Superman v. Islamic Terrorism


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While watching the Republican debate last night and pondering the most popular Republican strategy for achieving international peace -- which I call the Let's kick some butt! theory of foreign affairs--I devised a fantasy scenario to focus attention on the question of how effective that strategy might be

Here is the basic setup. You magically become Superman (or his female equivalent) with all of his traditional powers. I won't quibble over exactly which powers you have. The point is that you can kill whomever you like with super speed, accuracy and efficiency (e.g., by frying brains at super-speed with your heat vision). And you can do all this without anyone ever knowing that you are the killer. You can also fly, etc., etc.

In short, you have virtually unlimited powers to kill, maim, torture, etc. anyone you like, and to do so with complete anonymity, so you decide to deal with the problem of ISIS and Islamic terrorism generally. The only limitation is that your Superman powers will expire after one year, so after that year is over you will need to use your normal human powers to deal with any adverse blowback you may have generated during your year as Superman. .

Maybe you don't believe that you will be able to eradicate Islamic terrorism within a year, but you figure that a year as Superman will be time enough to make significant improvements.

Okay, so what specifically would you do in that year? And how would your actions make things better in the long run? Your only constraint would be moral in nature, not physical. Be creative.

Ghs

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Seriously, when I arrived in Vietnam in 1966 I was of the notion there were about 90,000 Viet Cong to deal with. I fantasized if they were all lined up for the shooting down by me--and if I did--would that do any good? Nope. They'd just be replaced. So I chucked that abstracting, but the US military had other plans called "body-count warfare." WTF? The North Vietnamese Army lost about 1,000,000 troops, most sent south in response to US forces sent in. The Viet Cong were all but wiped out by Tet, but it didn't matter. Tet was a gigantic success. The North won when the South collapsed.

Now, how many Muslims are there?

There were two people most responsible for the way the war was fought and one wasn't General Westmoreland, who was merely a mediocre general officer. Robert McNamara--a career of significant wrongs after he worked at Ford, nothing well done. And General Maxwell Taylor, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who suppressed military dissent and backed McNamara to the hilt. In Vietnam today it's know as "The American War."

Superman, of course, is the next President and the present President and most of the past Presidents of the United States. Now we get two Superwomen possibilities. This gives me an intriguing thought: Donald Trump already thinks he's Superman--he builds things. He makes deals. Maybe he doesn't need to jerk off to "Hail to the Chief." Maybe he doesn't need to fight a war. Maybe he'll just keep being Donald Trump, an asshole but not a complete asshole.

--Brant

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While watching the Republican debate last night and pondering the most popular Republican strategy for achieving international peace -- which I call the Let's kick some butt! theory of foreign affairs--I devised a fantasy scenario to focus attention on the question of how effective that strategy might be

Here is the basic setup. You magically become Superman (or his female equivalent) with all of his traditional powers. I won't quibble over exactly which powers you have. The point is that you can kill whomever you like with super speed, accuracy and efficiency (e.g., by frying brains at super-speed with your heat vision). And you can do all this without anyone ever knowing that you are the killer. You can also fly, etc., etc.

In short, you have virtually unlimited powers to kill, maim, torture, etc. anyone you like, and to do so with complete anonymity, so you decide to deal with the problem of ISIS and Islamic terrorism generally. The only limitation is that your Superman powers will expire after one year, so after that year is over you will need to use your normal human powers to deal with any adverse blowback you may have generated during your year as Superman. .

Maybe you don't believe that you will be able to eradicate Islamic terrorism within a year, but you figure that a year as Superman will be time enough to make significant improvements.

Okay, so what specifically would you do in that year? And how would your actions make things better in the long run? Your only constraint would be moral in nature, not physical. Be creative.

Ghs

Superman didn't do those things. SOBs did those things. Superman was a good guy.

--Brant

I'd like to try that "heat vision"--can it be used to get women to disrobe?

