people to unite with him. Mass Mobilization with each other.

Its liberalism to think that we are going to save people. Its stating that the people need to be told what to do because they are too stupid. The working and oppressed classes are not stupid. They see what is going on. They just haven't been empowered and mobilized into a mass movement.

I believe a lot of the reason behind this is because of the liberal superhero/messiah mentality that the movement suffers from. People are either sitting back waiting for the hero or they think they are the hero.

"the liberal superhero/messiah mentality that the movement suffers from"

If you actually think the aforementioned is the movement's biggest problem, you obviously have no--as in zero--experience in the field. The movement's biggest problem is, ironically, the very poverty we're dedicated to abolish. It takes money to run off flyers, it takes money to make posters, it takes money to buy ads in so-called alternative papers, on the radio, on the TV ...

Bottom line is it takes money to promote any march, rally, etc. And for the record, it'd be more accurate to say the "working and oppressed classes" are ignorant, not necessarily "stupid" (although Michael Moore named his bestseller Stupid White Men for a very specific reason), since logic dictates one can't choose something one doesn't know exists--ask Ralph Nader about that one (in the past month, I've run into no less than a dozen black people who have NEVER heard of Nader, so don't even dispute me on this ... God, I hate B.E.T.)--and take it from a media insider, word of mouth is grossly overrated*.

It takes money to bail a motherfucker out of jail and it takes money to afford a decent enough lawyer to get whoever it is OUT of jail ... My God, are you that hellbent on "leveling" everybody to the point where you can't see reality? Or are you Glorious Godfrey?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_%28comics%29

The plot of Legends is similar to the biblical story of Job, with the evil demigod Darkseid making a wager with the mysterious Phantom Stranger that he can make humanity turn against its heroes. To carry out his bet, Darkseid sends his minion Glorious Godfrey to Earth, where he uses his supranatural ability to control anyone who hears the sound of his voice, and thus turn them against Earth's heroes ... President Ronald Reagan (the US Commander-in-Chief at the time of publication) declares martial law and bans all superheroic activities in America.

* * * *

"They need to be released, they need to be freed. And a superhero is not going to be able to do that. If so it would have happened already."

Well, ya know what? If "Mass Mobilization" was able to free folks, "it would have happened already" TOO since Mass Mobilization predates modern superheroes by hundreds if not thousands of years and since MILLIONS have ALREADY protested on behalf of Mumia Abu Jamal! Once again, "No one individual will create a revolution", but putting down those who choose to be revolutionary individuals only wastes time, energy, etc. that'd best be served actually attacking the enemy. You don't see me attacking collectivist organizations simply for being collectivist in nautre, do you? Ask local organizer Pete Reilly about this; I'll be the first to acknowledge how there's strength in numbers! Anyone who knows my work knows better than that--I've ALWAYS hyped them up! So don't fuck with my shit and I won't fuck with yours ...

Speaking of revolutionary individuals, my good friend Joe Sacco has been wrongfully attacked on this site as of late for being an egotist--except that his so-called "ego" has motivated him to be a full time member of BOTH Food Not Bombs AND Project Counter Recruitment! All these low self-esteem-suffering motherfuckers you seem to be defending/coddling (instead of raising them up to heroic status--remember the line about "harness the power")--who evidently can't deal with anyone having any kind of pride or style in their work--need to take a page from the Book of Sacco: If thinking of yourself as a hero motivates you to get yo' ass out there and take the (many) risks necessary to get the job done, WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO MESS WITH THAT, HUH? Once again, as dead-eyed and apathetic as this Pottersville-esque town is, WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET! FROM BOTH INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS, GODDAMN IT!!

Ya wanna know why I take this so personally? Check this:

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2005/03/15/opinion/fear_no_evil/fearnoevil.txt

As I was noticing the gray in my goatee, I stumbled on an article Bob Feldman once wrote for Alternet.org. Coincidentally, the article -- headlined "The U.S. Military's War on the Earth" -- appeared on my birthday. It also came out two years ago, when our illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq began.

"The U.S. Department of Defense is, in fact, the world's largest polluter, producing more hazardous waste per year than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined," Feldman wrote. "Just about every U.S. military base and nuclear arms facility emits toxics into the environment. At many U.S. military target ranges, petroleum products and heavy metals used in bombs and bullets contaminate the soil and groundwater. And since the Pentagon operates its bases as 'federal reservations'' they are usually beyond the reach of local and state environmental regulations. Local and state authorities often do not find out the extent of the toxic contamination until after a base is closed down."

According to Feldman, all the pesticides, solvents and uranium that have been released by these bases over the years have caused miscarriages, birth defects and cancer. Sounds like yet another reason (out of so many) to attend the local anti-war protests scheduled for March 19, the second anniversary of America's theft of Iraq's oil. I know Feldman's article is a couple of years old, but do y'all really think the military-industrial complex has cleaned up its act since then?

Yeah, that's what I thought. ...

At times like this, I either wonder whether enough is being done to make the world a better place or worry that we could've made a difference by now if only something wasn't holding us back.

