Who’s the greatest storyteller in world history?
Your crusty old English professor would slam his “Hamlet” skull on his desk and cry, “‘Tis the Bard, my good sir! The great William Shakespeare ruleth supreme!”
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And to be fair, William Shakespeare (or Billy Shakespeare, as his friends liked to call him) isn’t a bad choice. His plays have survived for hundreds of years; there’s no reason to assume they won’t last hundreds of years longer.
Greek people might point to Aesop, the blind fabulist of Ancient Greece whose stories have lasted even longer — 2,500 years or so. Aesop told lots of famous fables about talking animals. (Of course, since he was blind, he might’ve really thought those animals were talking: Maybe another Greek guy was playing a prank on him. Meanwhile, poor Aesop is yelling, “No, the turtle and rabbit were in a race — I overheard the whole thing!”)
Shakespeare and Aesop are both excellent options. And if you want to get biblical, Moses (who, like Cher, only goes by one name) certainly deserves consideration, too: As the author of the Holy Scriptures, his narrative has shaped culture, law, politics, and morality for over 3,000 years.
But the lasting influence in Mosaic literature isn’t just in the storytelling; it’s also the moral and spiritual underpinnings. Indeed, labeling it as “storytelling” would almost imply it’s fictional, and the magnificence of the Scriptures stems from billions of people believing it’s very real. So for the sake of this conversation, let’s exclude religious texts.
Who, then, is the greatest storyteller to ever walk on planet Earth?
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I say it’s Stan Lee.
Born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 29, 1922, he either created or co-created some of the most iconic characters of all time: Spiderman, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, Thor (well, the comic book version), Falcon, Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Black Widow, and — quite literally — thousands more.
A few hundred years from now, I suspect Aesop’s fables will still exist. And I’m sure college kids will still be browbeaten into studying Shakespeare. But I’ll betcha all the Vibranium in Wakanda that billions more will still know about Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk, and the rest. For every person who knows Othello, thousands more know all about radioactive spiders and gamma radiation.
Fun Stan Lee fact: Due to his Marvel movie cameos, he’s actually the top-grossing movie star of all time.
The characters and stories he’s created will last forever. They’re timeless. That’s an extraordinary accomplishment.
But Stan Lee isn’t the only comic book trailblazer. Before him, there were already Superman, Batman, and Captain America. Those three were major stars.
You know what they all have in common: Every single one of the aforementioned superheroes was created and/or co-created by Jewish writers and artists.
In fact, of the 20 most popular superheroes, only one — Wonder Woman — was entirely created by non-Jews. (To be fair, the origins of Wonder Woman were, ahem, rather atypical.)
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In a rational, sane universe, none of this would matter, of course. Who cares if Stan Lee was a Jew, a gentile, or anything else? All we care about are cool stories about dudes in tights fighting other dudes in tights.
Alas, our universe (a.k.a. Earth-616) is anything but sane.
For decades now, the rallying cry of the radical left has been CULTURAL APPROPRIATION! It’s the greatest evil to befall humanity. (If Perry White ever saw it, he’d cry, “Great Caesar’s ghost!” Or something.)
We’ve witnessed countless celebs apologize for their “cultural appropriation” of everything from hairdos, clothes, Halloween costumes, and food, to music, art, and popular slang. We’ve witnessed leftwing protestors take to the streets, demanding this person or that person get fired for the “crimes” of cultural insensitivities.
It got Megyn Kelly fired from NBC.
We live in a culture, after all, where the most heavily censored word is the “N” word and the absolute WORST way you can label someone is to call them racist. That’s why allegations of cultural appropriation used to get you canceled ASAP: Perceptually, it’s just a stone’s throw from racism.
And much like racism, it’s not always clear where to draw the line. One man’s “cultural appropriation” is another man’s well-intended tribute and/or act of admiration.
More often than not, it’s the minorities themselves who benefit the most via this so-called “appropriation.” Black hip-hop artists made a mint selling music to white kids in the suburbs. Chinese restaurants can’t survive without non-Asian patrons. Embracing our cultural differences — and learning, sharing, and appreciating what makes them so special — does more to bring people together than any government program of the last 50 years.
