The Nazis must be rolling in their graves realizing that the Übermenschen that they described are actually the Israelis of the IDF. The Nazis are all dead and buried and the IDF is kicking ass to all of the anti-Semites in the region.
This was a riveting article worth reading twice ! Israelis are Superheroes in my books. Shuster was Canadian. I remember the tv comedy show Wayne and Shuster. I think they put out a recorded skit about Julius Ceasar. "I told him, Julie don't go , don't go Julie ."
Interesting and I don't wish to criticize the author, but this seems like a bit of over-thinking. I'm 82 years old and have fond childhood memories of Superman and Batman comics that basically showed bad people in our world, doing mean things, and featured brave heroes, fighting them, and helping those who couldn't help themselves. The lesson was, help and protect your fellow man. The men and women of the IDF are our modern examples.
3. the Golem was built by a rabbi with "good intentions" (Rabbi Lowe) to wipe out anti-semitism an' so was Superman per both Siegel & Shuster (who were totally responding to the Holocaust when creating the character)
4. Superman's name is also Kal-El, the suffix meaning God in Hebrew. Golem also has a Hebrew name
5. Golem has a vulnerablity (the "stop" verse written on forehead) just as Superman has kryptonite
6. Golem was a "humble" man of clay (a term for being human...albeit a special one) an' Clark Kent was also humble & modest in his day-to-day "Clay" persona.... but SuperMan (super meant "swell & great" not zo much "uber"--uber alles? Nah... just extra special!) was the Man of Steel! Why steel? Stronger than clay (but he was not without weakness either)
7. Siegel & Schuster ADMIT the connection with the Golem AND state in interviews that Superman was also created after Moses (sent away from his home so he wouldn't be killed JUST as Superman's parents also had to send him away so he'd survive) Samson was also an inspiration (for the physical strength--another bible story!)
To them, Superman WAS Jewish--in his ordinary incarnation he was totally a nerdy scholar with glasses, a mentor to Young Jimmy (the cub reporter--like torah scholars have a study partner/mentor via an older boy), and was a man of WORDS! (a writer!) He was shy with the layddeez (good ol' Lois Lane) an'"saving the day" was paramount.
Yes Superman was inspired by BOTH The Golem & Moses and he was invented as the hoped-for Jewish hero, the one that would have been required to save our people from the Holocaust as it would have taken a very "Super"Human to do so... We need NOT look to Nazis or outside sources for the origins because the origins were all chewish :-)
Also, Siegel's (jewish) father was shot dead in his store by a robber. Superman was created shortly after that--if "only" Superman had been there to save the day, prevent the death. Superman was bulletproof--Jerry Siegel's dad was killed by a speeding bullet. (You'll find a similar back story with Batman created also by choos)
This is true but it's also important to see fictional characters in their cultural context, beyond their authors' intentions. There were supermen before Superman, as described in the first half of my essay.And of course, the coming WW2 unleashed by self-declared supermen cannot be overlooked. Siegel and Schuster wanted to have a Jewish Ubermensch but there is a bitter irony in the fact that he is not human but an alien. The Nazis regarded Jews as literally not human.
Sure, I see that but Golem, Moses & Samson pre-date Nietzsche & the Nazis... Like Superman they are both human & mythical (re how their stories are told). Clark Kent IS the human side of Superman tho'--he's in every way human (an' jooish!) but possesses the strength & qualities S&S would have wished on every joo (likely themselves too! most boys play that game as kids!) that had ta fight the Nazis in the camps, that went in as drafted soldiers in battle--an' of course to be able ta resist the bullets his poor father couldn't have done had he not had this super-human ability.
I don't see it as bitter irony tho'--yep the Nazis regarded joos as bein' sub-human or "an alien race" but even sans Nazis the joos have always been "other'd" an' those boys were growin' up in the US at a time where joos were STILL bein' othered (famblies changin' their names, chews bein' dis-allowed to join country clubs, etc)--So turnin' "otherness" into a SuperPower (literally--like SuperJew!) is (imho) a heart-wish an' not so ironic or dark as it is more of an aspirational coping mechanism (one we all use at times--the "if only!").
It's possible ta read "inna cultural context" (or even against the grain) but ignorin' intent in cases where it's both stated overtly an' visible would also be a mis-readin' (imho)-- What is in the public "ether"--yer right--cannot be ignored--but I really DO think that we are enriched by what those fellas said about their reasonin'--their wish, an' their spot-on capturin' of a character that embodies a deep desire that resonates with us all (even us ladies!). (Also Superman's a handsome devil an' YET duz not look aryan at all ;-)--like Tim Burton castin' Johnny Depp as his "alterego" many a regular lookin' fella & gal has created a better lookin' character to embody themselfs.... as "muse!")
