Sam Wilson - Captain America #11

[superboyprime]

"Of course many Republicans are good, nice, decent people in their day to day lives. And that's why people struggle with the disconnect. They don't get how such nice, upstanding people, often family, can turn so evil when the subject goes to any minority or different culture. But they do." - Nick Spencer

Comments

[donnblake]

Now, I know it won't last, but this seems more interesting to me than the inevitable heroes punching each other bit. Canvassing support, looking for ways to frame the equation, ignoring that Destiny ever existed- this is actually a conflict between heroes I could more or less get behind.

[starwolf_oakley]

Rouge: I practically grew up with Irene Adler! A precog so talented people searched the Earth for her diaries! Any questions you want to ask ME, maybe?

Mystique: Ask me about people with precognition powers. Trust me. Would I lie?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Wonder what kind of strawman Spencer is gonna turn US Agent into...

[icon_uk]

The USAgent started out as pretty much a right wing strawman back in the 1980's, so this is more or less going back to his roots.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

So regressing his character, basically.

[icon_uk]

If it's the same guy in the costume, but even then is it a regression? He's usually been shown as having a more Right-wing leaning POV than most.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

We've not seen the story yet, so it's hard to say. But this being Spencer, I'm putting my money on regression/strawman, than logical development

[starwolf_oakley]

Gruenwald had him right-wing, but more as a result of his background being the direct opposite of Steve Rogers. John Walker grew up on a farm, was NOT short and skinny, and joined the Army after Vietnam so there wasn't much for him to do in terms of "Defending his country."

[thehood]

Actually, going by his last appearance, this would be logical progression for him.

[zylly]

USAgent is basically Marvel's Guy Gardner. A tremendous jackass, but also fundamentally a good person, albeit more conservative than Steve Rogers.

As much as I've enjoyed this run, there is potential to screw this up.

[thehood]

Didn't you read this issue? He saved Muslim women and children from extremist. It doesn't sound like he'll be a strawman.

[thehood]

Going by what we saw in this issue, we're he saw how current mission more important than politics, i think you might be jumping to conclusions.

[onsokumaru]

I relate a lot to D-Man, here.

[nyadnar17]

Nevermind the number of minorities that are Republicans. Fuck you too Nick

[lyricalswagger]

This doesn't really seem like you're talking about the issue, but instead yelling about the creator. I'm not sure that's a great idea?

[thehood]

Insulting creators is against the rules.

Anyway, most republicans are white, as one can clearly see from most of their rallies and conventions.

[nyadnar17]

Man fuck this whole run. I was really, really looking forward to Falcon as Captain America. But this whole run, this entire run is about him fighting literal strawmen caricatures of positions and policies Nick disagrees with.

El Ewing Mighty Avengers and Ultimate's looks at what life in America is like for minorities and their different views on whats its like and what the proper course of action is. And he did it without having faceless, corporate sponsored, super cops yelling "Broken Windows" while beating up minorities.

[tugrul]

It's life for African-Americans in the U.S. now. So is the stance Republicans take. Sorry he didn't handle your feelings with gloves.

[thehood]

That's hardly relevant to this issue. And there was only one case of police being killed, while there are several cases of minorities dying from police brutality.

[thehood]

I do read the news, it's how i keep learning of new cases of Police brutality and them killing innocent young black men.

[thehood]

Hardly comparable to the numerous cases of Police brutality by comparison.

That and someone dying because the work in a dangerous profession is hardly comparable to being killed because a trigger happy cop thought the color of your skin made you suspicious.

But no, it's the cops that are oppressed. Give me a break.

[thehood]

Then why bring it up at all, especially when people are talking about the injustice perpetrated by some corrupt and racist cops?

And do you call anything that disagrees with your point of view a "strawman "?

[laughing_tree]

"Then why bring it up at all?"

Yeah, basically. It's "All lives matter"ing the discussion up.

[thehood]

Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but Ewing is a liberal too.

And he has called out police brutality too and called out the xenophobia in both UK and the US.

[aperturedreams]

That quote sure sounds a lot like profiling in itself; portraying people as evil and/or racist merely because they are a member of the republican party.