Since criminally obscure articles like "The U.S. Military's War on the Earth" could potentially spark an armed insurrection in this country if a big enough deal was ever made out of them by the likes of CNN and Fox News, the right wing is lucky I'm merely an irritant and not a militant. So I'm not going to entertain the notion that my Erin Brockovich attitude could be a hindrance. Clearly, a couple of cuss words here and there are the least of our worries.

CityLife was recently sent a copy of Steel Chair to the Head, an anthology of analysis from various scholars about professional wrestling. And I read it just as I was beginning to feel like Hans Christian Andersen's ugly duckling.

See, out of all the attempts to discredit me, the most painful is the implication that I'm hindering the left wing by dressing as a superhero at protests -- except what I do stems from a historic, honorable tradition.

Steel Chair to the Head describes how after the earthquake that rocked Mexico City in 1985, "groups of grassroots activists organized to protest the government's inadequate response, and demand housing for those left homeless."

The activists formed an electoral coalition called the Asamblea de Barrios. In 1987, the Asamblea unveiled its first major political candidate -- a pro wrestler named Superbarrio. "Resplendent in his red and yellow mask, wrestling tights, boots and cape, the candidate promised to struggle for a 'superpolitics of Superbarrio for housing, employment, schools and land.'"

Oh, it gets better: "Superbarrio remains a fixture on the Mexican Left. Moreover, when Superbarrio began his struggle for housing rights in Mexico City, another wrestler in a bright green mask appeared to march in protests against the proposed Laguna Verde nuclear reactor in the state of Veracruz," the book explains. "Mujer Maravilla, SuperAnimal, SuperGay, and Supernino all emerged in the 1990s to fight, respectively, for the rights of women, animals, gays, and street children."

The activist in the "bright green mask" who went up against the nuclear reactor is called Ecologista Universal. Steel Chair to the Head reveals that "before his [Ecologista Universal] transformation in 1987, he was a wrestler, struggling with problems of alcoholism and depression."

Inspired by a documentary about nature, Ecologista Universal chose his name because, as he put it, "Since the lucha [struggle] for the defense of nature is universal, I needed a universal vision."

Ecologista Universal has fasted against NAFTA, and "he also carried a wooden cross from Jalapa, Veracruz (his home) to Laguna Verde, Veracruz, to protest the [nuclear] power plant."

Ecologista Universal is way overdue for a tour of America!

Remember to hit the streets, as those Mexican activists have, on March 19. At 9 a.m., the peace movement will be outside of the Review-Journal building for a "Wake Up the Media Rally." At 5 p.m., a peace march will begin on the corner of Sahara and the Strip. Fo' mo' info, call 702-378-5376 or 702-499-8387.

And if you happen to see me on the 19th, keep in mind that what I do isn't so unusual after all.

BY THE WAY, THIS WAS THE VERY LAST COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE CITYLIFE BEFORE I WAS A VICTIM OF CORPORATE CENSORSHIP.

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2005/03/31/letters/letters.txt

Since you clearly have a problem with heroes, I won't profess to be one. I will say this though in conclusion: You said "If more people were united in this cause with Tookie then he could be released from Death Row. Much in the same way with Mumia." Well, explain to me how in the fuck can "more people" even know who poor Tookie or Mumia is without there being a voice for the voiceless*? I run into niggers all the time with NO knowledge of Nader, and that's a cirme in and of itself (thank BET for playing the same five videos over and over for that)! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET "MORE PEOPLE"? Are you going to telepathically channel the knowledge to them through some new age crystals like a good li'l hippie? Maybe you can instanteously inject it in the back of their necks like in the Matrix ...

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/120705.html

The Right’s success was, in turn, compounded by the Left’s failure to build a comparable media infrastructure or even to support mainstream journalists when they came under withering fire from the Right. Instead, the Left has put the bulk of its money into local “grassroots organizing” ...

--Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek.

GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING IS CLEARLY IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL, BUT IT SURE AS HELL AIN'T STROKING SOMEONE'S EGO OR WAITING FOR A HERO TO BACK UP AN INDIVIDUAL WHO'S OBVIOUSLY ON YOUR SIDE EITHER ... YA WANNA KNOCK SOMEONE OFF A PEDESTAL? GET YO' ASS ON A RIGHT-WING BLOG/CHAT ROOM LIKE I TOLD YOU AND ATTACK THE ENEMY!!!!

Wow money is the answer! Its the problem and its the cure. Wow! I am glad you brought that to my attention.

Well that doesn't solve anything because the working and oppressed classes don't really have much money if any at all. Damn I guess we can't buy the multi-million dollar propaganda machine. So if we don't have any money what do we do?

Well damn Saab you really empowered me to go out there and wait for that superhero that has money as well. I wonder what batman and bruce wayne are up to.

Well I don't have any money so I guess I will return to apathy since as you say history shows that mass mobilizatin does nothing. Oh wait what about Cuba? Oh wait what about France? Oh wait what about Russia? Oh wait what about the labor movement?

The workers of Flint didn't need a Superhero. They knew that it was up to them to solve the problem so they worked collectively.

This post wasn't even about you but now since you have made it about you I just have to say that if you spent the same amount of time build a mass movement as you do for self promotion things could possible be a lot different.

