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Published:
2020-12-05
Updated:
2021-03-31
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3/?
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Let's talk about the villain paradox.

Summary:

One question can change a person's life,

"Mom, why do villains do bad things?"

And one answer can change the world.

"I don't know Izuku, do you want learn about it?"

______________

Or a look at my amateur take on the philosophical and ethical issues in the world of My Hero Acadamia.

Chapter 1: The question

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku had always been a very curious child, who loved to learn. 

 

"Mom, why do bugs have so many legs?"

"Mom, how do kites work?"

"Mom, how does Kacchan's quirk work?"

 

This was only helped by his mother's only answer to these questions. Regardless of whether or not she knew the answer. 

 

"I don't know Izuku, do you want to learn about it?"

 

As Izuku got older Inko's response of I don't know was less to install a love of learning in her boy and more often because she truly didn't. 

 

"Mom, why did quirks start?" 

"Mom, why do quirks mutate?"

"Can I still be a hero?"

 

Suddenly she was learning right along with her son. Most often about quirks and heros, as her son wanted to be one. But then came one question in particular, one that would change so many things in their lives. 

________________________

 

"Mom," Inko looked up from the meal she was making at her ten year old son, "why do villains do bad things?"

 

Inko was taken aback for a moment before answering, as she always had, "I don't know Izuku, do you want to learn about it?" She would have to make sure to check what he read before letting him have access with this question. She knew there were some sick people in this world and didn't want him reading anything that could hurt him. 

 

"Yeah. Can we read about it after dinner?" Izuku asked. 

 

"Not until you've finished your homework, I know you have a paper due tomorrow, but after that, yes." Inko replied, turning her focus back to her cooking. 

________________________

 

After they had eaten and Izuku had gone to his room to work on homework Inko sat on the couch with her laptop. She typed in a simple phrase, "why do people become villains." Hundreds of results showing immediately. She glanced at them, many websites she recognised from her previous learning adventures, as Izuku liked to call them, with her son. Some she knew to be reliable she made note of others she knew not to be she scrolled past. One title caught her eye. 

 

What is the villain paradox?

 

She opened the article.

 

She bookmarked the page and set her laptop aside to wait for her son. 

________________________

 

Izuku walked down stairs to find his mother watching the news. "Hi Mom. Can we research now?" 

 

"Yes, sweetie." She smiled at him turning off the TV. "I was actually doing some on my own while you worked on your homework and I found an article I think you would find interesting." She pulled over her laptop and set it on Izuku's lap. He read the title. What is the villain paradox? Izuku scrolled down to the body of the article and began to read.

 

"The villain paradox is, in its most basic terms, is what happens when you assume that people with certain quirks are villains, this makes it harder for those people to get jobs which in turn causes them to be more likely to turn to crime in order to provide for themselves, thus becoming villains and causing their quirk type to be associated with villainy.

You see this is the fundamental flaw with modern society, we are rid of most prequirk forms of discrimination, so we assume that we are now free of it. This is not the case we now have an entirely different from of discrimination, several in fact: against animal quirks, villain quirks, and even the quirkless…"

 

Izuku looked up at his mother from the laptop, eyes wide. "He has the studies to back up his claims credited at the end of the article, they all seem to be from reputable sources," his mother told him. She knew by the look in his eyes that this was something they would be looking into for a while, a new passion. 

Chapter 2: It begins

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku had wanted to be a hero for as long as he could remember. He thought he knew what that meant. That all changed two years ago, when he was ten. When he asked that question, and the ones that followed. 

 

"Mom, if Endeavor is a hero why does he hurt people and break so much stuff"

"Mom, since hero course students are minors but allowed to fight under the government are they child soldiers?"

 

He could tell that his mother struggled with his new questions. He did too, they could see so much wrong in the world and had no way to fix it. Then Izuku had an idea. It would be small, and probably wouldn't change much, but if he could get the word out there then maybe they could change things. 

________________________

 

"Mom, can I start a herotube channel?"

 

Inko looked at her son confused, he had never even hinted at wanting to make videos or be an online presence, "Well, that would depend on what you wanted to post on it. You're still really young so I wouldn't want you to be putting your face out there."

 

Izuku nodded, "It wouldn't need my face, just my voice. I want to spread the word about the things we've learned about, like the villain paradox. I feel like that's how we can change things."

 

Inko looked deep in thought, "What happened to wanting to change the system from the inside, as a hero?"

 

"Honestly, I don't realistically think they system will let me become one in the first place. Even of it did that would be supporting a system that uses child soldiers. I have to find another way."  It broke her heart to hear her son so cynical so young. Was this her fault, was it the discrimination he faced. When Izuku was seven she found out about the bullying at school, what her best friend's son was doing to hers, that the teachers knew about and ignored it. She pulled Izuku out of that school and put him into a new one but that just meant new bullys and new teachers to ignore him. They couldn't afford to take any legal action. Inko offered homeschooling but Izuku wanted to try, the stubborn kid he is, at least for elementary. But he promised that he would tell her if it got worse so he could switch for junior high.

 

Inko sighed, "Okay, how about we start with finding a recording set and learning how to edit videos?" 

________________________

 

The small family sat in the living room, watching the final product ready to post. It had been a month in the making, mostly spent on figuring out how to edit. For the visuals Izuku had decided to do a speed paint style background. He had started drawing for his hero analysis videos and just loved it. The picture in this first video was of a hero and villain from prequirk comics. 

