7/01/06

Super-Man or Super-Illegal Alien?

Just watched the new “Superman Returns” movie on IMAX 3-D (highly recommended), and although I greatly enjoyed the film with all it’s top notch special effects and high speed Super action, I could not help but think about the politics of the story and how it relates to today’s immigration debate.

If you think about it, the story of Superman is the ultimate immigrant story. The character of Superman was created about 70 some odd years ago by two Jewish immigrants who wanted to create a character, which they could relate to. Someone who was different from everyone else, but at the same time someone who could be involved with the majority of the population and is just trying to fit in, like everyone else. Although he knows that he is different from everyone else, he learns to use his differences (in this case his super powers) to benefit the greater society he has adopted as his new home.

Now let’s fast forward to today’s world. The immigration debate is one of the hot- button issues. Should “Illegal” immigrants be allowed to stay in this country, or should they be thrown out? Of course who is to say who is legal and who is illegal? Does having a legal Resident Alien card protect you from being harassed or attacked by those so-called legal citizens (i.e. the “Minute Men”) who already hate and want to cleanse their country from all immigrants? If there were no illegal immigrants to do the low pay and labor intensive work that other legal US Citizens do not want to do, would the country’s economy fall flat on it’s face? Would US companies be willing to pay legal US citizens the amount of money that is required to actually live comfortably in this consumer driven society we will live in? These are all important questions, which I don’t claim to have the answers for, but let’s look at it from the Superman perspective.

Superman (aka Clark Kent), was born on another planet. Thus, technically he is an “Alien” (Ironically the same term used by the Immigration Dept. for people born outside of the U.S.). Even though he grew up in a farm house in Kansas and was adopted by US Citizens, I don’t believe they actually went out and got the legal papers for him, because as soon as they did the government would find out he is not from this earth, and then perhaps try to capture and study him (probably try to make him into a military weapon for their own personal gains and profits)! Thus in today’s world he would be considered an “Illegal Alien”!

Now once Superman became known to the world as a being from another planet, one would think that the government would say, “Hey, Super-dude, you need to check in with the Dept. of Homeland Security and get yourself a Resident Alien Card. We need to check your background and make sure you are all clear before you can live and work in this country! I don’t care if you are saving the world, but you gotta be legal dude!”

Naturally in the comic book world, all this legal stuff wouldn’t really matter, and nobody even cares about it, because it’s make-believe and fantasy world, or as they say “La La Land”. But sometimes people need to look at the world of fantasy to see how ridiculous their views and opinions are.

For example, If all immigrants were like Superman then we wouldn’t be having this debate, because everyone can clearly see that he is so beneficial to the society (or the whole world for that matter), that it doesn’t make sense to worry about where he (or she) is born or what type of education they have, or how much money they have, or what language they speak. People would realize that, hey this person is doing whatever he (or she) can to make this world a better place! They are hard working and doing good! They are not attacking or killing or stealing from people, even if they do have the ability to do so!

No let’s get back to reality here. These so-called “illegal” immigrants are here to make a better life for themselves and for their families. They are hard working and doing the jobs that no one else wants to do. They are contributing to the economy of this country and making it go full speed ahead! If there were no illegal immigrants, there would be a shortage of cheap labor for almost every type of business and field, from construction to farming to food preparation to hotels to gardening to the every type of job that you or I do not want to do!

Instead of complaining and criticizing these people for not having their “paperwork” in order or coming into this country through improper channels (like crashing in a space ship), we should be thanking them and trying our best to not only accommodate them, but also help them get the rights (Human Rights) they deserve to live and work in this country as we all do!

This country is the land of immigrants (either by choice or by force)! We all came to this country in one way or another as immigrants from another land (or another world), with a different culture, different language, and/or different religion. This country would not be what it is today without the immigrants who helped build it!

Some in the U.S. Government are trying to have their cake and eat it too! They want a rich and powerful economy run on cheap labor to get more profits, but they don’t want to support those people who are working at the bottom of the ladder, which makes everything move for the rest of us!

Either you make “Clark Kent” get his “Resident Alien” card and become a legal US Citizen and then pay him full wages and give him health benefits like every other working person is supposed to get, OR you let him keep doing the good work that he is doing and let him fly around and save the world like Superman is supposed to. Don’t worry about whether or not he is a legal US Citizen or not! The rest will take care of itself! But please, whatever you do, just don’t call him an “Illegal Alien.” He hates that term, trust me, it’s straight up Kryptonite!

Irfan Rydhan
Jam-Productions.Com
7-01-2006