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Spiderman's Politically Correct Replacement
jbarr writes "In the latest Marvel Comic series 'Ultimate Fallout,' Miles Morales replaces Peter Parker who has been killed off by the Green Goblin. Morales is a half-black, half-Latino teen, and the creators haven't ruled out that he might be gay. From the article: 'Marvel's editor in chief Axel Alonso denied that having a black Spider Man was a publicity stunt. 'What you have is a Spider-Man for the 21st century who's reflective of our culture and diversity. As someone who grew up on a steady diet of Luke Cage, Hero For Hire and Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, I am personally invested,' he said. "
How is a half-black, half-Latino teenager more politically correct than a white teenager?
Next up, Wolverine's special two-part Bar Mitzvah issue! L'chaim!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Bendis is still writing the books. He has written good books for the last 11 years. I think we can give this a chance. If he had introduced a spider-man that was too close to the old peter parker this title would have jumped the shark. There is no reason to retread that ground in this title. If you want peter parker read amazing spider-man.
Minoriteam!
Political correctness is daintily tip-toeing around words and phrases because those words or phrases may or may not be taboo relative to modern cultural, racial, religious, sexual, etc. constructs.
A Spiderman with non-white ethnic background is just diverse. Anyone can get bitten by a radioactive spider.
It's a different guy, putting on a similar costume, inspired by the "original." There's nothing wrong with that, other than perhaps it would've been better to create a new character. This is better than DC rebooting their comics, or even mainstream Spider-man opting to have a huge chunk of his life rewritten.
All this death of Spider-Man stuff is in their Ultimate line that does away with existing continuity. Peter Parker's still alive and kicking in the regular books.
Am I the only that can't get the thought out of his head that the new spider-man was bitten by a radioactive spider-man?
Otherwise he'd turn into a spider after all.
And here I thought Spider-Man in Spider-Man 3 was already too politically correct.
Half of this... and half of that... stir briskly... bake for an hour in a 500 oven ... serve to the unwary
Why not just let Scumbag Steve take over instead?
The more you know, the more you have to say and the more you should listen.
So Slashdot is still posting stories from the Daily Fail despite the fact that it has routinely been shown to be making shit up or creating phony controversies to drive web clicks and sell papers?
The Spiderman comic books have been dead to me since the whole clone wars debacle.. Seriously, I'm a bit surprised they're even still making comics anymore.. I thought Marvel and DC made their money off of franchise license these days?
I am so ready for another comic-book crush.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
terrible, antagonizing post title. having minority characters isn't inherently politically correct. sometimes it's just real.
I can really relate to this!
The main comics still feature Peter Parker. This is just the Ultimate line of comics, but from the way the article was written, you would think that Spiderman from now in in the Marvel Universe will never be Peter Parker again. Kill him off and then you have an article to write.
Raj: I can't wait to ask Stan Lee why he insists on giving all his characters first and last names that start with the same letter.
Howard: Oh, come on. Why would you do that?
Raj: Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Stephen Strange, Otto Octavius, Silver Surfer, Peter Parker, oh, and worst of all, J. Jonah Jameson, Jr.
Howard: Okay, I'm cutting. I'm not gonna talk to Stan Lee after you cheese him off.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
They need to break new ground every so often or the franchise dies. Why should it mater, so long as he is a realistic character, not a cardboard cut-out of ethnic stereotypes? Perhaps they can use this to discuss real discrimination, it would make a change from the introduction of "anti super" parodies of the real thing.
Besides no-one really thinks the original is permanently dead do they? Think of this as a break, and if you do not like it go find some Indy titles, or web-comics( no pun intended) to read in the meantime. eg "www.paradigmshiftmanga.com" or try one of the big top 100 sites etc.
RTFA: because in the 21st century, everyone is black and latino and a teenager and gay. Duh.
So, you can be Hispanic if you have lived in southern California for the past 10 generations or if you Nazi grandparents had fled to Argentina. Which can lead to some interesting situations. For example, my mom was classified as by her employer as Hispanic when there was a democratic was president and not when a republican was president. And while Mexicans and Peruvians think of themselves different, I would be most would think of themselves as hispanic - just like English and Germans would thenk of themselves as different and yet both as European.
This is what happens when a company like Disney buys out a comic book chain.
You should feel privileged that he wasn't bitten by a radioactive mouse from Florida.
So is it time to start up the write in campaign for Donald Glover to be the next Spiderman again?
Gay??? I heard he swims with the fishes, er, I mean swings with the arachnids.
All those blacks, latinos, and gays walking around -- who knew that their very existence is a challenge to samzenpus and jbarr's political beliefs?
