[Lingster]

I just read Wolverine #42 for the fourth or fifth time and it has me so, so, SO pissed off.  The writer, Marc Guggenheim, makes the opening of the issue a pantomime of what happened on United 93 on 9/11, except the terrorists are – ta da! – Christians dressed up like medieval soldiers.  And just in case the thickheaded "symmetry" isn't enough for you, they call themselves "Crusaders". 

So he's equating Christianity with Islam, which is bad enough.  He's also pretending to be daring by doing this, when the likely truth is that he's too chickenshit to depict Muslim terrorists for fear of winding up in hiding like the cartoonists in Denmark.

Marvel has added an "America Supports You" graphic to some of its titles' covers, to indicate support for troops overseas in the field.  Which is apparently necessary, because otherwise it wouldn't be entirely clear.

[flashHEART.EXE]

Granted, I don't read Wolverine (or many comics for that matter), but jeezus. 

As far as the "America supports you" bit, I really don't like how they have handled a lot of 9/11 stuff and the War on Terrorism.  The absolute worst was in that issue of Spiderman where he was trying to get people out of Ground Zero and the WTC and the aftermath, they had Dr. Doom CRYING over what had happened.

DOCTOR DOOM.  CRYING.  OVER A TERRORIST ACT.  The same guy that pretty much tries to enslave the world on a weekly basis. Hell, the same guy that enlaved the UNIVERSE at one time or another.

[Fett]

Totally agree flashHEART. I've heard JMS try to justify it… but I don't agree. Dr Doom doesn't cry when American civilians die.

He's fucking Dr. Doom.

It's like Darth Vader crying for Ewoks. Doesn't happen.

As for the Wolverine issue – I don't read it. While I can understand the idea of comparing Christian extremism to Islamic extremism, since they're both as bad as each other, it's not particularly daring, but rather "old hat". And pointing out how "you're" (i.e. you white american christian who is reading this) just as bad as "them" (i.e. the foreign arabs whom you don't know) doesn't bring people together. It just insults your audience. If he wanted to be daring he'd talk about how the Islamic societies have helped and improved the world over the last millennia, and not how a tiny percentage of fuckwits acted like shits a few years ago.

I don't even know who this Guggenheim guy is, but this whole thing has pissed me off.

[Lingster]

But Christian extremism and Islamic extremism aren't equally bad.  They're not even in the same ballpark.  Just compare the body count in the U.S.  On the Christian extremist side there's three or four assassinated abortion doctors in fifteen years, and we have something like 200 million Christians.  Nobody loses sleep over what Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson might say or do tomorrow.

Don't tell me "Timothy McVeigh", because McVeigh was a lapsed Catholic and a self-professed agnostic.  He never cited any kind of scriptural or biblical motivation for what he did.

[Fett]

I wasn't going to say McVeigh as I'm not even sure what the "Oklahoma bombing" thing was.

And statistics aren't that great – in 2001 a US citizen was more likely to be struck by lightning than be killed in a terrorist attack.

But for example, yes – Islamic extremists that blow up buildings are horrific, and they have caused much loss of life; but then, so are the Christian extremists who exert political pressure to deny international aid, such as medicine for AIDS, to Africa unless they illegalise abortions. That prevention of life-saving medicine kills just as many, and they're quite aware of that fact. It's the same kind of evil.

But, see, in the UK, Christian fundamentalists play a part in the IRA and the mass deaths in Ireland over, not just religion, but also the independence of Ireland.

Then, there's Christian extremism from the past, such as the Crusades and what not, just like past Islamic extremism.

You're operating under the notion that Christian extremists aren't as dangerous to white people, as Islamic extremists – which is true to some degree.

So I'm pretty convinced they're equally bad, and very much in the same ballpark.

Thankfully, very few people visit that ballpark with any regularity. 🙂

[Lingster]

Well, Ireland is just fucked up.  It's difficult to extrapolate any lessons at all for the rest of the world based on what goes on there.

[Fett]

lol

It's odd, because their accent could end all wars. I love it.

[Author]

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