Spider-Man screwed up our brains

God knows I love Peter Parker. Really.

But I have to say, all these superhero movies planted a completely simplistic, almost vicious view of the world in our heads… and I get the feeling it has no intention of leaving us alone, because it's just so seductive.

Who wouldn't want a world as simple as a Marvel movie?

A world where all you have to do is take down the bad guy and everything goes back to perfect. A world where evil has a clear face, an identifiable cause, a target to eliminate.

Growing up, without really noticing, I started seeing the same "good guys vs bad guys" pattern repeat everywhere:

• the poor vs the rich
• men vs women
• white people vs black people
• the left vs the right

Every time, it's the same mechanism. You create a group, and as soon as you create a group… you create an enemy. And some people have understood that very well.

It's powerful, effective, and above all terribly seductive. Because it simplifies everything: it removes doubt, complexity, and above all the responsibility of the individual.
In that world, all you have to do is point at the other group to feel like you're on the right side, without ever having to look at yourself.

But I don't think our world works like that. And that's where it gets uncomfortable.

Because in reality, we all carry good and evil inside us. We all contribute, individually, to making the world a little better… or sometimes a little worse.

We've all said something we regret, felt jealous, been ashamed of how we acted, lied, or even felt a weird kind of satisfaction at someone else's misfortune. We're all capable of the worst and the best.

And that's a lot less pleasant to accept than pointing at a bad guy out there.
Because it's easier to say "they're the problem" than to admit "there's chaos in me too".
(That's probably one of the hardest things I had to accept around 18)

We'd rather have a world of good guys and bad guys than a world where every person is different and complex. Because in that world, there's no simple solution anymore.

And maybe that's the real problem: in reality, it's less simple.

Because in real life, "doing good" looks like almost boring stuff: making your bed, taking care of your health, calling your grandma, finally saying what you've been holding in for weeks, being honest when it's uncomfortable, apologizing when you screwed up.

And I think we massively underestimate that.

Sometimes we feel like we're "doing good" by calling out, pointing fingers, getting outraged (and sometimes, yes, it's necessary). But in the vast majority of cases, it's way easier to be outraged at the world outside than to fix what's going on inside us.

Looking at your own dark side is uncomfortable. It's not cool, not valued, not spectacular. But that's where it all starts.

Trying to be a little fairer today than yesterday. A little more honest. A little braver. Not perfect. Just a little better.

What if we all did that? For real.
Wouldn't the world already be a little better?