Our Adversaries
- Raven
- Nov 12
- 4 min read
Emergency Situations
It may be strange to consider emergency situations as an adversary, but it is something that all RLSH keep an eye out for. You never know when something is going to happen that requires someone to step in with first aid or CPR or something along those lines. It might be a tourist having a heart attack or a homeless person having a seizure or a kid having an allergic reaction or someone in need of a river rescue - whatever the case may be, real life superheroes are ready to take action.
For this reason, it is recommended that all RLSH have a minimum of “First Aid, CPR, and AED” certification from Red Cross. This roughly costs $100 and is a split class (part online, part in class). Further training is always good to have. Make sure that your training is pertinent to your region - if you live in Florida, you probably don’t need ski patrol safety training; if you live in Alaska, you don’t need training on snakes since there are none in the state.
Apathy
Apathy is a state of lack of interest, motivation, and emotional responsiveness, which can manifest as emotional numbness or indifference. This starts getting applied to issues that the public doesn’t want to deal with or doesn’t seem to have any sort of endgame, such as: homelessness, litter/pollution, food bank, women’s shelters, and people in need. This is why so many RLSH do homeless outreach or help with their local food banks. Depending on your location, some activities aren’t needed as much as others.
One way RLSH combat this, on a large scale single-event, are through HOPE events. (previous post link) HOPE events usually involve a large group of RLSH coming together to help with homeless outreach: checking on them, handing out food, handing out needed items, and doing safety patrols.
Bigotry
Bigotry of any kind isn’t cool with RLSH. Bigotry is defined as “obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction, in particular prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group”. That means we stand up for everyone. RLSH should consider themselves as a neutral party, capable of leaving any personal beliefs at home. Superheroes are neutral.
Logic dictates that if a group of bigots (group A) gang up on a person of a particular group (group B), then we attempt to get group B to safety and possibly defend. In the reverse, if a group of people of a particular group (group B) gang up on a single bigot (group A), then we attempt to get group A to safety and possibly defend. It has to go both ways in order to be effective and neutral. No one has the right to inflict violence upon another person. We simply get the person to safety. No one is checking who is who when they come upon this action.
Are there exceptions? Of course, but that’s a judgement call. If Hitler or Franco or Mao or Stalin was being ganged up on by a mob of angry people, you might not stop them or attempt anything.
Street Violence
I think of street violence as person-on-person violence like muggings, drive by shootings, robbery, sexual assault, assault, animal cruelty, kidnapping, human trafficking, etc. When RLSH go on crime patrol, this is part of what we aim to divert just by being present or to stop or to report.
Drugs & Other Crime
Drugs and other crimes are unlawful actions that are not direct person-on-person violence, such as: selling/trafficking drugs, breaking and entering, vandalism, stealing cars, purposeful pollution/poisoning to cause harm to others, underground gambling dens, etc. When RLSH go on crime patrol, this is the other part of what we aim to divert just by being present or to stop or to report.
Costumed Villains
Luckily, we don’t have these yet. The closest thing out there to costumed villains, that I currently know of, are gangs who have either a logo, specific color set, or clothing item that they all wear.
A Word To Everyone
These are worthy villains. If they weren't then the police, social workers, EMS, medical, and others wouldn't be crucial parts of our communities. We aren't better than these people. We're just out there to help lend a hand, but with superhero flair.
The RLSH community often gets flack due to the lack of costumed villains, but often times in the comics, the villains aren't costumed. Instead you get thugs, mobsters, and corrupt businessmen.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below.
On an entire other note, if you are an RLSH, please take a moment to fill out this RLSH 2025 Demographics Survey. It's anonymous. Just looking to gather some general information to study (data analysis is just something I like to do). I will do a write up on it either in late-December or early-January.
The next "Notes From The Rooftops" will be on the topic of: Film/TV that helped inspired you and how. Please keep your responses to ~500 words. Deadline: End of November. If you are an RLSH (active or retired) and you would like to contribute, please send an email to Raven (raven@herocore.online).
NEW PROJECT. I'm starting a new RLSH Annual Comic Book Project. (tabs up top: Resources > Comic Book Project). This is a collection of short RLSH tales in an anthology type of graphic novel. Looking for artists, editors, and RLSH to share their stories. Deadline is Dec. 31.
If there is something you would like to see me discuss here on Herocore, please feel free to contact me.
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