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Reply Subj: I disagree. Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 07:56:24 pm EDT (Viewed 420 times) | |||||||
Quote: I reject the premise that operating with an expanded (even global) roster necessarily requires the adoption of a military status. There are plenty of organizations that do good both on a worldwide scale and on a ground-level basis that are about as far removed from any sort of military operations or ethos as you can get.True, but it's pretty significant that none of them fight anybody. Helping to dig out earthquake victims or giving medical care to refugees is one thing, but liberating a prison camp is another, and overthrowing a genocidal dictator is even further removed. Quote: To a large extent, I suppose it depends on how you see the nature of a superhero team, because if you already see it as a superhuman (or even cosmic-level) extension of a law enforcement agency or "peace-keeping" military force to begin with, then the jurisdictional issues could be problematic, but if you see it as something like the Peace Corps or Doctors Without Borders (or even firefighters) with some superhuman muscle behind them, then it doesn't change the ethics of the thing at all. I suspect you see the Lair Legion as a Lawful Good team, whereas I see it as a Neutral Good team, which just so happens to have switched from a Lawful Good leader to a Chaotic Good leader.Wouldn't being Neutral Good involve rescuing the princess without punishing the dragon for kidnapping and trying to eat her, or even making sure he could never do it again? Because once we decide to support one side over the other, we can't really be considered Neutral any longer. Acting to circumvent immediate peril would be one thing, but trying to establish a new status quo that excludes the recurrence of that peril is a hell of a balancing act without choosing sides. Certainly, what Dream is proposing in this story is well beyond a neutral, reactionary team that comes to the aid of the distressed. He talks about rogue villains and dictators needing to be brought to justice and taking on the Pogroms of Purity, despite no obvious immediate crisis from them to resolve. Can you be proactive and neutral at the same time? Quote: Bottom line, it comes down to a question of whether you see a superhero team as something that upholds order and rules (albeit benevolently intended ones), or whether you see it as something that should simply do good regardless of the rules.But how do you define "doing good" without rules when two sides are in conflict? Surely you're imposing some standard of behavior in deciding what behavior is good, and therefore upholding some set of rules. You're finding a base standard rule that should apply to everyone (a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for instance) and enforcing it regardless of local beliefs, customs or laws. The concern comes when you're unwilling or unable to define what that rule is that will bring you into conflict with others when they break it. Perhaps if Dream did come out with such a proclamation it would help put some people's minds at ease (or at least frame the debate), but as it stands now it simply comes across as "we know what's best for everyone and we're going to make sure you all conform to it, and you have no recourse but to accept our judgment." Considering that the team nearly handed over control of the Legion to a mass-murdering psychopath on their last adventure, I have to back the people saying they don't want the Legion deciding what's right or wrong for everyone. | |||||||
