Western and Islamic-Inspired Superheroes

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Western and Islamic-Inspired Superheroes

On the forums, I have contended for several years that producing Western-like heroes in a mold suited to the Muslim culture would be a great way to introduce and reinforce ideas of liberty, individual rights, etc. in that community. And help move them away from the Islamist crap.

It appears that someone is already doing it--and doing it on a grand scale. He has his "The 99" teaming up with Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, hell, the entire Justice League of America, using top talent from the USA and producing films about it in Hollywood.

It's coming to our own big screens with the involvement of the best film and comics people in our own culture.

Here is a TED talk by Naif Al-Mutawa explaining his project. I am flabbergasted and delighted. Only good things can come from stuff like this.

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It's funny.

I went to the TED site because I got tired of the bickering about bigotry over here. And I literally stumbled (in a virtual way) over this wonderful talk.

I find it interesting, though, that in the comments to the video on the TED site, the bigots on both sides are bashing each other. But while they do that on sites where they can post for free, this dude is spending millions of dollars on producing high-quality stuff that is being seen by millions.

Who is going to change the world? The bigots or people like this guy?

I am going to learn a lot more about this dude. He is trailblazing something I believe in all the way down to the premises.

What's really great about this is that I don't think anyone can stop it.

It will take some time, though. Kids will choose this stuff over bigotry any day of the week. And kids eventually grow up to become adults.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here is the TED bio: Naif Al-Mutawa: Creator, The 99

Naif Al-Mutawa has created a group of comic superheroes based on Islamic culture and religion. They derive their superpowers from the 99 attributes of Allah.

Why you should listen to him:

Widad the Loving, Bari the Healer, Mumita the Destroyer and friends, all working together to fight evil -- the virtues of Islam are embodied in the characters of the thrilling new comic The 99. Naif Al-Mutawa, a clinical psychologist by training, created the characters with a team of artists and writers to showcase traditional, tolerant and enlightened Muslim values in the guise of good old-fashioned superheroes, ordinary mortals who acquire special powers and crisscross the globe on missions.

Soon, the 99 heroes will be saving the world alongside all-American heroes Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman in a crossover comic with the Justice League. The 99 comic is the corner stone of an expanding family (moving toward videogames and theme parks) that will bring these characters into the mainstream; an animated cartoon series has been announced for fall 2010 on US cable channel The Hub. And US President Barack Obama recently commended The 99 for capturing the imagination of young people through their message of tolerance.

Once the Muslim world gets used to seeing Superheroes like this, dressed to fit their own culture and battling the enemies of freedom, it will not be long before new ones will be created--ones with less grounding in religion and more focus on adventures. And other modern cultural things. This grows because the things we have developed culturally here in the Western world are, frankly, great. After a while, hopefully, the idea of a theocratic government will seem uncomfortable to Muslims.

This is how you change a culture on the intellectual front and get it out of the dark times.

On the other end, I am thinking about the rich stories that are buried in that culture. I have no doubt some of them will become hits here in America and the rest of the Western world once they are properly produced.

There is one idea Mutawa has that I find amusing. He obviously comes from a liberal bias. So he has taken the liberal rhetoric of calling the Constitution a "living document" open to change with the times and applied it to the Qur'an. Thus in the Qur'an, as a "living document," the harsher and more backward passages should become historical curiosities--like what happened with the Bible.

May he be successful in his mission.

I, personally, will worry about the rest with respect to Mutawa if he can get that part going. If he does only that, he will become a great benefactor to humanity and to his culture.

Michael

[BaalChatzaf]

This is how you change a culture on the intellectual front and get it out of the dark times.

On the other end, I am thinking about the rich stories that are buried in that culture. I have no doubt some of them will become hits here in America and the rest of the Western world once they are properly produced.