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Yet today, the same leftwing agitators who used to cry, scream, and accuse the opposition of “cultural appropriation” at every turn are protesting the latest “Captain America” movie over its ties to Israel:
A growing movement is calling for a boycott of Captain America: Brave New World due to its perceived connections to Israel amid the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
The latest Marvel film, which will officially hit theaters February 14, has come under fire after pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated at the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The controversy surrounds the casting of Israeli actress Shira Haas, her character and the Marvel’s alleged ties to Israeli organizations.
The latest film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) features Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, also known as Sabra, a character who has received criticism in the past.
You see, in the comics, Ruth Bat-Seraph defended Israel as an agent of Mossad. Due to outside pressure (undoubtedly from “you-know-who”), Marvel has already stripped her of the Mossad identity and made her a member of the U.S. government.
The protesters trying to vilify Mossad are the same people plotting to vilify Israel: The latest protests are intertwined with the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. As the article states:
The controversy further stems from the character being a mutant that had ties to the Israeli government, where she worked as a Mossad operative. Mossad is Israel’s national intelligence agency, but some have criticized the group’s efforts to fight terrorism, including alleged kidnapping and assassinations of Palestinians.
According to Palestinian-led movement Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), Marvel has financially supported Israel’s military, further sparking frustration among activists opposed to the film. [emphasis added]
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Yeah… how dare a Jewish medium feature Jewish characters who believe in defending the Jewish homeland. Can’t have that.
Besides, real-life intelligence agencies from real-life countries are commonplace in action movies! We’ve seen the CIA, MI6, and the KGB more times than we can count. And frankly, after their ingenious “pager prank,” it’s probably more credible that an Israeli operative would do something heroic than an American operative, who probably spent most of the last eight years trying to dig up something on Trump.
(I can’t imagine Mossad would’ve allowed Butler to happen. Just saying.)
The Newsweek article continued:
Per Variety, demonstrators at Tuesday’s premiere chanted “Free Palestine” and held signs that read: “Sabra has got to go” and “Disney supports genocide,” among other phrases.
Isn’t that lovely? The same people who want to divest the Jews of their homeland are also demanding editorial control over their art form.
Normally, all the good, moral liberals would oppose such a terrible thing. A few years ago, according to their much-ballyhooed 1619 Project, The New York Times published a story, “Why Is Everyone Always Stealing Black Music?”
Like a smooth jazz musician, the opening line sets the mood: “For centuries, black music, forged in bondage, has been the sound of complete artistic freedom. No wonder everybody is always stealing it.”
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From the article:
What you’re hearing in black music is a miracle of sound, an experience that can really happen only once — not just melisma, glissandi, the rasp of a sax, breakbeats or sampling but the mood or inspiration from which those moments arise. The attempt to rerecord it seems, if you think about it, like a fool’s errand. You’re not capturing the arrangement of notes, per se. You’re catching the spirit.
Yet “black” music is less “black” than comic books are Jewish: Again, Jews created or co-created 19 of the top 20 superheroes. That’s 95%! It’s a ratio more lopsided than you’d find in the hallways of Def Jam Records.
Per another article reporting on the Palestinian protests:
In a Hollywood Reporter video posted on social media, protesters could be seen chanting, “Free, free, free Palestine” and “Sabra, Sabra, what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?”
Answer: She didn’t kill any kids. Sabra is a fictional character. (Superhero movies aren’t real.)
But that won’t stop the liberal movement from its constant “othering” of Jews and Israel. Nor will it end their attempt to demand editorial control of a Jewish medium. It’s crypto antisemitism, and I’m not so sure of the crypto part.
And for whatever reason, it’s the only form of “cultural appropriation” that the left still actively supports. Seems their “othering” of the Jews was at least somewhat successful.
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Sigh. On our planet, superheroes might not exist. But unfortunately, supervillains do.
