The Tithe #5 - Islamophobia

[history79]

This is the start of a new storyline called "Islamophobia".

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

That was the plot to two movies: The Long Kiss Goodnight and Snake Eyes. In both cases, the villains wanted a way to get more funding for a military project.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly.

While I'm glad that media writers in general hesitate to use Islamic terrorists, I find it disappointing that they seem to refuse to use any, at all. Outside of 'Strike Back', I'm hard pressed to think of any examples of terrorism that didn't amount to false flag attacks, or safe, Western terrorism.

I'm not yearning to see Captain America punch Bin Laden in the face, but it is a modern issue,and comics (along with other entertainment mediums) have always addressed such things. Not doing so seems cowardly, and a disservice to all.

[jekylls_salvation]

Yeah why didn't Cap punch Osama bin Laden in the face? I feel like SHIELD could've found him. Well, the old SHIELD. Not whatever it is now.

[cyberghostface]

In all seriousness that's one of the issues you have when you try to combine the real world with the Marvel universe.

In the Marvel universe, Nick Fury had a team of superheroes secretly overthrow the Latverian government. Not to mention all the stuff he was apparently doing according to 'Original Sin'. Finding Osama bin Laden was well in his abilities.

That and I have to wonder if the second plane would have been even able to hit the second tower in the Marvel universe or if it would have been something similar to what happened in 'Ex Machina' given all the superheroes in New York.

[jekylls_salvation]

I'm not sure the first plane would've hit. I think Tony Stark was able to spot the Phoenix galaxies away before it got to Earth in Civil War. They have to have had a system in place for attacks on NYC after the Mole Men and Doom and Magneto and Galactus. Maybe all the heroes were off on an event when it happened.

[silverhammerman]

I dunno about putting all (nominally) Islamic terrorism off limits, but virtually any story in this day and age that actually has armed and organized Islamic terrorists running wild in American cities just comes off looking ridiculous. That sort of thing is the modern day equivalent of Red Dawn, which is to say a laughably blatant and empty conservative wet dream.

Plus, a serious discussion of terrorism in the Middle East really isn't at all what this comic is about.

[erikred]

"The FBI's foiled over sixty attacks in the US inspired by ISIS."

Says a Republican Representative from Texas.

Politics aside, and getting back to the group topic of comics, since the major theme of THIS comic seems to be that Christian megachurches are the Big Bad, it's not much of a stretch, narratively, to make the bad guys responsible for ridiculous schemes. On the plus side, at least we haven't seen any ministers presiding over super-serum trials or working Kirby machines to bring about the apocalypse.

[silverhammerman]

At this point aren't you basically asking why the comic isn't a completely different comic? I agree that an examination of terrorism is due, and we're probably far enough along from the heyday of the War on Terror that it could be done properly, but that's in no way what this comic is trying to be.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

"virtually any story in this day and age that actually has armed and organized Islamic terrorists running wild in American cities just comes off looking ridiculous"

In terms of serial fiction, why? Assuming that you're not being literal with regards to an army, I don't see why a small cell would strain credibility (within fiction).

[silverhammerman]

I just think it's a vast overestimation of the reach and influence of these organizations within the United States which turns them into little more than bogeymen. Sure someone could do a good story with it, but as we saw with a ton of TV shows and movies in the early 2000's, most of the time it's just reactionary and, in retrospect, kinda racist fantasies.

[grumman]

Is it that politically incorrect to write a story about actual Islamic extremism or discuss the religion without using blatant strawmen for its critics?

When's the last time a cartoonist was murdered for disrespecting Christianity?