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While watching the Republican debate last night and pondering the most popular Republican strategy for achieving international peace -- which I call the Let's kick some butt! theory of foreign affairs--I devised a fantasy scenario to focus attention on the question of how effective that strategy might be

Here is the basic setup. You magically become Superman (or his female equivalent) with all of his traditional powers. I won't quibble over exactly which powers you have. The point is that you can kill whomever you like with super speed, accuracy and efficiency (e.g., by frying brains at super-speed with your heat vision). And you can do all this without anyone ever knowing that you are the killer. You can also fly, etc., etc.

In short, you have virtually unlimited powers to kill, maim, torture, etc. anyone you like, and to do so with complete anonymity, so you decide to deal with the problem of ISIS and Islamic terrorism generally. The only limitation is that your Superman powers will expire after one year, so after that year is over you will need to use your normal human powers to deal with any adverse blowback you may have generated during your year as Superman. .

Maybe you don't believe that you will be able to eradicate Islamic terrorism within a year, but you figure that a year as Superman will be time enough to make significant improvements.

Okay, so what specifically would you do in that year? And how would your actions make things better in the long run? Your only constraint would be moral in nature, not physical. Be creative.

Ghs

Superman didn't do those things. SOBs did those things. Superman was a good guy.

--Brant

I'd like to try that "heat vision"--can it be used to get women to disrobe?

x-ray vision...

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Brant,

An ardent DC Comics fan as a boy, I owned every issue of "Superman" from around 1956 to 1963. The ads in the back were of great interest to me. This was especially true of the ad for "X-Ray Glasses," which became more interesting as I got older. I recall that the ad featured a drawing of a fully clothed woman who was attempting to cover herself with her arms as if she were nude. At the same time mysterious rays were emanating from a pair of glasses that were worn by a guy with a smile on his face.

I was skeptical about whether or not the glasses really worked. I assumed that the ad was fraudulent, but when I asked my mother to order the glasses for me (I think they cost 50 cents or thereabouts, plus shipping and handling), she appeared flustered and embarrassed, and she refused. At that point I changed my mind. After all, why would my mother refuse to order the glasses for me unless they really worked? What would be the point? I finally figured out a way to place the order myself so I could grab the package before my mother got to it. That plan worked, but guess what? The glasses didn't work. My faith in advertising was shattered. Even worse, I was stuck with National Geographic as my sole prospect for seeing topless women.

Young whippersnappers nowadays don't appreciate how easy they have it. A few clicks on a computer and a lusty lad can see anything he wants. Back in the day we had to work hard just to see a hint of nudity. Youngsters no longer appreciate the value of hard work. Traditional values have clearly declined in modern America.

8-)

Ghs

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.

Thanks to all for the memories, charm, and mainly the refreshing wisdom in this thread.

The discovery of X-rays by Rontgen made a big splash in the newspapers, and right away the idea occurred of using x-rays to be able to see through people's clothing as they walked in public. That was in 1895. In the 1950's as we were growing up outside the SAC base where our father (civilian) worked in War Plans, there was talk among the work folks (AF officers mainly) about "Buck Rogers" type future weapons. My brother and I would imagine America should develop a big ray gun that could clear a battlefield. Our father expressed some reservation of whether that would be simply the good thing we boys thought, were it ever to be developed.

I recall as you fellows the importance of magazines for exciting photos (one of Bridget Bardot in my case) and for products. In the early '60's, my brother ordered a swarm of bees through a magazine (probably Boy's Life), which got our family going with having our own honey and honey for us children to sell in the neighborhood (along with berries we raised). From an ad in a magazine, I learned of the model car competition for boys The Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild that would consume my after-school efforts a few years and affect my development greatly.

I didn't see the large Presidential debate, but I saw some of the smaller one preceding it. Sen. Graham easily towered above the others in that one (not to say I agree with all his views).

