Polite Dissent

12 Responses to “ Clark Kent: Blind as a Bat? ”

1. Zaratustra
   May 17th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
   

   You think that’s why he’s always crashing through walls?

2. Dorian
   May 17th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
   

   Superman can fight aliens and super-villains without batting an eye, but gets so preoccupied by a physical exam that he doesn’t realize he’s using his x-ray vision?

   I’m guessing it was a very thorough exam. You’d probably be a little distracted too.

3. Athelind
   May 17th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
   

   I thought eye chart companies made an assortment of charts — not random letters, but different arrangements — so people couldn’t just memorize the numbers.

4. Scott
   May 17th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
   Official Comment

   You would think so, but the charts are pretty standardized. Many of the places where it really counts, for instance the DMV, have a different system so people can’t just memorize them.

   It’s the same thing with those color vision plates, they’re all the same.

5. Juho Salo
   May 19th, 2006 at 6:06 am
   

   You probaply knew this already, but it might be of interest to someone reading this.
   The test used in Finland (I believe it to be standardized) only uses the letter ‘E’. I tried to find it online, but only found this. Of course, the one the doctors use is totally black and not animated ;)

6. Juho Salo
   May 19th, 2006 at 6:06 am
   

   I dont believe the link works. So here is the url. http://www.kemi.fi/kk005331/pics/test.gif

7. Scott
   May 19th, 2006 at 8:28 am
   Official Comment

   We use the “E only” test as well sometimes. We use for young children and ask “which was is the E pointing?” Most of the time for children though, we use a chart with pictures (boat, ball, duck, etc.)

8. Ian Myles Slater
   May 19th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
   

   The comic strip writer(s) came up with a reasonably clever gimmick to keep their character a civilian, and still patriotic.

   But a little science-fictional thought might have suggested that Kal-El (or Kal-L, as was standard in the Golden Age) couldn’t possibly have passed the physical without cheating!

   After all, what are the odds that a Kryptonian’s heartbeat, pulse, and body temperature all would fall within human norms? (Assuming that you can even hear his heart through that impenetrable skin; a problem I don’t recall being raised.)

   I can imagine a hurried conference, followed by: “I’m sorry Mr. Kent, you may say that you feel perfectly healthy, and you may even BE perfectly healthy. But the Army can’t accept you. If you did fall sick, or were wounded, no medic or nurse would be able to interpret this. We’re doctors, and we can’t! And if you are sick, and we suspect you are, we don’t want to expose anyone else to whatever it is that you have. See your own doctor for a thorough exam. Good-bye!”

   This approach to the whole matter seems to have become common only in later years, as the mythology developed — when Weisinger and Schwartz stopped to remember that they were science fiction fans, but especially, I suspect, after the hiring of the long-time SF writer Edmond Hamilton to do continuity.

9. Nick Hancock
   July 12th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
   

   The companies that make eye charts shouldn’t standardize them in the first place. They should at least rearrange the letters within the rows or something, that way there’s less risk of people memorizing the charts. It doesn’t make sense to have all eye charts be alike.

   As for the fact that he didn’t realize he was using his X-ray vision, maybe THAT was the incident that taught him to be careful about when he’s using his powers. Every superhero goes through some trauma in their early years that teaches them not to play around with their powers. Maybe with Superman it was a little more mundane than most (in many ways, Superman himself was a little more mundane than most superheroes *ducks flying objects*).

10. Scott
    July 12th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
    Official Comment

    Nick:

    You’re right. They should vary the eye charts…but it’s never going to happen. 1) Too expensive for the companies, and 2) The medical assistants are used to the current charts and would have to pay more attention, and that’s not going to happen. Especially in a mass screening like for the armed forces.

11. CJColucci
    March 18th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
    

    I used to look like Clark kent, but I had the opposite problem. Because of standard eye charts, no one realized I was blind as a bat for several years. I once had to see the school nurse and was seated under the eye chart. Having nothing better to do, I formed nonsense words out of the lines. Some months later, I was brought in and asked what the bottom line said. I assumed they wanted to know for some reason. I couldn’t see a damn thing, but I knew what the chart said and, wanting to be helpful, told them. My extreme nearsightedness (not apparent in class because I was, for alphabetical reasons, near the front) went undiagnosed for five years.

12. Sean Duggan
    July 11th, 2009 at 10:35 am
    

    You know, with him getting completely wrong results, I’m surprised they didn’t suspect him of malingering and trying to dodge the draft. I’m sure he wouldn’t be the first person to sit down and read out completely random letters to try to be 4-F…

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