If you’re just pointing to the strip as an illustration of something bad, then I disagree about its badness (even from hypothetical-Superman’s vantage point): the strip shows Superman putting up with something pretty bad, but achieving something good for it, and I think even hypothetical-Superman would agree that the overall outcome is a good one.
Once you start arguing about what alternatives there might have been within the fiction, and saying “while reality has limits … fiction does not”, well, it seems like you’re saying “It’s bad to ask the fortunate few to sacrifice their interests for the sake of the miserable many, and we can see that because in my reimagining of the fictional world of this comic Superman does this but—so I decree—doesn’t need to”, and I don’t see what you’re gaining by appealing to the comic.
why do you [...] reject the legitimacy of imagining the third?
You’re welcome to imagine anything you like. I just don’t see the point of saying “So-and-so is bad; see, here’s an imaginary situation a bit like so-and-so, in which I’ve decided what’s possible and what isn’t, and it turns out to be a bad situation”.
there needs to also be a larger strategy.
Well, supposedly AMF thinks the nets are part of a larger strategy, and IIRC the Gates Foundation is trying to wipe out malaria. But, in any case, I don’t see how to get from “there should be a larger strategy” to “it’s OK for me not to do anything concrete”. Of course it might be OK for you not to do anything concrete, but what I don’t see is why the fact that there ought to be a larger strategy is any support for not doing anything concrete.
Then at least one of us is confused.
If you’re just pointing to the strip as an illustration of something bad, then I disagree about its badness (even from hypothetical-Superman’s vantage point): the strip shows Superman putting up with something pretty bad, but achieving something good for it, and I think even hypothetical-Superman would agree that the overall outcome is a good one.
Once you start arguing about what alternatives there might have been within the fiction, and saying “while reality has limits … fiction does not”, well, it seems like you’re saying “It’s bad to ask the fortunate few to sacrifice their interests for the sake of the miserable many, and we can see that because in my reimagining of the fictional world of this comic Superman does this but—so I decree—doesn’t need to”, and I don’t see what you’re gaining by appealing to the comic.
You’re welcome to imagine anything you like. I just don’t see the point of saying “So-and-so is bad; see, here’s an imaginary situation a bit like so-and-so, in which I’ve decided what’s possible and what isn’t, and it turns out to be a bad situation”.
Well, supposedly AMF thinks the nets are part of a larger strategy, and IIRC the Gates Foundation is trying to wipe out malaria. But, in any case, I don’t see how to get from “there should be a larger strategy” to “it’s OK for me not to do anything concrete”. Of course it might be OK for you not to do anything concrete, but what I don’t see is why the fact that there ought to be a larger strategy is any support for not doing anything concrete.