# "Truth, Justice And The American Way"- No more \[Superman New Motto\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617 "2021-10-16T23:39:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/1 "2021-10-16T23:39:07Z")
After more than 80 years, Superman’s official motto is changing. _Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow_ is the new motto, and I love it. [Superman’s motto gets a modern update: ‘Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow’ - CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/16/entertainment/superman-new-motto-dc-fandome-cec/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/2 "2021-10-16T23:39:51Z")
I want a better yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/3 "2021-10-16T23:40:26Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I want a better yesterday Talk to The Doctor about that one. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/4 "2021-10-17T00:52:39Z")
First bisexuality, now dissing AMERICA! (fuck yeah!) The right will have field day with this. Oh well, they need recreational outrage, too. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/5 "2021-10-17T08:23:30Z")
I’ve always wondered what the hell “The American Way” was. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a “strange visitor from another planet” fight for “The Krypton Way”? Back around 1973, I attended a showing of vintage TV shows like _ **Amos ‘n’ Andy** _ and The _ **Adventures of Superman** _ at the University of Minnesota. Of course, everyone in the auditorium was half-sloshed, and the one line we all recited in unison was “TRUTH, JUSTICE, and the AMERICAN WAY!” followed by wild cheers and applause ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/6 "2021-10-17T08:47:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve always wondered what the hell “The American Way” was. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a “strange visitor from another planet” fight for “The Krypton Way”? No. The Superman story is an immigrant’s story - you come from somewhere else you can’t return to and become assimilated into your new land’s society, becoming a patriot of said country. Originally, Superman’s audience was other Americans. Now that he’s popular world-wide that doesn’t sell quite as well ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/7 "2021-10-17T08:59:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The Superman story is an immigrant’s story - you come from somewhere else you can’t return to and become assimilated into your new land’s society, becoming a patriot of said country. I wonder if Ma and Pa Kent ever bothered registering him with the authorities? (My paternal grandfather was an illegal immigrant too.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/8 "2021-10-17T09:40:58Z")
Way back in 1938 the immigration laws were a bit different than today, as were means of tracking people. For the most part, the franchise has tended to either ignore or gloss over that aspect of the mythology. Generally, there have been three “solutions” to the problem: 1. Ma and Pa Kent spend a bad winter largely isolated from other people, at the end of which - surprise! - baby happens. Not the most common explanation. 2. Ma and Pa Kent report the foundling officially, then offer to adopt the boy. Since they’re in the middle of freakin’ Kansas it’s just assumed the boy is from somewhere around there i.e. born in the USA. The usually paperwork is then completed as for any other such foundling. 3. Ma and Pa Kent pay someone to have fake papers drawn up. This was actually touched on in Smallville the TV series. If I recall (and admittedly I’m not an expert on the nuances) #2 is the most common explanation, if anything is offered at all. > [@terentii](#): > > (My paternal grandfather was an illegal immigrant too.) All my ancestors who came to the US were undocumented by today’s standards, most of them clearly refugees arriving with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing at the time they fled home. But, again - the rules were different between 1850 and 1900 when they were coming over, and everyone had less papers/documentation. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/9 "2021-10-17T11:12:48Z")
He got amnesty during the Reagan administration. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/10 "2021-10-17T12:57:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve always wondered what the hell “The American Way” was. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a “strange visitor from another planet” fight for “The Krypton Way”? There was a _Saturday Night Live_ sketch in the late 1970s which postulated that the results would have been quite different if in 1938 the visitor had landed in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/11 "2021-10-17T13:08:21Z")
It’s an old trope. One of the greatest Superman Otherworlds stories (DC doesn’t call them What Ifs) is Red Son, where Kal El landed in the Ukraine instead of Kansas. Truth, Justice, and the Inevitable Unfolding of the Socialist Dialectic. There are stories of him living in Fritz Lang s Metropolis. When done right these remind us that Superman is at base a fantasy of what the world could be like if someone with Power was actually Good. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/12 "2021-10-17T13:49:25Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > All my ancestors who came to the US were undocumented by today’s standards, most of them clearly refugees arriving with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing at the time they fled home. But, again - the rules were different between 1850 and 1900 when they were coming over, and everyone had less papers/documentation. Grandpa jumped ship in NYC in 1911 and made his way to the Midwest. He was one of the first people to apply for Social Security in the '30s. The _ **SNL** _ sketch was titled “Übermann.” Dan Aykroyd used his X-ray vision to tell if a man was “a Chew.” I’d like to try “The Krypton Way.” I, for one, would welcome our new alien overlords! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/13 "2021-10-17T13:53:10Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’d like to try “The Krypton Way.” …not listening when a prominent scientist warns about impending danger? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/14 "2021-10-17T13:53:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve always wondered what the hell “The American Way” was. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a “strange visitor from another planet” fight for “The Krypton Way”? - He was a infant. He never knew “The Krypton Way”. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/15 "2021-10-17T13:54:14Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > …not listening to prominent scientists who warn about impending danger? So basically, the same as “The American Way”? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/16 "2021-10-17T13:54:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So basically, the same as “The American Way”? But with headbands! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/17 "2021-10-17T14:00:38Z")
Didn’t you see the 1978 movie? He was taught everything he needed to know remotely while he was on his way to Earth. What I’d like to know is, Who changed his diapers during the trip? Yeccch! 🤢 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/18 "2021-10-17T15:31:44Z")
“Superman, Lex Luthor has built a giant robot and it’s destroying Metropolis! We need your help!” “Okay, but I’ve got some personal stuff I’m doing today. I’ll put in on my list.” “What! We need you now!” “What part of a better _tomorrow_ did you not understand?” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/19 "2021-10-17T15:34:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > What I’d like to know is, Who changed his diapers during the trip? Beppo. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617/20 "2021-10-17T15:47:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@E-DUB](#): > > > > I want a better yesterday > > Talk to The Doctor about that one. Talk to Paul McCartney about that one. mmm [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-justice-and-the-american-way-no-more-superman-new-motto/952617.md?page=2)