So, is it just me or do some people have trouble — a lot of trouble — with the whole concept of the First Amendment? ‘Cause from where I’m standing, we shouldn’t even be having this discussion. But then again, I feel like that a lot.
What by all rights shouldn’t even have ranked as a skirmish in the endless war between (choose your epithet) Liberals and (choose your epithet) Conservatives has grown into a full-fledged battle. At the center of the debate? Not health care, education, energy, taxes, or anything else that matters, but the latest edition of Marvel Comics’ Captain America.
True/Slant‘s Rick Ungar explains:
For those who may not have followed the brouhaha, Marvel got in trouble with the Tea Party this week as a result of a Captain America episode where Cap and his sidekick, The Falcon, are investigating a right wing, anti-government militia group called “The Watchdogs.”
In the offending scene, the two heroes are watching an all-white, anti-tax rally taking place below their vantage point high above the crowd. Captain America wants to send The Falcon, who is African American, into the crowd by posing as an IRS agent. Falcon isn’t too keen on the idea, saying “I don’t exactly see a black man from Harlem fitting in with a bunch of angry white folks.”
Meanwhile, a panel revealing the crowd shows them holding signs very much like those we see at Tea Party rallies.
Now, you just know that ain’t going to go over well with a certain demographic.
Incidentally, I would never have imagined there would be that much crossover between Captain America readers and Tea Partiers, but clearly that’s beside the point.
In an interview with FoxNews.com, Nationwide Tea Party Coalition board member Michael Johns explained that he feels the “juvenile” dig (i.e. the teabag protest sign) will ultimately hurt Marvel far more than the Tea Party movement. But he still feels like the comic book giant owed Tea Party-goers everywhere a big, fat apology. (He also did a little damage control on that whole “allegations of racism” thing too.)
And then, low and behold, Johns got just what he was hoping for as Marvel’s editor in chief Joe Quesada fell all over himself trying to kowtow to the offended parties.
Yahoo! News reports:
Quesada then went on to say that Marvel would “apologize for and own up to” a series of “stupid mistakes” that led to them “accidentally identifying” one of the members of the protest group “as being a part of the Tea Party instead of a generic protest group.” . . . He said the editor asked the letterer to “fudge in some quick signs” and that in the “rush to get the book out of the door,” the letterer “looked on the net and started pulling slogans” from signs captured in photographs at Tea Party protests in order to make them appear “believable.”
Hooray! Everyone got what they wanted. Can we all just go home now?
Well . . . not so fast.
In response to Marvel’s explanation and apology, Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips told Yahoo! News that Quesada’s apology sounded:
less like a genuine ‘we’re sorry’ than it does a ‘we’re sorry we got caught’ statement. . . When I was a child in the ’60s Captain America was my favorite superhero. It’s really sad to see what has traditionally been a pro-America figure being used to advance a political agenda.
Um, Marvel “got caught” doing what exactly? Exercising their right to free speech just as much as the Tea Partiers do? So I guess the First Amendment is something to get all up-in-arms about only when the free speech you’re talking about is coming out of your mouth and not the mouth of a comic book character someone who disagrees with your political agenda? I see.
But I’d venture to say that in the end, it’s actually Marvel that ends up looking like the bigger hypocrite on this one. Because honestly, if you’re too much of a pansy to dabble in real-world concerns, and the controversies that might surround them, why even have a character like Captain America? Better to stick with pretty, pretty princesses and talking ponies. And hell, since Marvel is now a multi-billion dollar subsidiary of Disney, perhaps that would be the smarter way to go.
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I truly despise Joe Quesada after what he did to Spider-Man but not even I will call him a hypocrite for this. I’m not opening comic books to deal with real world issues (Wolverine is the only character I can recall with a truly enviable healthcare system) or have comics deal with them. Give me excitement, adventure, humor and escapist fantasy. I deal with the real world everyday, I don’t need it in my entertainment.
At any rate, I don’t correlate the events in a comic book with what’s going on in the real world. Just as I don’t think Star Trek is really the future.