If you need a hero look up to someone who does it without thinking about themselves all the time. Like Che. Like Huey P. Newton.

What has your propaganda machine gotten you? Its made you the target. You put yourself out there to be an easy target. Snipers pick you off everyday. Snipers can't fight a mass moblization.

"Well I don't have any money so I guess I will return to apathy."

Love that either/or sarcasm! It's called fund raising, hello?!

"The workers of Flint didn't need a Superhero. They knew that it was up to them to solve the problem so they worked collectively."

Now YOU'RE missing the point! All that meant was a TEAM of superheroes COLLECTIVELY saved Flint! They EACH harnessed that power you seem to find so hard to understand.

"What has your propaganda machine gotten you? Its made you the target. You put yourself out there to be an easy target. Snipers pick you off everyday. Snipers can't fight a mass moblization."

You damn skippy I put myself out there! I don't hide behind corny, hippie pen names like Arizona Cottonwood!

"if you spent the same amount of time build a mass movement as you do for self promotion things could possible be a lot different."

How much time do YOU spend building mass movements? I don't suppose picking on individuals (trying to promote the left, not themselves) leaves you a lot of free time ...

Okay I fell into the typical Las Vegas game of attacks. Which is one of the reason that people have to use pen names. So I shouldn't of called you out Saab, but I guess its okay for you to try and call me out.

I was offering up some productive criticism yet some people have just closed their minds to other ideas. Typical of Las Vegas activist community. But you keep going out there and recruiting your Justice League. Do some fundraising and ask the people that can't afford bread to give you money when you don't really have a clear solution to offer them.

You want everyone to respect what you have to say but you won't even consider what the orginal article was stating.

Soapbox activism. Is that the best you have to offer?

"Do some fundraising and ask the people that can't afford bread to give you money when you don't really have a clear solution to offer them."

The two modern day Frederick Engels who funded the reprinting of my second novel are two blond white male yuppies--I have ALWAYS given money to those suffering from poverty and have NEVER asked the poor for something they couldn't afford, so it's clear that now you're just desperately "reaching" ...

For the record, I take great solace in the fact that they're blond whites because it gives me HOPE and proves once again that Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam are as full of shit as I've always suspected them to be.

As far as "a clear solution" goes, if you must know what my mission is, check it out down below and see if your anonymous ass can top it (and if you can top it, great, this ain't about in-fighting ... as the Holy Koran says, the supreme virtue is to "vie with each other in charitable works"--by the way, "vie" is just another word for compete):

The Mission

"Can one man make a difference? There are days when I believe and others when I've lost all faith."
--Daredevil

Given the sorry state of the world, I'll be the first to admit that, at some point, a global--and hopefully civil libertarian--version of the 1959 Cuban Revolution might be necessary in order to finally set Humanity on the path towards a Roddenberryian utopia. However, such a future conflict will NOT be hinged on li'l ol' me. I'm built up like "Urkel" and can't even stand to go camping, let alone live in the bush for weeks/months on end as Che Guevara did. I've NEVER been what one would call a revolutionary. I've always been more of a "radical reformer"--'least that's what this one commie called me back in college. In fact, on the homepage of my website (saablofton.com), I briefly touch on how the militants in college and I constantly went back and forth about whether the pen is mightier than the sword or whether "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun", as Chairman Mao put it (why do you think I resist any and all efforts to tone down my work or refuse to be more polite/subtle--I'm OVERCOMPENSATING; it has absolutely NOTHING to do with simply being gratuitously shocking).

http://lasvegas.staughton.indypgh.org/news/2005/06/2486.php

If you can imagine combining the careers of Michael Moore, George Orwell, Oliver Stone and Ben & Jerry's, you'll have SOME idea of what it is I've been trying to do for the past twenty years ...

http://www.benjerry.com/our_company/our_mission/index.cfm

http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/02/news/newsmakers/fahrenheit_charities/

I intend on topping all that, actually. Imagine me being as successful a storyteller as George Lucas EXCEPT that three-fourths of my gross (not net) would go toward a variety of leftist charities--Amnesty International, the ACLU, Pastors for Peace, Food Not Bombs, etc. And Lucas ain't that watered down either ...

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2005-05-17-sith-politics_x.htm

I mentioned Orwell because both Animal Farm and 1984 are fictional and yet 2005 would be unbearable if those books had never come out (or worse, were rendered obscure, which is why I always say the name of the game is fame) ...

http://www.ipl.org.ar/ref/QUE/FARQ/bestsellerFARQ.html

It seems certain that all the titles in this list have sold in excess of 10,000,000 copies in the hardback and paperback worldwide.

Bach, Richard. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
Blatty, William. The Exorcist
Benchley, Peter. Jaws
Caldwell, Erskine. God's Little Acre
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird
McCullough, Colleen. The Thorn Birds
Metalious, Grace. Peyton Place
Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind
****Orwell, George. 1984, Animal Farm****
Puzo, Mario. The Godfather
Robbins, Harold. The Carepetbaggers
Salinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye

Last updated Jan 16, 2002