
Batman's Real Story - philco
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/rosenwald-md/post/who-is-the-route-29-batman-this-guy/2012/03/28/gIQA8nPjgS_blog.html
======
GuiA
_His superhero work is limited to doing good deeds, part of a maturation
process in his own life. In his earlier years, he acknowledges that he
sometimes displayed an unsuperhero-like temper and got into occasional trouble
with the law for fights and other confrontations. Putting on the Batman
uniform changes and steadies him._

This is a sentence in the article that resonated very much with me, and I
think touches something extremely important. I feel the exact same way when
I'm teaching kids and teenagers— I have many, many shortcomings but when I am
put in a position of role models for kids, I go beyond them.

I think everyone has something that makes them feel that way when they do it—
may it be art, teaching, etc.— and finding it is one of the most important
things in life.

------
mcmatterson
Having just come off multiple months of our daughter being in the hospital in
some very grim (at the time) circumstances, I can say that while visits from
celebrities are many, visits from celebrities that actually care are few. I
would have loved to have seen Batman (even the Lenny B. Robinson version)
wander down our ward.

The world needs more of this guy.

~~~
alttag
Yes. My son spent several months in a cancer ward. ... His best (and only, to
my memory) visit from an "outsider" was an honest-to-goodness Santa Claus in
the nicest Santa outfit I'd ever seen.

My son's Wish (from Make-A-Wish) was to visit Spider-man. He was very much
into superheroes. Although we did get to see him on a "wish-trip" to Universal
Studios, he was too small for the Spider-man 3-D ride by about four inches. We
would have loved to have a hospital visit by superheroes ... but alas, I think
the controlled entry nature of the cancer ward made it so many there at the
hospital "just to visit" ended up in other areas.

~~~
tomjen3
As a child i spend a christmas in a hospital and indeed they had a santa claus
comming by and giving me a small present.

Still spending christmas in the hospital suck. I hope your kid is alright.

~~~
alttag
He was diagnosed two weeks before Christmas (2007). The Make-A-Wish trip to
visit Spider-man was the following July (they work quickly!), and last time he
was healthy enough to be up and about.

He passed away three week later, just before his fourth birthday.

... and that's why an article about Batman made me cry.

~~~
tomjen3
I am so sorry to hear that.

At least he got to see Spider-man.

------
chaostheory
Bruce Wayne, "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I
can't do that as Bruce Wayne, as a man I'm flesh and blood I can be ignored I
can be destroyed but as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be
everlasting."

~~~
officemonkey
"Cancer cells are a superstitious cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to
strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black,
terrible..."

------
sukuriant
I thought one incredibly cool addition to the article is that his son dresses
up as Robin sometimes and joins him on these adventures. That's a son that's
proud of his dad, and even supportive of his father's cause. That. Is awesome.

------
aresant
At first glance weird story for HN.

But figuring out interesting ways to give back should be in the future of
every successful entrepreneur, and never to early to get started.

~~~
MBlume
_Interesting_ ways to give back should not really be a desideratum. Look for
maximally efficient, effective ways of giving back.

~~~
scintill76
Maybe it's impossible to find the "maximally efficient, effective ways", so
you should do the interesting ones (i.e., not everyone is doing) that enrich
you and make you happy, and have a measurable positive effect on others, like
this guy does.

With him being well-off, would it be more "maximally efficient" for him to do
something else with his money? Maybe, but he wouldn't be making people happy
with his black Lambo or the "real" Batmobile he is building. We don't know
what would happen if he did something else, but we do know people like what
he's doing.

~~~
philh
Not having perfect information is not an excuse to ignore the information you
have.

I don't know exactly how different the world would be if he donated $250,000
to, say, combating malaria instead of building a better Batmobile. But I would
give at least 10:1 odds (if such a bet could be judged) that it would have
more people alive in 20 years, for example.

But saving many lives thousands of miles away doesn't feel as good as making
sick children happy right here, and it doesn't make as good press.

Don't get me wrong: he earned that $250,000, he's under no particular
obligation to do anything with it. I consider it $250,000 that he's spending
on a cool hobby that he enjoys, that _also_ makes kids happy, and that _also_
brings publicity to doing-good-things (probably not _optimal_ publicity, but
better than nothing).

And he's certainly making the world a better place than I am, right now.

But if his objective is to do as much good for the world as he can, he's not
acheiving it.

And we shouldn't be too critical of him, because I think criticism is more
likely to turn potential Batmans to the path of not-bothering, rather than the
path of utility-maximisation.

~~~
jonnathanson
_"making sick children happy"_

This is a pretty reductionist view of his activities, IMO. Keeping cancer
patients "happy," especially young children, is a huge part of their recovery.
People like to speak in broad, fuzzy terms about the power of "smiles" and all
that, but there's plenty of clinical research showing the significance of
attitude on the workings of the body's response to disease. (And, even if the
smiles had no effect whatsoever, it's still a noble cause to provide comfort
to the sick and dying).

 _"...if his objective is to do as much good for the world as he can, he's not
acheiving it."_

But who said this was his objective? This is merely conjecture by a handful of
HN commenters. Batman himself has neither stated, nor implied, that he's
seeking to maximize utility of his efforts.

Even still, there's a very credible argument to be made in his defense against
this charge.

Sure, he may not be maximizing his direct impact. But I imagine that the
novelty of his approach, coupled with the publicity he's received, will have a
large, indirect effect. Maybe more "Batmen" will answer the call of duty.
Maybe more people will open up their hearts and wallets this week. Etc. It's
highly likely that the sum total of his direct + indirect impact on the world
is _greater_ here than if he'd simply min/maxed the direct impact (e.g., by
donation to X causes in Y locations).

He's now got symbolic value, as does the $250,000 Batmobile, and it's hard to
measure the impact of that value. But it's certainly nontrivial.

As Ra's al-Ghul taught Bruce Wayne in _Batman Begins_ , the goal is to "become
an idea." That way, what you stand for becomes far bigger than what you,
alone, can achieve. You leverage your personal impact on the world. It's a
lesson that this version of Batman seems to have learned well.

