“How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again.” ~Mark Twain

Imagine a real-life Superman.  He has special powers that are able to help people.  He is not all-powerful, but he is able to use his extra powers for good.

Unfortunately, the evil Lex Luthor has stolen some of Superman’s powers.  He has also stolen Superman’s identity and looks just like him.  He is claiming to be Superman and ready to help spread goodwill on earth.

So there are two Supermans.  They are both claiming to be the real one.  One of them is the real Superman and the other is a liar.

The real Superman says that the other guy is really Lex Luthor and that he will do great damage to society, especially if the people believe him and give him power.

Lex Luthor, pretending to be Superman, says that he is the real Superman and that the other guy is an imposter.

Lex Luthor tells the people that he cares deeply about them.  He tells them that he will take care of them and protect them from danger.  He says that they should trust him for their own good.  He also promises to deliver great benefits to the human race as long as they obey him and stay united.

The real Superman makes no such promises.  He says he will do his best to help society where it is possible, but that his powers are limited in what he can do.  But he warns of following Lex Luthor, who is imposing as Superman. He says it would be very dangerous to give him any more power and that he will use it to do great harm.

The problem is, the majority of people believe Lex Luthor.  They say that he must be the real Superman because the other guy is not willing to promise great benefits to society.  He is not promising to keep everyone safe either.

Plus, there are many experts testifying to the fact that the Superman offering protection and great benefits is the person who should be trusted.  If all of the experts and the journalists on television say that this person is the one who should be trusted, then surely we should trust him and obey him.  We must obey him or else we risk giving the other Superman and his followers an outlet.  They are too dangerous and must not be listened to under any circumstances.

Unfortunately, Lex Luthor bought off some of the experts and journalists.  Once they took a stand on Lex being the real Superman, then the other experts and journalists easily followed.  They didn’t want to appear to be outside the mainstream. They didn’t want to be accused of not uniting.  They didn’t want to lose their status of expertise.

The followers of the real Superman are trying to get others to listen to them, but they are being shut out.  They are trying to do anything to get others to listen, but it is hard when other people don’t want to listen to any of the evidence.  If only others would look deeper into some of the evidence and give it some thought, they might start to realize that they have been duped.  They might start to realize that the person they think is Superman is really a villain trying to take advantage of them.

But in order for others to listen, they have to have an open mind.  If they display any evidence of an open mind or willing to listen to the other side, then they could be accused on not uniting and siding with the enemy.  They risk going against the experts.  It takes a little bit of courage to listen to the other side and examine the evidence on your own.

What do the followers of the real Superman do?  They are greatly concerned about giving too much power to any one person, especially someone who will use it to do great harm.  They are trying to warn others that the other Superman is a villain, but most of them won’t listen.

Should they continue to interact with the followers of Lex Luthor, even if those people are denigrating them?  Many of the followers of Lex are seemingly good people otherwise.  They are also otherwise intelligent people who just happened to be getting suckered on this one important thing.

Unfortunately, the followers of Lex Luthor are only enslaving themselves.  They are making their own lives far worse in the long run by believing his lies.  The other side is trying to tell them that they are being lied to, but they won’t listen.  The Lex followers are also doing great damage to the people who don’t believe Lex because they are imposing their ways on all of society.

The followers of the real Superman propose that both sides leave each other alone.  Each side can believe what they want to believe, but not impose on the other side.  But the Lex followers see this as a ploy.  They see it as breaking unity, which their leader has told them is very important.

The experts under Lex have also warned of many great dangers in this world, including foreign aliens and viruses.  We must all cooperate together and listen to the experts in order to keep everyone safe. Therefore, there is no room for dissent.  In fact, for those who do dissent, they are also threats to everyone’s safety.  If you try to claim that the leader is an imposter, you are acting as a domestic terrorist and may be subject to discipline.

With so many people believing that Lex Luthor is the good guy and acting in their best interests, what can the followers of the real Superman do?  They can keep trying to convince their friends (or former friends) that they are being duped.  At what point do they treat their former friends as enemies because they are doing great harm?  At what point do they stop giving the benefit of the doubt?  Sure, these people are being suckered, but at what point do supposedly good intentions no longer matter?  At what point are they no longer your friends?  At what point do you start to interact mainly with people who will listen to you and not put you down?

There is no clean answer to these questions, but they are questions that many are starting to ask.