Yeah, I’d say Marvel DOES look like the hypocrite here. The Tea Partiers have every right to object to the way they’re depicted, as much as any other group does. Find me a group, ANY group–I’m sorry, “demographic”–who will take being insulted in any medium, with no comment whatsoever, and the Amish don’t count. Misrepresenting the Tea Partiers as racist was a low blow, and inaccurate to boot.
Your paragraph about Marvel’s attempt to straddle the fence (when it turns out their legs really aren’t that long) was probably the most relevant part of the entire post. They’re in the business to make money. Pissing off a segment of the public isn’t usually conducive to accomplishing that goal.
There is free speech and then there is just spewing a ill-informed immature argument to push your agenda.
Sure, you have all the right to show the world you are foolish but that doesn’t mean the unfairly slandered side doesn’t have a right to lambast you for doing so.
Good lord, how stupid does Marvel think we are? I’d be willing to bet that those artists knew EXACTLY what they were doing! They just didn’t think anyone would notice their immature little dig, and they could chortle over it in secret. And now, wah, people are upset and it’s just so HARD, you know?
To me Marvel is the hypocrite here. Stand up for what you believe in (ie, tea parties are racist) but don’t cry foul when someone gets upset over it.
I have the right to stand outside a movie theater and tell the patrons that the fire exits are poorly accessible. I don’t have the right to stand up in that same crowded theater and shout “fire” to prove my point. Slander, to my knowledge, has never been protected under the first amendment any more than inciting a riot.
Spiderman taught me that with great power, (or freedom) comes great responsibility. I have a duty to the constitution to insure that I exercise my rights in a responsible manner.
I have editorial experience, there’s no way in the world this simply slipped by unnoticed. They were well aware of the implications. I think they simply assumed that no one in the Tea Party Nation could read. If the big wigs at Marvel really do believe the Party-Goers are a bunch of racist, “angry white folks” then they should stand by that statement instead of making pathetic excuses.
I would not be suprised if Marvel got an NEA grant or some sort of money/direction from the Obama administration on this. It would be entirely in keeping with their arts and culture intiatives.
Cap was on the Big Government side of Marvel’s recent Civil War if I recall correctly. Most of the Marvel heroes (excepting industrialist Tony Stark) tend towards the liberal end of the political spectrum.
FS – Marvel was purchased by Disney for $4 billion. I would be hugely surprised if they got an NEA grant.
And honestly Marvel’s fitting right in with their target demographic. The average comic book reader is a 19 year old male. The same demographic that spams Digg and giggles hysterically over teabagger jokes. There’s no way this slipped under the radar.
Comic books have a long history of making subversive political statements (not sure about Marvel specifically), so while I think it was a bad move (financially) to target the Tea Partiers explicitly, it’s not a big departure. I also think it’s fair to get upset at the portrayal, though I think demanding an apology is just as insincere as the apology that was received – so I do think there’s hypocrisy on both sides.
Oh, boo hoo hoo, you hurt my feelings, wah. Seeing the above depiction in a comic book is not going to change anyone’s mind for or against the Tea Party. If they like it, they’ll still like it, and if they hate it, they’ll still hate it. Demanding apologies from those that demean you is pointless because, surprise, the apologies will be insincere! If they’re demeaning you, why would they apologize sincerely?
On the other hand, the implications of inbreeding and racism among the “teabaggers” in the picture is just tacky and underhanded. But really, I expect nothing less than tacky and underhanded than Joe “One More Day” Quesada. GRR. ARGH.
I think I am more offended by the term of “angry white mob” just as much as I am offended by the term of “teabagger” since I have been to these rallys and it is not just white people who are upset. I have never read these comics and I don’t intend to start now. to me it is just another way for them to seek publicity and they knowingly chose something that is a huge deal now.
there aint nothing wrong with pretty, pretty princesses and talking ponies!!!!
unless you’re Roman Polanski and use them to lure kids……..
