More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I wondered what it must be like to be so mediocre and so confident at the same time.
They all told the same story: superheroes, for all their good PR, were terrible for the world. They were islands of plastic choking the oceans, a global disaster in slow motion. They weren’t worth the cost of their capes; whatever good they did was wiped out many times over by the harm.
It was a positive change, but good things are often extraordinarily stressful, especially in the short-term.
Not only were heroes responsible for all of the damage and injury they caused, they were even responsible for creating the villains they fought.
“Self-deprecation has splash damage.” “Why are you being so goddamn wise.”
“You know why they can’t get to our loved ones?” Keller asked. “Because they’d never stoop to it?” I answered. “Because we don’t have any.”
We were supposed to be noble, but we were just as cruel, corrupt, and selfish as anyone else. You just have to hide it, pretend everyone’s doing good.”
“To seek vengeance and power instead of cowering when the world punishes you. That’s what they think evil is, do they not?”
Supercollider had a great deal in common with a diamond: aesthetically tacky; value artificially ascribed by corporate greed; cultural significance vastly overinflated; and incredibly hard to damage. I’d theorized that the only thing really capable of hurting him would be himself, the way that diamond was used to cut diamond.
“If these tough-ass motherfuckers had any idea how much we take care of their dumb feelings, eh?” she said quietly.