Certainly comics should only depict people who look like the vast majority in the United States as of 1950. They should only be marketed toward those people, who rightfully define our country in their own image. Anything else would be politically ... umm .... incorrect.
It was no longer believable that a white teenage would work the jobs that Spider-Man's alter ego does. So something had to change.
I think maybe he's just alliterate.
Because the Daily Fail routinely stirs the racial and homophobic pot with these overly sensationalist stories.
It's what conservatives whine when people don't let them engage in overt racism or when others refrain from racism. So yes, a black/hispanic gay Spiderman is "politically correct." However, I don't think Marvel should limit it's art to appease people who cry "Political correctness!" They want to tell a story about someone who reflects the new America and I think the gay angle is great because Spiderman has always been an underdog.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
As someone who grew up on a steady diet of Luke Cage, Hero For Hire and Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, I am personally invested
As someone who has no idea of what those are, I wonder what he means by being "personally invested".
It puts emphasis on superficial differences by trying to apply an arbitrary ontology on everyone.
For example, most media "latinos" are portraid as dark haired, brownish skinned people (which is not true in general, it depends on the particular population). They fail to include all the other latin populations: italians, spanish, french, romanian, portuguese, brazilian, etc. (I'm argentinian BTW, so I count as "latino").
It escapes me how stereotyping entire populations on superficialities became "the right thing to do" from PC point of view.
It's Spider-man, not Spiderman. Unless the new character is Saul Spiderman from upstate New York.
Using the expression "politically correct" to label something you dislike is nothing but coded language used by cowardly bigots who know their beliefs are indefensible.
The underlying logic of many of these comments, and the phrasing of the story, is that white is normal, and everything else is some intentional 'weirdness'. Let's break down the logic: Of course, nothing could be 'weirder' than a bi-racial person, that's like a half-elf, half-vampire: it's just silly! it's trying to be too many things, like a doctor who solves crimes and is also the mayor! Further the introduction of non-white heroes to a story is a crutch, used to drum up interest to a bad book. If someone could write a good, interesting book, they'd of course have only white heroes, but sometimes they need extra publicity, so they'll add non-white people in there. Gay people are another publicity stunt, just an effort to drum up business. Lurking behind all this is the idea that white people are being squeezed out, in danger, that it's easy for non-white people to get good jobs and positions, but very hard for white people, that any job you see a non-white person doing, there's a white person out there who could do it better. Never mind that this is a fantasy, the grievances that people imagine in their everyday life are dragged in to every such discussion. How do you think this affects non-white people, and people who identify as two races? They're not vampires or elves, they're normal people. Next time you're on the bus take a look around and ask yourself about the people you see: are there any super-heroes that look like a young, fit version of that person?
Italian artist Sara Pichelli, who designed Spider-Man's new look, added: 'Maybe sooner or later a black or gay - or both - hero will be considered something absolutely normal.’
How about you make a NEW superhero that is black or gay, or whatever, and for the superheroes that I grew up with just leave them the fuck alone! Where's your goddamn originality? Of course this is a fucking gimmick to make money, you stupid asshole!
Even reading the stories on this change it is very evident, they are out of ideas.
What they are doing wrong is dismissing the large number of minority superheros that already exist but simply do not get much attention. So instead they have to repackage and existing character and hope to get away with it. It reminds me of the New Coke debacle.
I have no problem with them having a new hero with similar powers, someone who takes up the mantle but it obviously not the original nor ever claims to be such. Still for all the politically correct points being spent in just one character makes the whole thing a farce.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I'll continue to not buy it EVEN HARDER.
One: It's "Spider-Man". Spider-Hyphen-Fucking-Man.
Two: It's "Ultimate Spider-Man" the Spider-Man of a secondary line of comics with a separate continuity.
Three: Has anyone here seen the phrase "Politically Correct" used in the last five years where it wasn't a euphemism for, "I'm not comfortable that racism isn't allowable anymore, so I'm going to disparage the current standards of decency by tagging them with a phrase that implies liberal propaganda"?
Is it now ok to kill Clark Kent and give Superman over to a guy named Harry Muskin who may or may not be from Krypton? Don't a superhero's public and private identities go hand in hand? I'm a little shocked that it's ok for someone to usurp Spiderman's identity rather than creating a new one. His superpowers are a bit different, his personality is different so call him Arachnoman or something.
I wonder if the critics who (rightfully) slam D.C. Comics for killing all of its minority characters and replacing them with white people will also condemn Marvel for killing a white character on explicitly racist grounds to replace him with a black character.
