Timothy Sandefur on his Brother, Daniel Kaufman

My friend, Timothy Sandefur, wrote this tribute to his brother, who died in the San Bernardino shootings.

I did not know Daniel well at all. Many of my friends did. The Venn diagram of his and my circles of friends overlapped in a lot of places. All our mutual friends have described the same funny, friendly, compassionate person Tim does.

I do know Tim. And while it may seem weird to describe a high-school friend as someone who is obsessed with issues of morality, that's exactly who he is--a man who deeply and passionately ponders morality, and consequently has become someone deeply and passionately moral.

Their parents raised two good sons. My heart breaks for their family.

Steve Ditko On Flawed Superheroes

 

This video includes a message from Steve Ditko. Steve Ditko was the co-creator of Spider-man. He was also a very firm Objecivist, and created superheros who exemplified Objectivist principles.

 In this video, he explains a bit about his philosophies about art, and how art should create heroes who can be looked up to.

 I can't find a complete transcript anywhere online, but a chunk of the message is here.

 My favorite bit has to be this line:

Today’s flawed superheroes are superior in physical strength but common, average, ordinary in mental strength – rich in superpowers, but bankrupt in reasoning powers. They are perfect in overcoming the flawed supervillains, saving the world, the universe!, yet helpless to solve their common, average, ordinary personal problems. It is like creating a perfectly physical adult with the reasoning limits of a six-year-old.”