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George, I had similar Mother problems. She found the girlie magazine I found in the street under my mattress before I managed to get a good look at the contents. She told me she was concerned I'd think women were "like that." If I had had a Dad in the house he would have stopped her before I started getting homosexual fantasies to replace the no-go idea I then got in my head that women were my Mother and with whom I could not have nor would I ever want to have any sexual Congress.

If she only knew my 13 yo hormonal-driven fantasy of a long cave with many rooms in which each was a dark haired naked woman in her early 20s chained to a bed with me going to one after the other seeking sexual satisfaction. I even drew a picture. Here's how dumb I was: I didn't learn about masturbation until I was 16. You'd think I could have figured it out. When I was 14 in the hospital a nurse came in and gave me my daily massage. This was a new nurse. Unlike the previous one she stripped me completely naked against my weak protest and went to work. I had a giant hard-on that wouldn't quit under my belly. I looked back over my shoulder and she was looking down on her hands with her face gone completely sexual. Man! If she had only turned me over and gone down on me!

--Brant

and not being a Catholic I had no pederastic priest relief--something I knew nothing about (I learned about going down on a woman in the army when I was 21 (WTF!) when a sergeant briefed me ("Any man's wife can be mine if he doesn't do that for her!" ["go around the world"])--my high school "sex education" was hilarious and was one one period session given by the nurse using the stupidest film imaginable

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George wrote: . . . so you decide to deal with the problem of ISIS and Islamic terrorism generally.
end quote

An alien ship crash-lands on earth in the woods behind your house. Its occupants are severely injured and the most alert of the injured allows you to have control over the ship, so that you can care for them. But alas, they all succumb to their injuries. You access the onboard computer and find out that it is a nearly sentient being who enhances your brain so that you can communicate. You decide to patent some of the advanced machines you find on board. Using your enhanced computing power you learn about the ship’s abilities, which include traveling near light speed, utilizing power similar to the power generated by John Galt’s invention. You begin to make millions on the stock market. The alien ship which is now your ship, has thousands of robotic workers who can be tasked to do just about anything humans could do.

What will you do with such power? On the news they are talking about a mission to Mars so you go there one day, and check on the probable landing site. You decide to pre-stock it with supplies from earth. That takes a month, but in that time, you stock Mars with enough from earth to last Human emigrants for thousands of years.

You discover a way to fling space rocks at any target on earth at the rate of hundreds a minute. Each flung rock can explode when it hits the earth with the force of an artillery shell. If North Korea or Iran or any totalitarian country ever attacks the United States or one of our allies, you are ready.

I wonder if you could keep that a secret? If anyone has any ideas to continue the story or start your own, please do. I would think George's rule would be that your super powers be used for good, and you only use retaliatory force.
Peter

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You discover a way to fling space rocks at any target on earth at the rate of hundreds a minute. Each flung rock can explode when it hits the earth with the force of an artillery shell. If North Korea or Iran or any totalitarian country ever attacks the United States or one of our allies, you are ready.

Peter

My that sounds so familiar...

"We'll throw rocks Man," Mike "Holmes" says to Manny the technician.

Mike then uses the catapult to launch rocks...

When Mike launches rocks at sparsely populated locations on Earth, warnings are released to the press detailing the times and locations of the bombings—but disbelieving people, as well as people on religious pilgrimages, travel to the sites and die. As a result, public opinion turns against the fledgling nation.

A second attack destroys Mike's original catapult, but the Loonies have built a secondary smaller one in a secret location, and with Mannie acting as its on-site commander, the Loonies continue to attack Earth until it concedes Luna's independence. Professor Bernardo de la Paz, as leader of the nation, proclaims victory to the gathered crowds, but collapses and dies. Mannie takes control, but he and Wyoh eventually withdraw from politics altogether, and find that the new government falls short of their expectations.

How original of you...

A...

smells like Peter Keating...

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Give ISIS a nuke. That should get the ball rolling. :D

Yep, I always get a chuckle from photos like this...

skugga.jpg

"Besides, in Hiroshima, all that was left of some humans, sitting on stone benches near the centre of explosion, was their outlines."

