My first thought was; it was bound to happen sooner or later.
My second thought; really?
The article I read at "The Daily Mail" was the typical fluff piece that is usually posted by a tabloid site. In other words, who knows how much of the information is to be trusted. But as I scroll through the actual site, I'm thinking that I don't feel that enlightened after perusing their pages either. What exactly is the goal here? Are we looking at people who want to be Kick Ass or are we looking at Good Samaritans who like to dress up in costume?
For example, one "super hero" who goes by the name of Nyx has a semi-readable bio that, I think, tries to say that she does good deeds for the homeless. But I'm not sure. What I do know is that she likes to wear fishnet and show lots of cleavage. Other than that I'm kind of baffled.
Other bios seem to follow in the same mold at Nyx. The literally named Samaritan reads like that of a charitable guy who focuses primarily on Locks of Love-- which is great. But does one need a costume to do that?
Or what about The Vigilante Spider? He claims he doesn't commit vigilante acts and says he works with children. I'm... Uh... What? Other heroes in this particular group do claim to do more dangerous work. Like Dark Guardian, who claims to confront and drive drug dealers out of Washington Square Park. And an online video appears to substantiate his claims.
I'm kind of on-the-fence on how I feel about this. In the case of the "heroes" who do wonderful, charitable works within their communities and like to wear costumes while doing it-- I say go for it. If it makes you happy and you're not putting yourself or anyone else at risk, what's the harm?
But the wannabe vigilantes? I gotta say, unless you have the financing and training of a real-life Bruce Wayne, I don't think any attempts at real-life superhero work is going to end well. Worse I worry that well-intentioned but untrained people are not only going to hurt themselves, but perhaps others as well.
Given our culture, this was inevitable. Most people are decent-- I do believe this. But we also crave attention and significance. I like these people a heck of a lot more than I like the idiots who look for fame through reality shows that feature their drunken behavior. But being well-intentioned doesn't always equal being smart.
And judging by the comments at the site, the attention these people are getting is definitely inspiring other would-be heroes to join the club. So what does that mean? More costumes or more potentially hare-brained behavior? I suspect a little of both. I'm mildly interested to see where this goes-- and slightly apprehensive as well.
Okay. Mostly apprehensive. Something tells me this isn't going to end up a lot like the Justice League.
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