Monday, April 19, 2010

Topic #2: Real-Life Superheroes

Did you know that there exist real life "superheros" that patrol different cities all over the world? Some of these 'masked avengers' simply watch for crimes and report them to the police. Other heroes actually attempt to intervene when they witness a crime. A small minority actually carry weapons of some sort either purchased or created. Some critics say that these people are vigilantes while others believe they are just bored. What do you think? Should these people be arrested for vigilante crimes like trespassing, harassment, or assault? Why or why not?

Please read the three articles and respond by 5pm CST July 16.

Article #1
Article #2
Article #3

-Safari Bob

2 comments:

Unknown said...

1. First off, I wouldn't say they are vigilantes or bored. Vigilantes are defined as "law-enforcing citizens: somebody who punishes lawbreakers personally rather than relying on the legal authorities." (Encarta World English Dictionary) These "real-life superheroes" do not punish these lawbreakers. All they are doing is acting as a good Samaritan, which is defined as being a "helpful person: a helper of those who are in trouble."(Encarta World English Dictionary) Now whether they are bored or not is another thing. Their good deeds may have started out of boredom - defined as being tired and impatient: tired of and slightly annoyed by a person or situation that is not interesting, exciting, or entertaining (Encarta World English Dictionary) - and a wanting to be productive in their community; but, they are obviously too busy to be bored, now. I do not think they should be punished for vigilante crimes because they aren't punishing these lawbreakers. They do not trespass either. Most of their good deeds are done on public streets and public parks. They are not harassing anyone. They are simply helping the homeless and telling drug dealers or people looking to buy drugs that they have called the cops and they need to leave. And, they should definitely not be arrested for assault because they are not attacking anyone, they are not wrongfully trying to "capture" anyone and they are not carrying weapons around and using them against anyone, either. As I said before, they are just being good Samaritans, which is not against the law.

Unknown said...

When I heard or read about these heroes' stories, it came to my mind there are some fictions would be created to distinguish them from the ordinary people. In fact, different people have different abilities and skills, but they won't run out from the human boundary. These superheroes usually hide their faces by masks in order to show others they are not like them. The point of wearing the mask is disappearing their truth, secure their world and hurt whoever they look for. Being a superhero or not, both still as a human and they should treat same. Maybe these heroes can do a something which they have the right of doing it, so no one is going to stop them of showing their fictional skills and abilities to be familiars to other people. Of course, they have to be stopped of doing these negative works, such as trespassing, harassment, or assault. I don't know how come these people who consider themselves as superheroes don't face challenges from some surrounded governments. From the point of ignoring them, they will spread their disasters and become proud of doing their wrong jobs.