There is one idea Mutawa has that I find amusing. He obviously comes from a liberal bias. So he has taken the liberal rhetoric of calling the Constitution a "living document" open to change with the times and applied it to the Qur'an. Thus in the Qur'an, as a "living document," the harsher and more backward passages should become historical curiosities--like what happened with the Bible.

May he be successful in his mission.

I, personally, will worry about the rest with respect to Mutawa if he can get that part going. If he does only that, he will become a great benefactor to humanity and to his culture.

Michael

If I hold my breath until all of this wonderful stuff happens will I turn blue?

Which is more likely to happen first: all this good stuff will happen OR a Wahabite extremist group will get a hold of nuclear material and blow it up right here in the United States?

Just asking.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob,

Let's put it this way.

I would never want you in charge of the Titanic.

It's too big for quick navigation decisions and you need to plot the course well in advance.

Otherwise you run into icebergs.

Helping to intellectually change the course of millions and millions of people is not something I see you doing very well...

Michael

[BaalChatzaf]

Bob,

Let's put it this way.

I would never want you in charge of the Titanic.

It's too big for quick navigation decisions and you need to plot the course well in advance.

Otherwise you run into icebergs.

Helping to intellectually change the course of millions and millions of people is not something I see you doing very well...

Michael

Actually you do want a caution like me in charge of the Titanic. When I got the iceberg warning (as did Capt. Smith) I would have slowed the ship down (which Capt. Smith did not). Capt. Smith was an optimist (like you) and he lost his ship. If I had been in command, we would not be talking about the wreck of the Titanic.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob,

You are not a caution. You are basically saying, "Don't sail at all."

I think our military should do its job. I am doing the intellectual part.

For example, I don't preach military stuff on a philosophy forum and imagine I am doing some good in avoiding danger. I do think building intellectual bridges aids in dialog and communication.

From what I have seen, the bridges work a hell of a lot better than shouting insults from a distance.

Michael

[BaalChatzaf]

Bob,

You are not a caution. You are basically saying, "Don't sail at all."

Not at all. I am saying sail with care, unlike Capt. Smith who sank his ship.

I think our military should do its job. I am doing the intellectual part.

For example, I don't preach military stuff on a philosophy forum and imagine I am doing some good in avoiding danger. I do think building intellectual bridges aids in dialog and communication.

From what I have seen, the bridges work a hell of a lot better than shouting insults from a distance.

Michael

Hurling missiles from a distance is more useful than hurling insults. That is why I enjoyed the years I spent designing guidance systems for cruise missiles.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bob,

I'm glad your missals* have solved the problem and changed the minds of 1.5+ billion people with respect to separation of church and state.

Good show.

Who the hell needs intellectual efforts anyway?

Michael

* Oops. Busted below...

[Dragonfly]

Chamberlain tried to build a bridge. Churchill knew that the time for building bridges was over.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Dragonfly,

Chamberlain was also in charge of a military and was facing an enemy military armed to the teeth.

The present context is a bit different. And I, for one, am not in charge of a military.

btw - Have you or Bob even looked at the TED video by Naif Al-Mutawa? Or are you only interested in using this thread as a window to repeat more of the same old same old?

Michael

[anthony]

Swords into ploughshares, and now missiles into missals?

Nice pun, Michael.

[Robert Campbell]

Well, I liked Al-Mutawa's presentation, and I hope he is successful.

This doesn't mean that there is no need for military preparedness.

Robert Campbell

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Robert,

You just gave my entire message in two sentences.

The difference between Bob and me is that I believe intellectual efforts and military preparedness are needed to get keep this problem from destroying things on a massive grand scale.

He thinks military preparedness is enough. But not only that--he thinks intellectual efforts are a waste of time and a distraction from military stuff.

At least that is his constant message.

