by Kagzrimen Saikaptah

It is no secret that the average boy growing up loves his superheroes. I know I did, of course. Superheroes are who we look up to, who we dress up as on Halloween and who we pretend to be whenever we want to feel strong.  I can still remember getting up early every Saturday morning to watch cartoons like Xmen, Superman and Spider-man. I used to grab a leftover slice of pizza from the previous night and pop it into the toaster oven before turning on the TV. The superheroes were always so cool, saving the day, defeating the bad guys and doing amazing things with their powers. It made me want to be a cool hero, too. I even used to create masks and jump from couch to couch in the living room, pretending to fly and using the cushions of my sofa as bad guys to fight.

But growing up, I never once actually thought to myself, Where do superheroes even come from? What is their origin? To me, they were good people saving the day, doing the right thing, even if they had to get the job done the hard way. What could be more heroic than that, right? But maybe this was just another form of indoctrination, like so many things in the modern system. What if the hero was really just a concept built to desensitize the individual to acts of violence or acts of patriotism? What was it about being a hero that made me feel so empowered? 

Thinking back on my childhood, I remember always wanting to help others simply because it’s what the hero would do and that seemed right. It’s no surprise that TV and music have a powerful influence on the minds of those who tune in. The more I think about it now, the more I realize how much those simple cartoons shaped my personality .  I was always wanting to pick a fight, thinking the only way to solve a problem was with violence, doing things to others that I would not want done to me…all in the name of being “right”.  With further thought and investigation on this concept  I came to a conclusion. All societies have ways of influencing the minds of their people.

It should be no secret that the modern system we live in today has its roots in the Greek and Roman civilization. So it would only make sense to check there for the origin of the concept of heroes. When we look into the mythology of Greek civilization, we notice it is usually centered around the hero or savior of the people. Those heroes wield amazing powers and perform feats of military prowess, defeating and killing their enemies in the name of a cause or city. Heroes like Hercules, Perseus, Achilles, and Odysseus. 

Just for a moment, imagine if these tales of war, violence and power are what you grew up on as a child. It would become a cultural norm, just as it is today. The superheroes who had such a huge impact on me were, in truth, the modern-day Greek mythologies, playing tricks on the consciousness of my mind making me want to be the hero. Seeing how stories of superheroes can influence the minds of children today, it comes as no surprise that Alexander the Great's ambition to rule and conquer was once a cultural norm. Even today, we can see Alexander himself is still revered as a hero of some sort . But why, if he raped, killed, and pillaged ?  Why is someone who causes violence and destruction a hero?