Thanks for the detailed response. When those nice Jewish boys were creating this character in high school, they never could've dreamed how famous Superman would become, how many TV shows, movies, costumes, toys, etc. would result. All they had in mind was a comic book! As Gomer Pyle would've said, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
yup, beyond their dreams! The rare 1938 comic book that first introduced Superman to the world sold for a record-breaking $6 million in April 2024! (as Gomer'd say "Wull I'll be a monkey's uncle!" ;-)
Aryans were depicted in Nazi propaganda as blond and blue eyed. Why? Hitler was not blond and blue eyed. Could it be that blond and blue eyed was set as the ideal physical characteristics because Jews were considered to be swarthy?
There was a whole elaborate "science" of racial anthropology in which the ideal Nordic type not only had blond hair and blue eyes but also a narrow skull and a whole lot of specific physical features. In caricatures, Jews were depicted as swarthy, but blue eyes never saved anybody from extermination. Nazi scientists believed they could establish the "racial type" by elaborate skull and body measurements. Of course, it didn't really work, but they "believed the experts". Part of what Mengele did in Auschwitz was concerned with this kind of research into racial types.
If some think Superman is a Nazi/SS based character then why on Earth would the authors have milquetoast Clark Kent at all? I'm 73 and grew up with those comics and even as a kid knew this was fantasy but fun to read, Of course George Reeves on TV was a favorite then and now.
Nazism was and still is, a lie from start to finish. Everybody knows Hitler and Goebbels were runts. What distinguishes The Third Reich was its totalitarian methods of recruiting and meting out Psychopaths and Psychopathic Violence which killed 50 Million Whites in World War Two. This is how we know Nazism is a lie. They murdered Whites. Even Nazism’s Biological argument is a lie: reducing Humans to breeding (like Dogs) catastrophically narrows the Gene-Pool and destroys the Diversity absolutely necessary for fitness and survival. It is noticeable that Germany cannot field even a national football team to win now. Why? Because the best have been killed off in War and the Nazi ‘biology’ war. How did such Evil break out? Because of the Dark side in Human Nature. The Nazis killed off The Men in a grotesquely hidden act of jealousy. Darkness all the way.
The Nazis must be rolling in their graves realizing that the Übermenschen that they described are actually the Israelis of the IDF. The Nazis are all dead and buried and the IDF is kicking ass to all of the anti-Semites in the region.
Thank you.
Today is beset with evil too. Some hope may be possible:
New book: Allah is a Zionist
No Muslim can argue rationally against the existence of the State of Israel.
https://hellish2050.substack.com/p/new-book-allah-is-a-zionist
This was a riveting article worth reading twice ! Israelis are Superheroes in my books. Shuster was Canadian. I remember the tv comedy show Wayne and Shuster. I think they put out a recorded skit about Julius Ceasar. "I told him, Julie don't go , don't go Julie ."
Interesting and I don't wish to criticize the author, but this seems like a bit of over-thinking. I'm 82 years old and have fond childhood memories of Superman and Batman comics that basically showed bad people in our world, doing mean things, and featured brave heroes, fighting them, and helping those who couldn't help themselves. The lesson was, help and protect your fellow man. The men and women of the IDF are our modern examples.
I always suspected that Superman was inspired by the Golem.
yup, imho more than the "ubermensch"--why?
1. famous jooish story
2. the Golem wipes out evil so does Superman
3. the Golem was built by a rabbi with "good intentions" (Rabbi Lowe) to wipe out anti-semitism an' so was Superman per both Siegel & Shuster (who were totally responding to the Holocaust when creating the character)
4. Superman's name is also Kal-El, the suffix meaning God in Hebrew. Golem also has a Hebrew name
5. Golem has a vulnerablity (the "stop" verse written on forehead) just as Superman has kryptonite
6. Golem was a "humble" man of clay (a term for being human...albeit a special one) an' Clark Kent was also humble & modest in his day-to-day "Clay" persona.... but SuperMan (super meant "swell & great" not zo much "uber"--uber alles? Nah... just extra special!) was the Man of Steel! Why steel? Stronger than clay (but he was not without weakness either)
7. Siegel & Schuster ADMIT the connection with the Golem AND state in interviews that Superman was also created after Moses (sent away from his home so he wouldn't be killed JUST as Superman's parents also had to send him away so he'd survive) Samson was also an inspiration (for the physical strength--another bible story!)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/real-tragedy-true-story-behind-12386500
These two nize jooish boys were not readin' Nietzsche (who often praised da Chews! fwiw https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/2459/for-what-does-nietzsche-admire-the-priestly-jewish-race) nor emulating the Nazis by co-opting their faux-Viking fantasies into their pro-Jooish character, but they were of course aware of Greek mythology and heroes with sum (as Popeye would say) "muskles!"...
To them, Superman WAS Jewish--in his ordinary incarnation he was totally a nerdy scholar with glasses, a mentor to Young Jimmy (the cub reporter--like torah scholars have a study partner/mentor via an older boy), and was a man of WORDS! (a writer!) He was shy with the layddeez (good ol' Lois Lane) an'"saving the day" was paramount.
