special ed. the only semi-pawned off message from the incredibles was: "and when everyone is super, then no one will be." that was the diabolical plan of the technological genius -- a fanboy who chose to turn to the dark side after being shunned as mr incredible's sidekick. buddy, aka syndrome, wasn't out to take over the world or to destroy life as we know it, he just wanted to make everyone super so that super would no longer be special. that's a cool goal for a super villain. it's not cliche, it's not trite, and it opens the door for the patented "message" from the movie.



the question is, if everyone is special (as we're told all of the time), doesn't that really mean that nobody is special? if specialness is a trait and a treat akin to a cookie, then everyone who has a cookie is special, right? no, because according to most people, receiving a cookie is only special if one person or a few people get it. if everyone gets a cookie (or a gold star, or a trophy, or a commendation, or a stamp of approval), then what makes that special? nothing!



in my experience, this is certainly true. try explaining to a friend or worse, a girlfriend, that your giving of a cookie to everyone still means that their particular cookie is special. that's an argument you are destined to lose. "i love talking to you!" but wait, you said before you loved talking to everyone. now that's no longer special. special is "what i get that nobody else gets." if you "love talking to me (and just me)," that's special. if you love talking to everyone plus me, then that's no longer special. i often ask myself, "why can't all cookies just be special?" because it doesn't work that way. special is only special if it's rare.



this is the problem. people inherently want to be different and one of a kind or simply, unique. draw the line at "those who have super powers and those who do not" and you create one half of haves and one half of have nots. the have nots want what they didn't get. the haves see fit to lord over the have nots because they already gotten.



on a tangent, i bet heroes who lack super powers (like punisher, moon knight or night thrasher) must feel infinitely inferior to those gifted with natural abilities (mutants, fantastic four, even green lantern or quasar). along these lines, batman should really be outclassed more often than he is -- at least he would be if he weren't fighting under-powered idiots like penguin, joker and two face. batman's gimmick is that he's super smart and inventive but that can only take you so far in a supers war. unless your technology outfits you like iron man, you aren't really a super hero. you're just a highly trained normal person beating up on untrained normal people. you are a soldier with a skill, but no real powers. try having batman face off against a real super villain and he'll get his ass handed back to him every time. in the hierarchy of super heroes, normal humans equipped with nice toys and superior training rank slightly above the aquamans of the universe.



back to the point. by telling everyone that they're special, we're creating a false sense of equality. we're not all equal, everyone should be treated equally but not everyone is special. i'm special, you're special, but not everyone is special. otherwise that would contradict the definition of "special" now wouldn't it? it's essentially capitalism versus socialism. and in this case, capitalism prevails.

"the incredibles seems to imply that we are all "special" but that some of us are more special than others, and the world is a better, happier place if individuals are free to openly express and pursue excellence rather than repressing these characteristics so as to not offend the sensibilities of the masses in the statistical average."

instead of elevating everyone to special status or dragging some people off of their pedestals, why not let the chips fall where they may? some chips end up special, some don't. there's nothing wrong with that. we can't all be special but we can all get along. right?



then again, if all the x-men have special powers, doesn't that make them not "special powers" anymore? no, because each power is still different. if there were two guys who could both teleport, then maybe it's not that special. but there's only one nightcrawler. just like there's only one of each "special" friend. so, all of my interactions with friends can be special, if not so on the meta level, then at least on the micro level. in this way, you can "love to talk to everyone" while still "loving to talk to just one." at least that's how i see it according to this mixed up reasoning.