Black Mask: History of Pain (Capitalism Dinosaurs)

[Abishai100]

Early man ate only fruits and vegetables, but when he began hunting animals for meat (after he started making tools/weapons), he grew in size...and hunger. Agriculture and supermarkets were part of man's destiny, as were territory-based ideological contests and wars such as the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the Cold War.

Mankind has established the Vatican, Mecca, Auschwitz, and Disneyland. They've deified poets (Walt Whitman) and madmen (Adolf Hitler).

The great economist-philosopher Adam Smith outlined the sociological processes that establish competition-sectors in globalized capitalist systems in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations.

Capitalism is, by definition, a system of 'formalized competition' and requires much negotiation and bargaining. Certainly, modern institutions designed to secure capitalism-treaties such as NATO, the European Union, and OPEC represent humanity's interests in 'legal capitalism' (as opposed to, say, forms of piracy and extortion).

The DC Comics villain Black Mask (a crime-syndicate ghoul who wears a black skull-mask) represents modernism fears regarding urban hygiene in times of great capitalist-developments such as the invention of NASDAQ and Uber. Black Mask creates traffic-paranoia with extortion, piracy, narcotics, and terrorism, and he symbolizes our overall perception of 'capitalism-vulnerabilities.'

Capitalism can be construed as a 'socialization management' system since it accounts for the basic instinctual yearning for fortune and individual prosperity. Satisfactory governing initiatives regarding capitalism policy in the world reflects why we as a species celebrate capitalism (e.g., McDonald's Monopoly), critique those who 'fall behind' (e.g., Enron), and sometimes, save people who are victimized (e.g., Rosa Parks).

We can therefore evaluate why Black Mask (DC Comics) represents humanity's understanding of general capitalism safeguarding, since of course, comics symbolize a modern pedestrian perspective on 'colloquial psychology' (e.g., Captain America, Poison Ivy, Popeye, etc.).

So how do we distinguish between poetry and propaganda?



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BLACK MASK: World history has shown us the profitability of crime...
BATMAN: That's why we establish capitalism-securing bodies/policies!
BLACK MASK: You can't erase the 'desire' for individual glory and hence piracy.
BATMAN: Pirates are merely thieves and do not represent species-consciousness.
BLACK MASK: Really? It seems that kids love to daydream about becoming 'emperors.'
BATMAN: Perhaps kids play with water-guns and their food, but they don't honor fascism.
BLACK MASK: Capitalism structures can create feelings of claustrophobia.
BATMAN: Capitalism requires an adherence to patience...more than communism.
BLACK MASK: Communism appeals to people, because capitalism is a power-system.
BATMAN: Capitalism can create fair-play and equity with checks-and-balances.
BLACK MASK: Why did Enron become infamous?
BATMAN: Well, that finance-scandal was a symbol of capitalism flaws, not human nature!
BLACK MASK: You can't separate capitalism from human nature...
BATMAN: That's partially true, but we still think about 'capitalism heroes' (e.g., Steve Jobs).
BLACK MASK: There will always be pirates who romanticize escapism...
BATMAN: There's a place for Bonnie and Clyde, and there's a place for Lee Iacocca.
BLACK MASK: Those who fall behind are ostracized as dinosaurs...
BATMAN: We keep faith with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?(!).
BLACK MASK: Let's ask Mister Hammer what he thinks about Mallrats.

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