[walkingthroughforest]

If anyone is voting Republican this year, they better be ready to defend statements of racism, bigotry and xenophobia. These quotes are ripped straight out of the GOP 2016 platform.

In terms of xenophobia and racism to Latino culture:
"In a time of terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking, and criminal gangs, the presence of millions of unidentified individuals in this country poses grave risks to the safety and sovereignty of the United States," the platform reads. "That is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protecting all ports of entry. The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic."

And especially relevant on a place like SD where we value inclusion, this is their stance on gay marriage and transgender rights.
"We do not accept the Supreme Court's redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal, whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states."

"Their edict to the states concerning restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities is at once illegal, dangerous, and ignores privacy issues," the platform reads. "We salute the several states which have filed suit against it."

So while people voting republican are not evil and vile, they sure as hell should be prepared to answer why they're supporting institutionalised racism and bigotry.

[janegray]

Seriously. When one of the leaders of the fucking KKK publicly endorses the Republican candidate and the Party accepts that while one of the speakers at the RNC did a Nazi salute and another speaker claimed that only white people ever contributed to civilization and the candidate himself built his platform over the claim that other races are rapists, I don't want to hear shit about "just because I'm voting for the GOP doesn't mean I'm racist!" Yes, yes it does.

[aperturedreams]

I'm certainly not voting Republican, I just think that portraying all individuals in such a party as racist is incorrect. The party itself is in a terrible state and indeed has plenty of vile and very racist individuals. And indeed voting for those particular speakers could you make you racist for supporting such views, but I was talking about those who are in the party in general, and not who endorse those specific people. Though many of those voters do seem to be falling in line anyway.

[lyricalswagger]

Fortunately, Spencer isn't sending superpowered hit squads after Republicans, just critiquing their bad politics.

[starwolf_oakley]

USAgent is a hardass and kind of a jerk to certain people. But that doesn't really mean he should be the "antagonist du jour." It's probably one of those "Mark Gruenwald wrote him, so I can't hate him THAT much" type things.

Also, his parents were murdered because he was (the new) Captain America (for a while) and his ID was revealed on TV. That would make anyone a bit... off.

[silicondream]

"If this kid is deriving things from statistical averages, background markers, social media posts, race or religion...."

OK, it would be hilarious if that was how Ulysses predicted that Thanos would show up. Does his brain scan cosmic villains' Facebook accounts for "C U soon humans!!! #allyourcubebelongtous" posts?

[laughing_tree]

I wonder if the people who complain about the strawman comic book supervillains realize those characters are... comic book supervillains. Do they also complain that Lex Luthor acts more bwahaha evil than real world businessmen? That Poison Ivy is much more villainous than actual environmentalists?

[lyricalswagger]

Which of these characters is a blatant stand-in for a specific person?

[thehood]

Except the Red Skull is acting like he always has. The fact that Trump has similar ideals to fictional and real life Nazis says a lot about what kind of person Trump is.

[thehood]

They're not spewing anti-immigrant propaganda, so no.

But yeah, the Nazis weren't big on immigration, in case you never read a history book.

[thehood]

It's not really a strawman when the Red Skull has always been a xenophobe and a racist, or is the fact that the Red Skull is a bigot news to you?

[thehood]

Except for the fact that what he was saying was exactly Trump and his supporters have been saying in real life. It's not strawman when they are actually like that.

Sometimes it's pretty clear who's on the wrong side.

Plus you are forgetting Red Skull's origins here and Cap's. The Captain America books have always been political. Ask Simon and Kirby.

[starwolf_oakley]

Well, most supervillains aren't straw men. The popular ones at least. Yes, most use their powers and gizmos for a fast buck. But many either work for the "greater good" or because of a warped grudge.

[lyricalswagger]

Which supervillains aren't unrealistic strawmen?

[cynic79]

Minor nitpick.

The INS stopped existing 13 years ago.

Its functions were taken away from the Department of Justice and given to the then newly formed Department of Homeland Security. DHS has been responsible for immigration enforcement since then.

It makes it hard for me to take Nick Spencer's politics seriously if he can't keep the details straight.