Episode 31: Too Much Power

"Power/power/I will never understand the power you were holding over me/power/power/oh, you had it too long/yes, you had it too long."

                                                             -Bastille, "Power"

   I believe it was my senior year of high school. I was hanging out in the school commons with two of my best friends, Josh and Noah. It was a long-block day so this particular off-block was an hour and a half long. Usually on long off-blocks, Josh and I would watch videos on his phone, or go hang out at Burger King, sometimes even doing the video-watching there. But on this day, Josh and Noah were having a conversation about the anime Dragon Ball Z and its related shows/movies. 

     Note that I was not, nor have I ever been into Dragon Ball. So I could not contribute to this conversation. However, Josh and Noah did not seem to care. They talked about Dragon Ball for virtually that entire hour and a half, and I was bored out of my mind. When the off-block had finally ended, I was exhausted.

     So why am I telling you this story? Because one of the main things Josh and Noah were talking about was how powerful certain Dragon Ball characters are. They were talking about how these guys can, like, destroy galaxies with a sneeze or something. And I wanna talk about power for my blog. Power in two areas. Let's talk about the more fun one first.

Act 1. Your Hero Is Too OP.

    Josh and Noah love characters who are OP (over-powered - BTW, Josh and Noah, if either of you happen to be reading this, I don't mean to knock you. I still like both of you). They like characters who can destroy planets and vaporize their opponents. I find this kind of power kinda boring.

   I like heroes who struggle. I like heroes who get the snot beaten out of them, but keep going. I want them to triumph over evil, but I want it to be hard. It's not entertaining if the hero beats their enemy by waving his hand to make the enemy explode (that was a Watchmen reference). There's no payoff if the victory isn't hard-earned. There's a reward that comes from seeing the hero fight and bleed to get to the victory in the end. 

    And yes, I am aware that OP heroes are often written well, and their stories are often very good. Most Superman writers do a very good job of this. Yes, Superman is pretty OP, but he's also very emotional. He's also very principled. And his life is interesting enough to make him more than just a god who snaps villains away. Same with Doctor Manhattan in the aforementioned Watchmen. Doctor Manhattan is even more powerful than Superman, and has the powers and capabilities to literally do just about anything. But he's balanced out by the others in his team, normal people who, even though they don't hold a flame to him, fight the same fight he does.

Act 2. Government Is Too OP.

    I'm not going to name specific governments. Screw that, yes I am. Tyrants deserve to be called out. China. North Korea. Russia. Ethiopia. There's an old saying that goes back to Lord Acton that says, "all power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

    Put a bad person in power and they will become worse, and make the lives of the people under them worse. Give a bad person absolute power and they will become a historical villain (looking at you guys, Hitler and Stalin). This is why the US government has checks and balances. No one in the US has absolute power.

    I'm gonna say it: communism doesn't work. Sorry to the edgy kid I knew in high school who thought it did (don't worry, it wasn't Josh or Noah), but it just does not work. This kid literally had the gall to tell a teacher who grew up struggling in the communism of Cuba that communism is good. The look on her face and the anger in her voice. 

    Never give someone absolute power, and be watchful of those who have any. 

See you next week!