Dan, you’re only saying that because you’re a big old racist redneck inbred teabagger.
There, I’ve run rings ’round you logically!
I don’t know about you guys, but I wouldn’t piss of comic book fans again. All that wheezing, and arm flailing. If you’ve ever been beaned by an asthma inhaler thrown really hard (like a girl) straight at your head you’d know what I was talking about. They attack in packs too. Last time there was Star Trek insignia, and broken Boba Fett helmets all over my yard. It was ugly.
AIG’s market capitalization of $3.66B didn’t effect its bailouts of $173B.
Maybe Marvel is too big to fail too.
When your bailout was 47 times your market cap, you know you have a regulator who has never had a job in a profit seeking business.
Well, at least SJS is consistent with her prejudiced slant. In all fairness though, I do look forward to her thinly veiled nuggets of liberalism just so I can make a snarky response, so this would not be any fun if she wrote any of these like a fair, unbiased journalist…wait, that’s an oxymoron… never mind.
Marvel actually had the chutzpah to dump on the Tea Partiers for being full of honkies? Oh, that is priceless.
@Pasta, I have been a comic reader and collector since I was 10, now 44, and while there is a large number of over weight and ashmatic individuals out there most of my fellow collectors don’t fit the demographic. They normally run the comic shops we buy our books from….lol.
Seriously though Marvel has become a joke in the industry, most die hard fans collect DC or the Independents like Dark Horse Comics. We go for more realistic and accurate portrayals with better artwork to boot. And having personally attended a number of Tea Party rallies I am wondering who all those black people were that are not only in attendence but also speakers at the rallies that Marvel seems to believe are all “white”? Maybe they were liberal plants?
As for the debate here, I thinkt he 1st amendment rights give ANYONE the right to call BS when they see it and Marvel sure smells like Bull Shit to me.
“They normally run the comic shops we buy our books from…”
Is this their leader?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png
If I had one of those rad Boba Fett outfits I’d wear it to work, out grocery shopping and play tennis in it.
No way. Darth Vader is the man for me. I always thought that Luke was a wuss for not joining him and ruling the universe as father and son.
Some people are damn lucky my dad was a Chevrolet mechanic, and not Darth Vader.
When did it become wrong to get offended about something that portrays your group not only in a negative light, but in a way that is just about completely wrong? The Tea Party movement wasn’t violent or racist and they picked up their own trash.
Why is it hypocritical to want an apology for that? Did I miss something? Oh, I get it. It’s because it’s “fiction.” They don’t have a real cause to raiy against in the Marvel World these days so they have to make them up. They just WISH the Tea Partiers were all angry white people.
My political beliefs and those of the Tea Party Movement have many points of intersection. I am also a comic book collector (mainly DC over Marvel). I cancelled the one Marvel title to which I subscribe over the whole Cap #602 mess. I was also looking forward to seeing IRON MAN 2 this summer, but now it looks like the only way that will happen is I can find a way to see it for free.
While I steadfastly believe in Marvel’s right to exercise the 1st Amendment, it is also within my 1st Amendment rights to withhold my money from them as a sanction for calling me an ignorant racist redneck.
“…but now it looks like the only way that will happen is *IF* I can find a way to see it for free.” (Corrected, lest I be called out on the whole ‘ignorant’ thing.)
So let me get this straight.
1) Marvel expresses negative opinion about the Tea Party and this is good, proper and worth of defending. IT’S FREE SPEECH THEREFOR IT’S GOOD!
2) Tea Party expresses negative opinion about Marvel and this is petty, improper and worth of disparagement. IT MAY BE FREE SPEECH, BUT STFU!
There’s a hypocrite here, but it ain’t Marvel or the Tea Party.
So I guess the First Amendment is something to get all up-in-arms about only when the free speech you’re talking about is coming out of your mouth and not the mouth of a comic book character someone who disagrees with your political agenda?
That you can say this without any sense of irony is Deceiver worthy in and of itself.
OK, since blockquotes appear not to work the next to last paragraph is supposed to be quoted.
