Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

The Pale Knight's theme is "salvation," but this term is a bit too broad. After all, the elite of the city are not in need of his salvation, so the target group is essentially the poor. What he is doing now could also be called "poverty alleviation."

There is a fundamental difference between the two. If his actions are seen as a Jesus-like "rescue" from mythical stories, then what he's done is already perfect. He has stood up, gained people's support, and achieved certain results; from motivation to outcome, nothing is objectionable, fitting the definition of a Savior quite well.

But if his actions are viewed from the perspective of "poverty alleviation," then it can be said that he has made a complete mess of it.

Because he has done no social research, nor has he even understood the details of that extremely complicated issue, simply doing what is traditionally defined as "poverty alleviation."

At first glance, it seems correct: Tax the rich more, tax the poor less, strengthen public order, build welfare facilities, provide more benefits for the disadvantaged, intensify control over various corporations, and avoid too rapid capital expansion.

But a closer look reveals that these policies carry a certain feudal flavor, they are relatively backward. It's not that such measures are bad, just that they don't take advantage of any modern societal benefits and are still the same old tax exemptions and charity.

Every dynasty in a certain Eastern Great Nation has tried them, and they did not avoid their fate of destruction. Even in modern times, people have tried; Little Roosevelt did successfully extend America's life, but also because it was not advanced enough, it ultimately collapsed completely.

The main reason these policies are good but not enduring is that policymakers, perched on high, do what they think is good for the poor.

These things might indeed be good for the poor, but they may not be good for every poor person in every region. They might be good initially, but not later on. While helping one poor person, they might harm another poor person, or even though they seem to benefit the poor, in the end, they still benefit the rich.

This gap in implementation causes unevenness, which is actually another form of exploitation, letting one group of poor people rise by stepping on the heads of others, becoming new Exploiters. Fundamentally, it's not about alleviating poverty, but rather a brutal survival game, ultimately still a zero-sum competition rather than a win-win.

Sometimes, this inequality is not because there are too few resources, helping one means not helping another; it is because of a lack of investigation, relying only on the subjective judgment of those on high, brainstorming strategies, that leads to such outcomes.

To avoid this situation is simple: conduct thorough investigations, delve into the grassroots, and tailor policies to fit local conditions. This approach may actually require fewer resources than indiscriminately throwing money around, spending the least to accomplish the most.

During this time, the Pale Knight has been reflecting on whether he truly lacks an understanding of the poor.

In the past, he felt that since he didn't come from a rich background and had climbed up from the bottom himself, how could he possibly not understand the poor?

But now he realizes that's not the case. Wealthy people are all the same, but the poor have their own unique ways of being poor.

He was poor because he came from a small town without connections, and being skinny and bullied. So how come there are so many local poor brutes in Gotham?

He was poor because he never went to college, never received higher education, and couldn't find a decent job. So why are there so many college-educated homeless people in Gotham?

He was poor because of mental illness, often unable to control himself, and thus unable to lead a normal life. But Gotham has even more mentally sound poor people—what has made them poor?

Not just the poor, but all those working in the city government who can be considered middle class, why haven't they become Elite? Why do they still appear poor compared to the top wealthy?

When the Pale Knight truly starts pondering these questions, he realizes that the common sayings that seeing is believing, or that practice leads to genuine knowledge, are quite limited in truth.

What you see may not be understood; what is understood may not be personally experienced; and what is personally experienced may not be universal.

If there's any saying that holds some truth, it would be "without investigation, there is no right to speak."

The municipal government had just resumed operations, and the pale knight couldn't stray too far. He decided to start the investigation right from his own surroundings.

Ms. Weiss had a great temper. She had been a lot of help when the pale knight had just taken over the work of the municipal government. Regardless of whose side she was on, at least she was willing to give the pale knight a heads-up.

And the prime culprit that had made her speak up... the pale knight turned his head to look at that coffee machine. The contraption took up the entire kitchen in the break room, looking more like some kind of industrial assembly line.

The pale knight racked his brains but couldn't fathom the necessity of having this thing here. However, since Ms. Weiss expressed her dissatisfaction and tipped him off, it meant she believed there was a necessity for it.

But where lay the necessity?

The pale knight couldn't figure it out, so he called his assistant to conduct a thorough investigation on how this overly professional coffee machine ended up here and what its current status was.

The assistant returned after a short while.

His expression was calm as he handed over the report, but when the pale knight saw it, he spat out a mouthful of coffee.

He looked at his assistant in shock and said, "Just for a coffee machine, there are twelve mechanical repair workers and four cleaners???"

"Yes. This is Synesso's commercial multi-head espresso machine from their latest Victoria retro X series, boasting the highest temperature stability and product quality. To produce the perfect coffee, it requires professional maintenance. This is not an excessive number of people."

The pale knight very, very, very reluctantly accepted this explanation. He flipped a page, and then said, "Maintenance and cleaning staff aside, what's the deal with a historical consultant?"

"Oh, that is to provide professional advice to you when you are using this machine to entertain guests, narrating the history of Italian espresso and the history of coffee machine brands."

The pale knight's mouth hung open; even reluctance failed him. He then pointed to another line and said, "Alright, let that pass too. Then what's this about equipment for a professional disinfection facility?"

"Mr. Mayor, such a large machine cannot be cleaned as a whole here; it must be disassembled for professional washing and disinfection. The disinfection facility is prepared for this purpose."

"Fine, let that pass too. But this machine was clearly delivered only yesterday, and it has already used up a hundred thousand liters of disinfectant water..."

The assistant coughed twice and said, "Perhaps the previous municipal building also had such a coffee machine; you just might not have used it."

"That doesn't seem right," the pale knight said. "I auctioned off everything in the original municipal building. If there was such a coffee machine, would I not know about it?"

"Are you sure it was everything?"

The pale knight was indeed stumped. Shiller handled the moving of the stuff; how would he know if it was everything?

So he had no choice but to make a call to Shiller: "Hello, Shiller? When you dismantled the municipal building, did you come across a coffee machine starting with an S?"

"What?... Oh, that one, yes, I've seen it. It got accidentally damaged while being loaded onto the truck, so it was sold as scrap metal."

The assistant immediately breathed a sigh of relief but then his eyes rolled again.