 

Inko hit upload. It was official.

________________________

 

Shinsou Hitoshi was sitting in the home of his newest foster family. It was one of the better homes he'd been in. The parents were distant, he defiantly couldn't talk to them, but they were nice enough. He was sitting on his phone. He got a certain amount of data for doing chores and yard work. He was scrolling on herotube when a title caught his eye. 

 

Let's talk about the villain paradox 

 

Huh, he had found out what the villain paradox was a year or so back when trying to learn more about why people treated him the way they did. The picture in the thumbnail was interesting at least. He clicked. 

 

"Hey guys, I am Dekiru." 

 

The voice that greater Hitoshi was younger than he had expected, probably not much older than him. 

 

"And this is the first video for my channel. So the idea behind this channel is to start conversations about issues that are largely ignored by the public in today's society in hopes to change that. As a rule I link my sources in the description below. And specific information like statistics will appear in an information bar on the screen. Expect the formatting to change over the first several videos as I figure out how I want things to work. Let's get into the topic now I guess. 

 

The villain paradox, for those that don't know, is basicly the theory that by labeling certain types of quirks as villainous you are causing the people with those quirks to have to turn to crime in order to provide for themselves. It's a lot more complex than that but just as a jumping off point that works."  

 

The boy, Dekiru kept talking with statistics on screen as he had described. One statistic caught his eye, " Children with so-called villainous quirks are up to 50% more likely to be abandoned by their parents, and have a much lower adoption rate once in the system. " That was his life. After watching the video Shinsou liked and commented saying the content was relatable to him and others he had met in they system. He then shared it on an online message board he was a part of. 

 

It was weird to see someone talking about his experience and people like him in such a positive light. He hoped the channel succeeded at it's goal. He was a typically cynical person but for some reason he believed they could do it. 

Chapter 3: What does a hero based society do to our empathy?

Summary:

This chapter time skips to the beginning of the show.

Chapter Text

"Hey, Mom! I'm home!" Izuku shouted as he returned from school.

"I'm in the kitchen, honey. Come get a snack," Inko called in return. "You're recording the voice over for your new video today, right? What was the subject, again?"

"So, basically, it's, well, it's kinda about how having pro-heros, and, like, building the whole of society off of them has caused issues with the public. I mean obviously that's what almost every video is about but this one is about how most people's empathy, or at least their urge to act on that empathy is dulled by the fact that there are 'professionals' who will handle that. Ya know?" Izuku rambled, much to his mother's amusement. He was in his last year of junior high and still spoke the same way when he was excited as he did as a child.

She handed him a plate with some fruit, chuckling, "That sounds very interesting dear, I sure your subscribers will love it. Have you already done the art for the video or will you do it later?"

"It's done, I made a sky piece with a dragon. It turned out really good this time." Izuku continued the conversation with his mother as he ate his snack before heading upstairs to record.
________________________

 

"Hey guys! Dekiru here, in this video we're going to talk about how living in a hero based society has caused lower empathy in a majority of the population. A major part of this issue is the devaluing of the word hero. In the prequirk era to be called a hero was an achievement earned through selflessness and, oftentimes, self sacrifice. Someone was a hero if they ran into a burning building to save a child, regardless of whether or not they were a firefighter. To be a hero was to be a moral ideal, now it means someone has a license to be violent and very little oversight on how they use it.

"And even the professions that were considered heroic, such as doctors and nurses, were only called so because they risked their health and safety to save others lives. Now that sentiment sounds very similar to the modern pro-hero, doesn't it? That is because in theory it is. However, life is not theory. Even if two things are similar on paper they may not be in practice. As I said in order to be considered a hero in the modern age is a little piece of plastic, an over the top name, and some spandex. Would anyone call Endeavor or Mt. Lady a moral ideal? I genuinely hope not.

"I'm not saying that there are no pro-heroes who are. All Might is the obvious example. With his goal being and actions bringing a sense of peace and stability to a majority of Japan. But I am saying that we need to fix the way we view the word hero in order to help our overall empathy.

"The second major issue is by having professional heroes we are pushing the need for everyday people to stand up when they see something wrong off onto others. People on the street will just walk by an injured and crying child because 'a hero will deal with it.' That needs to stop. People need to acknowledge and help others in need. This attitude leads directly back into my first video, on the villain paradox. This ignoring of those in need dissolutions them with society as a whole and can and has turned people into villains."
________________________

Izuku went to bed after finishing recording his newest video. The next morning he went to school, it was still early in his third year of junior high.

"Let's talk about what high school career paths you all want to follow…"

This year the teachers would be putting a lot of emphasis on what high schools they would be applying to. Especially if they wanted to attend a specialized school, heroics, art, STEM, and, what Izuku would be going for, quirk analysis.

"Or why bother, you all want to go for heroics anyway!"

Wow great teaching strategy, dude. Izuku thought as his class erupted in noise.

"Hey, teach!" Oh great here we go "Don't lump me in with the rest of these extras! I'm gonna get into UA!"

"Oh wait I was wrong midoriya you applied to a quirk analysis school." Oh, great. Here we go.

“HA! How’s a quirkless Deku like you gonna do at a QUIRK school.” Kacchan yelled explosions in hand.