Jaberkaty – it’s not hypocritical to *want* an apology, but I really doubt that there was any apology that Marvel could give that would have been acceptable. It just seems a little deceptive to demand something that’s essentially impossible. Why not simply issue a statement condemning Marvel’s irresponsible and inaccurate portrayal of them? Why ask for an apology you know you won’t accept?
Ok y’all I am really excited beause I am finally WHITE!!! Thanks Marvel
I am missing something, I don’t see anywehre that Marvel cannot express whatever it wants.
but I really doubt that there was any apology that Marvel could give that would have been acceptable.
I see SJS’ bait and switch worked. The person she quotes as asking for the apology (Michael Johns) is not the same person that didn’t accept it (Judson Phillips). They’re not even from the same group (Tea Party Coalition v/s Tea Party Nation). Nowhere does she mention whether the person asking for the apology accepted it, nor does she mention whether the person who didn’t accept it even asked for one.
Person A asks for apology and Person B doesn’t except it != Deceptive.
Welcome aboard D—!! Did you get your check for $1,000,000 yet? Oooops did I say that out loud?
When I first started reading this site, I really appreciated the substantive posts calling out politicos and celebrities for their hypocrisy. But lately the site seems to have degenerated into little more than pseudo-celebrity gossip (Snooki, anyone?) and Palin Derangement Syndrome. I had really hoped that after the last few days of posts calling out PETA, vegetarians, and filibuster hypocrites that Deceiver had gotten back to its roots. But now we’re back to silly posts about Captain America, starlets posing nude, and recycled content from TMZ. Which means it’s time to pull the Google Reader plug. Let’s see, how do I do this? Oh, yeah…Manage Subscriptions…click the Trashcan. Goodbye.
You know I’ve been around here a long time, two plus years now I think, and I don’t know if some people are seeing a different site than I am, but things don’t really look all that different from when I first started coming around. Vegetarians, and meat eaters, celebrities, and politicians getting called out, and making fun of them for it (I can’t speak for everyone but least I do anyway). It’s been happening since the beginning.
Hmmm. What could be different? Oh yeah SJS is here now. And she seems to rub some people the wrong way. But facts, are facts no matter who says them. If you guys think textbook definition hypocrites are falling out of trees, I promise they aren’t. And I’m looking for them everyday. What do you want? A site that may or may not be updated for days, or weeks at a time because Al Gore didn’t fly a private jet, and take an armored limo to a global warming meeting this month? It’s not my site, and that decision isn’t mine but that would be dumb. What would be the point of that?
There are other strictly political sites that I go to, but I’m not there much anymore, and I can only stomach the partisanship that goes on, on both sides of the political spectrum for so long. Who wants that everyday? Do you want an ulcer that badly? And while most of the other celebrity sites can be fun, except for that one that I won’t name, because of, well never mind, it’s usually the same five, or six dimwits they’re ripping on. That gets boring fast, no matter how funny the writer is. Anyway, I found Deceiver.com to be a decent mix of both, and that’s why I come here first and most often. You can’t please everybody, not by a long shot, so I don’t know why anyone ever bothers trying. I was gonna try to end this on some fabulously smart flourish but, whatever.
Have a nice day.
Wow Pasta, that almost a serious rant…..where the hell’s my check!?
good lord, one of these days I will lern to read what I type before I hit the submit butn
SJS rubs people the wrong way because her posts are almost always contain misspellings, don’t make any sense, or not even deceiver worthy at all. like her cruise/haiti post and that palin article that contained no hypocrisy what so ever and everyone in the comments pointed that out. im not a grammar nazi but if you’re working for a popular site you should at least spell check and fact check before you put stuff up. it devalues the site that people like coming to. that’s why SJS “rubs people the wrong way.”
“im” is supposed to be capitalized, and it’s spelled “I’m.”
I’m a little late on this, but thanks Pastafarian! I’ve been reading this site as long as you (I’ve just never commented until now), and I’ve noticed how the comments are just laced with bitterness.