~~~
philh
> But who said this was his objective?

Certainly not me. "I consider it $250,000 that he's spending on a cool hobby
that he enjoys, that _also_ makes kids happy, and that _also_ brings publicity
to doing-good-things"

> He's now got symbolic value, as does the $250,000 Batmobile

He already has symbolic value, and I doubt that the $250,000 Batmobile will
have _that_ much symbolic value over his current one.

I agree with the rest of your post; but while your defense of the "Batman"
approach is valid, remember that he didn't _try_ to get this publicity. If he
hadn't been pulled over, we wouldn't know about him.

With that in mind, we can assume that he didn't sit down and try to work out
how to maximise his effect on the world; which in turn means that he probably
isn't maximising his effect on the world.

~~~
jonnathanson
I don't disagree with you about the incremental value of the additional
+$250,000 spend on the new Batmobile. To me, that seems a little wasteful in
service of whatever his goal happens to be (be it maximization, or otherwise).
I won't begrudge him that decision; it's his money to spend, his passion, and
a good cause to boot. But I could certainly think of better ways for him to
spend that money in service of the same cause. (For instance, starting a
"Batman Development Kit" of sorts, by creating a program for others to provide
similar services across the country. Or, if the folks at DC/Warner Bros were
smart, they might reach out to him to license the "Superfriends" collection
and superhero roster gratis, for use in such a program).

Actually, I don't disagree with most of what you're saying here. But:

 _"remember that he didn't try to get this publicity. If he hadn't been pulled
over, we wouldn't know about him."_

Totally fair. But he provided symbolic value to his intended (albeit smaller)
subset even before he went viral. And I would imagine that the indirect
financial impact of that symbolism already exceeded the monetary value of his
investment in said symbolism, even to the smaller (intended) target audience.

Of course, I realize that all of this discussion is somewhat academic unless
we really understand what his motives were, and were not. To your point, it's
a safe bet that he didn't sit down one day and try to quantitatively project
his impact. :)

------
cgshaw
That's the kind of thing I hope I'd do if I ever "struck it rich."

But since I haven't yet, I think I'll go to the children's hospital next week
and play video games and read with the kids. Makes me realize, I've already
"made it."

------
tomelders
At first I was like... "Pffft! Only in America." and than I was like... "What
a guy... I'm such a dick".

------
jonnathanson
Dear DC Comics / Warner Brothers:

Please reach out to this man, and offer him free and clear usage rights to
"Batman," "Superman," and other pieces of your IP for charitable causes. In
fact, do one better than that, and offer him funding to build out a national
superheroes ("Superfriends"?) program for others to get involved.

If he's interested, of course. Maybe he wants to keep this small. But seems to
me like there's a fantastic opportunity to lend Batman a hand here.

------
redridingnews
Great story. Just what some of us need.

"Though Batman has long been aware that I’m a journalist, he has never
suggested I write about him. He does not crave publicity. Like his comic book
namesake, he doesn’t seek credit for what he does."

------
mahmud
There is a whole scene of these super-heroes. The amazing Snap Judgement did a
piece on them:

<http://snapjudgment.org/superheroes-origin-stories>

------
einarlove
Would realy love to see a documentary of this Batman. Seems like he would move
more people then the Dark Knight.

~~~
DEinspanjer
Not me. I've seen far too much of a tendency in people to wish to pull down
the "powerful" or "good" when they become too noticeable. The media seems to
embrace this tendency by fishing for the dirt on people to make news.

This guy is doing a good thing for these kids. Even this article mentions that
he has a checkered past. If he gets too much attention, I would bet money that
some reporter is going to write up a sensational post about what a slimeball
he is and that would tarnish and diminish the good work he is doing.

I don't want to hear about what a bad guy he is or was "in real life". That
might mark me as a person happy with self delusion, but he isn't hurting
people when he is doing this, he isn't likely to be in a position to easily
hurt people. Unless he starts trying to monetize or otherwise make this
something other than a simple act of charity, I'd rather keep him out of the
harsh spotlight.

~~~
einarlove
After some thoughts I came to the conclusion that I feel the same way as you
do. But if the article is correct, it will be hard for the press not to talk
about him if he will drive around in a real replica of the batmobile. Cheers

------
madrox
This guy is top shelf.

------
toddnessa
Although it may be seen as a little unusual, it is nice to see someone who has
succeeded financially pay thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars
of their own money in order to inspire, encourage, and strengthen the spirits
of children who are in the hospital- many of which are seriously or even
terminally ill. Mr. Robinson demonstrates the benevolence that should be seen
as a responsibility of those who have attained financial success and does so
in a very creative way. You can't question this persons heart to see to it
that a child who is suffering is given a bright-spot in their day, and a
highlight of their life by a visit from a super-hero- Batman.

------
dmazin
I wonder how many times Dustin Curtis calls himself a superhero for every time
this guy does.

------
dos1
Wow, great story! I especially like the fact that Lenny realizes how lucky he
is to have healthy children and be financially stable. There are so many
people who are smart and work hard, but to become rich beyond necessity
_always_ takes a healthy dose of luck. It's great to see him acknowledge that
and do nice things for other people. Too many wealthy people think they're
solely responsible for their success and are misers to a fault.