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You wrote that you always get a chuckle from photos like this . . . and then show a cremated body, burned into a wall. You may be the lowest form of scum writing in Oland today.

I think my frequently reiterated, alien ship premise was used in an old Analog Scifi story. Are you implying George is a “Peter Keating” because he reuses the Superman idea, who’s author, in turn got the idea from Nietzsche’s rebellion? Probably not, because you are too stupid to get that. Contribute something, moron, and stop criticizing the wonderful author and my imaginary pal, George H. Smith.
Pooh, Roo, and Tigger.

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You wrote that you always get a chuckle from photos like this . . . and then show a cremated body, burned into a wall. You may be the lowest form of scum writing in Oland today.

I think my frequently reiterated, alien ship premise was used in an old Analog Scifi story. Are you implying George is a “Peter Keating” because he reuses the Superman idea, who’s author, in turn got the idea from Nietzsche’s rebellion? Probably not, because you are too stupid to get that. Contribute something, moron, and stop criticizing the wonderful author and my imaginary pal, George H. Smith.

Pooh, Roo, and Tigger.

You wrote that you always get a chuckle from photos like this . . . and then show a cremated body, burned into a wall. You may be the lowest form of scum writing in Oland today.

I think my frequently reiterated, alien ship premise was used in an old Analog Scifi story. Are you implying George is a “Peter Keating” because he reuses the Superman idea, who’s author, in turn got the idea from Nietzsche’s rebellion? Probably not, because you are too stupid to get that. Contribute something, moron, and stop criticizing the wonderful author and my imaginary pal, George H. Smith.

Pooh, Roo, and Tigger.

You get so emotional...

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As Frank Sinatra sang, Adam is a mindless brute. A brutish Butthead, a pirate and fool.

Clancy's "Sum of All Fears," may need an update, though in today's creative script writing world, more than one nuke may go off in Israel and The United States. I have no doubt the legends and myths going back to when sentient beings first evolved have always contained a wish for powers.

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As Frank Sinatra sang, Adam is a mindless brute. A brutish Butthead, a pirate and fool.

Clancy's "Sum of All Fears," may need an update, though in today's creative script writing world, more than one nuke may go off in Israel and The United States. I have no doubt the legends and myths going back to when sentient beings first evolved have always contained a wish for powers.

You do realize that your comparison to Superman who is a known character that has been in the public domain for about 7 or 8 decades...is not comparable to a specific plot line in a book not all of us have read right?

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How about ditching Superman and bringing in Charles Xavier from the X-Men to identify all potential future terrorists, then treat them all with the Ludovico technique so they can’t ever perform violence in the future (even when they regard it as self-defense). To perform the actual rounding up of all these malefactors, I nominate Team America.

Problem solved. What can go wrong?

Cerebro_dr_charles_xavier.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-cS3u-pWno

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Even worse, I was stuck with National Geographic as my sole prospect for seeing topless women.

George,

You left out medical books like ones for first-aid. I have very fond childhood memories of those.

:smile:

Michael

I looked up certain words in the dictionary and let my imagination do the rest. I was frustrated by the lack of words for my evil purpose, words like strip (didn't have to look up that one), denude, disrobe, defenestrate. As you can see, as a teenager I wanted to get right to work.

--Brant

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A little loveliness today.

Hard to believe the lack of spam control in the comments.

Wonder if Google will complain to Michael about nakedness on OL from this--oh, wait: you did a link!

I have to guess the guys were all properly circumcised. If you were to see mine you'd guess I was but I wasn't. I always pulled back on the foreskin to piss and it finally caught up with me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.