Michael

[Dragonfly]

In America you don't experience the real threat with which we have to live here. For example, in Amsterdam, the once so tolerant city, gays are now beaten up by muslims and jews are threatened by them so that they in public have to hide their skull caps, so that they won't give offense, antisemitism is rapidly increasing here, in some quarters the autochthonous population is harassed away by the muslims. That all thanks to the appeasement policy of the ex-major (ironically himself a jew). The result of years of endless talk about integration, building bridges, tolerance, etc. has been only that the city is going to the dogs (and it isn't the only one). It's therefore not surprising that the only politician who dares to oppose this policy of appeasement, Geert Wilders, vilified by almost all the other politicians and the mainstream media, has had a meteoric rise in popularity. He was the great winner of the elections for the House of Representatives (from 9 seats to 24 seats, his party becoming the 3rd largest in the country), and according to the polls his party would now even be the greatest party in the country. The other politicians still don't understand that the muslims are not interested in bridges and dialogue, they want to take over. Therefore the comparison with Chamberlain is apt, our patience is at an end.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Dragonfly,

You said that already.

Have you seen the video?

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Dragonfly,

You know, there is something that galls me in all this.

What do you propose to do with large chunks of population? You can't just snap your fingers and make them all go away. The only way to get rid of them permanently is by genocide. So, if they are where you are and they are violent, you have to find solutions.

You have to make them change the way they think or exterminate them.

I can't think of anything else in human history that has ever worked. Well... there's slavery...

Now in places like Amsterdam, this problem should not even exist. You complain that your leaders "appeased." They may have, but who else was looking? I'll tell you who.

Nobody.

Your people refused to look at Muslims long enough to distinguish something like the difference between Wahhabis and Sufis. I get the feeling your folks looked down their noses out of focus so much that they didn't see what was happening right under their very noses. You let the Wahhabi rats (the bigoted holy rollers of Islam) in and saw no difference between them and good people. You called them all "Islam" and it was all one thing to you. Something you just don't need to look at. And you are still doing it.

Now you claim you didn't see it coming because others appeased. The truth is you didn't see it because you refused to look. Looking at those Islam "savages" was beneath you.

Right now, here in this thread, there is a partial medium-to-long term solution to all the hostility and the solution is coming from the Muslim side.

What happens?

You still refuse to look.

Well, here is a fact. When people refuse to look, they allow other people to create problems for them. And when they still refuse to look, they rely on other people to solve their problems for them. They are helpless and always under the power of other people.

I say either do something or get used to the problem. Hell, I don't need to say it. That's just the way it is.

I have an idea. Elect an entire Geert Wilders administration and see if he can snap his fingers and make all the Wahhabis go away. See if that works. Then all you have to do is look at Wilders and you don't have to dirty your own eyes. But that won't work and you know it. He isn't even looking at the problem himself. He is only looking at the symptoms and thinking one Islam size fits all.

Go for it, though. At least you can pretend to yourself you are doing something. But you know Wilders does not have a chance in hell of solving this. (I do think a moratorium on immigration would be a good idea, though. It won't solve anything, but it will give you guys some breathing room.)

Call this comment of mine tough love.

Either you look and start sorting out the good from the bad, or take what others give you. Or start killing and opt for insanity. Reality doesn't function any other way.

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

They can pay them to leave.

--Brant

[blackhorse]

I'd much rather be under a Geert Wilders gov't than a muslim one.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I'd much rather be under a Geert Wilders gov't than a muslim one.

blackhorse,

Please read the issue correctly so you can make an intelligent comment instead of something incompetent like this. The idea of comparing a Geert Wilders administration against a Muslim administration has not been raised, nor can I conceive of any rational reason to raise it within the present context.

A Geert Wilders administration was mentioned as a possible solution to the Wahhabi Muslim immigration trouble they are currently having in The Netherlands. That has nothing at all to do with a Muslim government anywhere. In fact, at the present, there is no way the Dutch would ever accept a Muslim government of The Netherlands. That's about as obvious as saying the sun rises in the east or the earth is round, so I don't see your point.

btw - Did you see the video, or are you just trolling?

Michael

[Rich Engle]

Brunch. You look around, you see strange things, you run and sleep.