Stan Lee On The Evils Of Racism

in #life6 years ago

Stan Lee is no more. With his death we've lost an icon of contemporary pop-culture who's influence on our collective consciousness is of a magnitude far surpassing that of any super power wielded by his fantastical creations.


Stan_Lee.jpg
Stan Lee, 1922 - 2018
source: Wikimedia Commons


In recent years Stan Lee was that funny old man who appeared for a few seconds in every film released in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). To be clear, he didn't create our favorite superheroes all by himself; co-writers and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko particularly, were also responsible for the birth of household names like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Ant-Man.

The comic book is for a lot of us the ultimate form of escapism; who hasn't fantasized what it would be like to have some sort of superpower, to be invincible. The attraction to serve one's own interests would be huge, I imagine, but Stan's creations use their super powers for the good of the common folks; they are, essentially, deities watching over us, protecting us from all sorts of evil. Now, I won't argue that these comics are high literature, but it can't be denied that they do carry some strong and important moral ideas, like "with great power comes great responsibility", a lesson our friendly neighborhood spiderman learned from his dying uncle.

During his life, Stan Lee was also very concerned and outspoken about the evils of hatred and racism. Now, after his death on November 12th 2018 at the age of 95, a column he wrote in the year I was born has resurfaced on Twitter, and would like to share it with you:


lee-article_big.jpg
"Stan's Soapbox" column, 1968
source: Reddit


Stan's characters represented the best of us, the best in us. And although they were bigger than life, gifted with fantastical powers and completely unrealistic, we could all learn from their morals and their unwillingness to stop doing what's right and just. How many times have these superheroes inspired someone somewhere to simply do what's right. To not take the easy way out, but to overcome obstacles to reach a goal that's greater than just themselves? We'll never know.

"You know, my motto is 'Excelsior.' That's an old word that means 'upward and onward to greater glory.' It's on the seal of the state of New York. Keep moving forward, and if it's time to go, it's time. Nothing lasts forever."
Stan Lee, Playboy


Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, keep steeming!


wave-13 divider odrau steem

Recent articles you might be interested in:

Latest article >>>>>>>>>>>Free Speech Siege
The Wrong Arm Of The Law12 Seconds Of Trump
No Fear For RollercoastersFBI; Replacing The Phantom Self
Crypto Markets On The MoveEvolution's Greatest Gift

wave-13 divider odrau steem

Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you really liked this content, if you disagree (or if you do agree), please leave a comment. Of course, upvotes, follows, resteems are all greatly appreciated, but nothing brings me and you more growth than sharing our ideas. It's what Steemit is made for!
Helpienaut_post_banner_02-01.png

I am a proud helpinaut! @Helpie is looking for new members! Helpie has been growing nicely and we are always on the lookout for new valuable members. We are very supportive and community oriented. If you would like to be scouted for @helpie , please drop a comment on THIS POST or contact @paintingangels on discord at paintingangels(serena)#3668.

wave-13 divider odrau steem

Just for Full Disclosure, I'm invested in these crypto-currencies:

Bitcoin | Litecoin | EOS | OmiseGo | FunFair | KIN | Pillar | DENT | Polymath | XDCE | 0x | Decred | Ethereum | Carmel | XYO

wave-13 divider odrau steem

@helpie is a WITNESS now! So please help @helpie help you by voting for us here!Helpie_01.png

Sort:  

He was a superhero :) Lovely article, @zyx066 :D Hope today is a better day for you~

Thank you @veryspider 😍 Your superpowers cheer me up, friendly neighborhood @veryspider 🕷 🕸 💖

excelsior my friend !

Indeed!! Thanks for the support @malos10 😍


This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here

Too much honor for one humble steemian to handle... Thanks so much @c-squared 😍💜

I can't figure out how to DM you, but I think you're going to find this new post I just made very interesting. It's about how the US Constitution at its founding was basically exactly the same as the UK's political system at the time of the revolution, with only a few minor tweaks:

https://steemit.com/politics/@politikhos/the-us-basically-has-the-same-political-system-as-the-uk-in-the-late-1700s

Thanks for letting me know. I'll have a look :-)

The Man was on another level, not only because the legacy of superheroes that he built along with his collaborators but because of the sense he infused in all of them, these are no mere people with fantastical power, these are people blesse with the amazing oportunity to change their world and that's the reason why they became our heroes, people like us that can do real impact everywhere, that's why we admire them so much, isn't that what we all want to transcent in a way or another?

I believe that his fight against racism got to a peak when he beganf working on the X-Men, he made that project just to exemplify the dangers of racism and bigotry, this guy was an exemplar man!

Thanks for this great response @elfranz, I agree 100% 😄 X-Men shows exactly the dangers of irrational fear and hatred directed at one particular segment of the population. 💚

This post has been selected for curation by @msp-curation by @clayboyn and has been upvoted and will be featured in the weekly philosophy curation post. It will also be considered for the official @minnowsupport curation post and if selected will be resteemed from the main account. Feel free to join us on Discord!

Thank you @clayboyn and @msp-curation and @minnowsupport, for making this steemian feel "super" 💙 🙏🏼 😍

Yes, and he lifted us all up with him! Thanks @vavi! 😍

This post has been resteemed from MSP3K courtesy of @clayboyn from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ).

Bots Information:

Join the P.A.L. Discord | Check out MSPSteem | Listen to MSP-Waves

🙏🏼💛

❗️ Indeed ❗️ Thank you for stopping by @tychoxi 💜

I thought he'd never die, my prime comics years were the 80s and he was already an old man then

He sometimes seemed as invincible as his creations... He is never going to die in our memories though; in that sense he still is immortal... 😍 Thanks for remembering @viraldrome! 💜

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.17
TRX 0.15
JST 0.028
BTC 57951.76
ETH 2347.51
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.36