--Brant

a sexual being: "Thank God" (Marilyn Monroe)

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While watching the Republican debate last night and pondering the most popular Republican strategy for achieving international peace -- which I call the Let's kick some butt! theory of foreign affairs--I devised a fantasy scenario to focus attention on the question of how effective that strategy might be

Here is the basic setup. You magically become Superman (or his female equivalent) with all of his traditional powers. I won't quibble over exactly which powers you have. The point is that you can kill whomever you like with super speed, accuracy and efficiency (e.g., by frying brains at super-speed with your heat vision). And you can do all this without anyone ever knowing that you are the killer. You can also fly, etc., etc.

In short, you have virtually unlimited powers to kill, maim, torture, etc. anyone you like, and to do so with complete anonymity, so you decide to deal with the problem of ISIS and Islamic terrorism generally. The only limitation is that your Superman powers will expire after one year, so after that year is over you will need to use your normal human powers to deal with any adverse blowback you may have generated during your year as Superman. .

Maybe you don't believe that you will be able to eradicate Islamic terrorism within a year, but you figure that a year as Superman will be time enough to make significant improvements.

Okay, so what specifically would you do in that year? And how would your actions make things better in the long run? Your only constraint would be moral in nature, not physical. Be creative.

Ghs

If I were Superman in this situation, I would use my brains and X-ray vision to surveil the centre of the ISIS 'caliphate' in Syria (Raqqah). I would take a month of intake of all the open-source intelligence on the hierarchy and location of the leaders and secondary leaders and the location of their weapons stocks and their tanks, communication structures and raw-materials and other war materiel. I would memorize each face, each history, each location.

Next, I would use my heat-vision to knock out the ISIS materiel. I would render their guns, mortars, explosives, radios, cell-phones inert masses of metal sludge. I would use my super-strength and my super-speed to wrap each trained suicide bomber with a net enclosing him.

Next, I would appear in the sky over Raqqah and advise the civilians that ISIS's power to intimidate and coerce and kill was stilled, and that they could collect the netted actors.

Next, I would raise whirlwinds that would take up the top echelon of other jihadi criminals and leaders and administrators into the sky, and then bring them down to Tadmor prison and other incarceration spots. I would fuse their financial system and computer servers into electronic sludge. I would fuse sand into glass and raise a barrier to any fleeing criminal actor. I would remove Jabat al Nusra to incarceration centres.

Then, I would ground the Syrian Air Force and stall all the motorized vehicles and helicopters that daily rain death on civilians. I would open the secret dungeons where civilians were/are tortured to death. I would collect the varied internal documents by which Assad's regime conducted a lawless war, and I would deposit them in the Hague.

I would defuse all bombs, including the mustard shells in play. I would render disabled the machinery and materiel just brought into Syria this week by Russia. I would, in every effort, bring a ceasefire. I would heat-vision destroy all the legal instruments of the special Terrorist Court, and then bring to Syria those political actors who were forced to flee torture and death.

I would remove President Assad to the Fortress of Solitude for later questioning. I would remove to the Fortress the essential corps of family/thug supporters of the dictatorship in power positions. I would render unto the civilians what they hoped for -- an end to the fighting and a possibility of returning home and rebuilding.

Then I would get back to Metropolis and give Lois a good shagging.

Edited by william.scherk
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Then I would get back to Metropolis and give Lois a good shagging.

So its the two little words that make the difference, not the "Three Little Words" of the same tune...

shag

can mean rough tobacco, or else amateur beach-style dancing in the US. But in the main UK sense, as noun or verb, is an alternative to "fuck" ... but with a slight, important difference of effect. To some ears, "fuck" (like "bang") can sound like an aggressive act, and/or violent conquest, whereas "shag" (a softer sound) sounds more like an enjoyable fun activity. "Shag" is still often the preferred term among women who are very keen on "shagging", very much enjoy shagging men (and/or women) and getting shagged themselves. But don't so much want to get "fucked" (though if talking about another woman, especially a rival, it may well be a different story!). (Note also: "fucking" can also suggest "meddling" or "cheating", "fucked" is also associated with "broken" or "finished", "had it" - "shagged" is used simply to mean "very tired" .... one more reason for the preference by some people for "shag" over "fuck"!)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shag

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