Yes Superman was inspired by BOTH The Golem & Moses and he was invented as the hoped-for Jewish hero, the one that would have been required to save our people from the Holocaust as it would have taken a very "Super"Human to do so... We need NOT look to Nazis or outside sources for the origins because the origins were all chewish :-)
Also, Siegel's (jewish) father was shot dead in his store by a robber. Superman was created shortly after that--if "only" Superman had been there to save the day, prevent the death. Superman was bulletproof--Jerry Siegel's dad was killed by a speeding bullet. (You'll find a similar back story with Batman created also by choos)
This is true but it's also important to see fictional characters in their cultural context, beyond their authors' intentions. There were supermen before Superman, as described in the first half of my essay.And of course, the coming WW2 unleashed by self-declared supermen cannot be overlooked. Siegel and Schuster wanted to have a Jewish Ubermensch but there is a bitter irony in the fact that he is not human but an alien. The Nazis regarded Jews as literally not human.
Sure, I see that but Golem, Moses & Samson pre-date Nietzsche & the Nazis... Like Superman they are both human & mythical (re how their stories are told). Clark Kent IS the human side of Superman tho'--he's in every way human (an' jooish!) but possesses the strength & qualities S&S would have wished on every joo (likely themselves too! most boys play that game as kids!) that had ta fight the Nazis in the camps, that went in as drafted soldiers in battle--an' of course to be able ta resist the bullets his poor father couldn't have done had he not had this super-human ability.
I don't see it as bitter irony tho'--yep the Nazis regarded joos as bein' sub-human or "an alien race" but even sans Nazis the joos have always been "other'd" an' those boys were growin' up in the US at a time where joos were STILL bein' othered (famblies changin' their names, chews bein' dis-allowed to join country clubs, etc)--So turnin' "otherness" into a SuperPower (literally--like SuperJew!) is (imho) a heart-wish an' not so ironic or dark as it is more of an aspirational coping mechanism (one we all use at times--the "if only!").
It's possible ta read "inna cultural context" (or even against the grain) but ignorin' intent in cases where it's both stated overtly an' visible would also be a mis-readin' (imho)-- What is in the public "ether"--yer right--cannot be ignored--but I really DO think that we are enriched by what those fellas said about their reasonin'--their wish, an' their spot-on capturin' of a character that embodies a deep desire that resonates with us all (even us ladies!). (Also Superman's a handsome devil an' YET duz not look aryan at all ;-)--like Tim Burton castin' Johnny Depp as his "alterego" many a regular lookin' fella & gal has created a better lookin' character to embody themselfs.... as "muse!")
Shazam!
Thanks for the detailed response. When those nice Jewish boys were creating this character in high school, they never could've dreamed how famous Superman would become, how many TV shows, movies, costumes, toys, etc. would result. All they had in mind was a comic book! As Gomer Pyle would've said, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
yup, beyond their dreams! The rare 1938 comic book that first introduced Superman to the world sold for a record-breaking $6 million in April 2024! (as Gomer'd say "Wull I'll be a monkey's uncle!" ;-)
It’s an interesting idea, but the Golem was more influential in relation to other science-fictional archetypes, such as Frankenstein’s monster.
Definitely agree about Frankenstein's monster ("Abby Normal?"). Just speculation I've had, regarding Superman.
Aryans were depicted in Nazi propaganda as blond and blue eyed. Why? Hitler was not blond and blue eyed. Could it be that blond and blue eyed was set as the ideal physical characteristics because Jews were considered to be swarthy?
There was a whole elaborate "science" of racial anthropology in which the ideal Nordic type not only had blond hair and blue eyes but also a narrow skull and a whole lot of specific physical features. In caricatures, Jews were depicted as swarthy, but blue eyes never saved anybody from extermination. Nazi scientists believed they could establish the "racial type" by elaborate skull and body measurements. Of course, it didn't really work, but they "believed the experts". Part of what Mengele did in Auschwitz was concerned with this kind of research into racial types.
If some think Superman is a Nazi/SS based character then why on Earth would the authors have milquetoast Clark Kent at all? I'm 73 and grew up with those comics and even as a kid knew this was fantasy but fun to read, Of course George Reeves on TV was a favorite then and now.
Nazism was and still is, a lie from start to finish. Everybody knows Hitler and Goebbels were runts. What distinguishes The Third Reich was its totalitarian methods of recruiting and meting out Psychopaths and Psychopathic Violence which killed 50 Million Whites in World War Two. This is how we know Nazism is a lie. They murdered Whites. Even Nazism’s Biological argument is a lie: reducing Humans to breeding (like Dogs) catastrophically narrows the Gene-Pool and destroys the Diversity absolutely necessary for fitness and survival. It is noticeable that Germany cannot field even a national football team to win now. Why? Because the best have been killed off in War and the Nazi ‘biology’ war. How did such Evil break out? Because of the Dark side in Human Nature. The Nazis killed off The Men in a grotesquely hidden act of jealousy. Darkness all the way.