What does Superman tell us about the ethics of closed borders?
Corrections:
- I state MS13 is a Mexican gang, they are actually Salvadoran
- I state that the largest mass lynching in US history happened in LA in 1971, it was actually 1871 (as per the text on the screen)
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Especially since at this moment Warner Brothers did a copyright claim on this video to take all the revenue despite the fact that I only use small clips for the purposes of review and commentary which is definitionally fair use. I've disputed it, and we'll see how it goes, but I've never had such small clips mostly without sound get copyright striked in my videos before.
Full text: https://literatemachine.com/2026/01/19/superman-and-the-case-for-open-borders/
Audio version available on your favorite podcast service
Song: “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” written by Osvaldo Farrés, performed and arranged by Eric Rosenfield
Bibliography: https://literatemachine.com/2026/01/19/superman-and-the-case-for-open-borders/#bibliography
00:00 Superman 2025 and the rightwing backlash
03:26 Superman as an immigrant
06:28 The moral case for open borders
10:40 Immigration and crime
12:42 Immigration and social services
13:59 Immigration and labor
21:35 Immigration and space
23:55 Immigration and history
31:50 Immigration and racism
35:46 Right-wing obsession with birthrates
37:45 They're punking us, right?
45:50 It doesn't have to be this way
51:40 The problem with Superman (2025)
59:23 Politics is something we do, not something done to us