I wonder if the writers will go full Progressive and have Spiderman fight scientists who don't experiment on animals but have colleagues who do, discover his webbing traps pollutants from automobile exhaust and also acts as an accelerant to set SUVs on fire, join a protest for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Aafia Siddiqui, torch a random Bronx synagogue on Holocaust Memorial Day to protest the "Israeli Occupation" of Israel, and call President Obama a house nigger. If they do that last one, they can say that anyone upset by them calling Obama a nigger is a racist.
I wonder if the black Spiderman will be stereotyped in the same kind of racefail that black comic book characters had in the '70s. He's a guy in a full-body suit. He should be the same no matter what skin color is underneath. Let's see if he ends up being "ghetto" and from "the hood" in the name of diversity. Let's see if they give him a broken home to distinguish him from that privileged white guy who was raised by his aunt and uncle. Let's see if his parent/guardian is on welfare to distinguish him/her from that privileged white Aunt May who was on Social Security.
Why change your character at all? Especially if he is your main moneymaker. Why not create a new character with different powers and skill set.
Of course this is a publicity stunt. Killing off superheroes is always a publicity stunt, which is part of why deaths never stick.
Odds are, the replacement won't stick either. More likely Parker will come back in a year or two, possibly with minor alterations to his character design but nothing too significant. When this happens, the legacy character will either die, retire, or adopt a new superheroic identity; sometimes they do more than one of these, and due to this being comics they can come in any order.
If this is how they're talking about Spider-Man's replacement, my money's on the new-identity option, and that identity has probably already been fully designed and named with the first issue or two ready to go. The Spider-Man brand is merely a springboard, an attempt to start this guy's intended comic off with a pre-grown reader base.
Is how all these people have come out of the woodwork to comment about how horrible this all is. "PC movement is out of control!" "It's the Gay Agenda(tm) at work!" "The only way to have a black superhero is to take out the white guy first!" And these comments have been rated amazingly highly.
I had no idea Marvel had such a huge following among the KKK crowd.
I am a traditionalist and traditionally superheroes have been white or green. Let's keep it that way, shall we?!
Ever consider it's not politically correct so much as more interesting? As a writer I can tell you it's far more interesting to write about a half-black, half-Latino teen than what is Peter Parker originally? Boring? From Boringsville, USA? With a boring girlfriend? Who wants to write about that?
Wouldn't a Sudanese Spiderman best represent the downtrodden?
I guess a half-black, half-latino, half-asian transgendered teen was off the table?
This would be more newsworthy if Marvel hadn't created a Hispanic Spider-man 20 years ago and a Hispanic Spider-Girl 8 years ago.
...is they essentially undid all of Peter's character development, erased his marriage, made him back to a 'single nerdy guy'...and then killed him off and replaced him.
Hey, idiots? Why not just, I dunno, injure him, or remove his powers, or something, and let him retire in peace with his wife? And then have a new guy take over?
Yes, yes I'm aware Peter will probably be back from the dead, and take back up his position, but, seriously. Either you keep the character as he's changed and grown over the years, or you should just let him walk off into the sunset and bring in some new young single person for people to relate to. You don't rewrite his life and then kill him off and then bring in someone new.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
"Need your clothes, boots and and foreskin."
"You forgot to say L'chaim!"
The comic book companies have decided that the white male demographic has either topped out or is declining. There have been increasing numbers of ethnic/female/gay superheroes introduced over recent years to tap other audiences. This is based on liberal racist theory that minorities and young women must have strong fictional role models or they won't become useful citizens, and that they can only relate to heroes of their own kind. The other problem is that these characters seem to be created by a committee, based on a dictate from the marketing department, rather than some genuine creative impulse.
The framing of this article seriously makes me want to take Slashdot off the list of sites I look at. Politically correct? Because he's not white? Cowardly, pissant, fragile ego white kids need to get over themselves. And now.
Disclaimer: MINAA (Mummy! I'm Not An Animal!)
Miguel O'hara? 2099? Anyone? I haven't played any of those games that have had him recently so I don't know if that part of his character has been downplayed, but his entire outfit was a Day of the Dead costume. Not saying they can't do it again, but someone should at least acknowledge this...
To a majority of people Peter Parker is the real Spider-man just like Clark Kent is Superman and Bruce Wane is Batman. While it is SOP to shake things up with who a super hero is in the comic books, characters that have become well established outside of comic books through other media exist in the public mind as the most common variation of that character. Through the various movies, cartoons and video games the average person associates Peter Parker as Spider-man, and may not know or care about Miles Morales as Spider-man, just like they may not know or are about Dick Grayson being Batman.
Ask a few Brits. Most I know do not think of themselves as 'European'. They think of themselves as 'British'. Something about the island, wars, and cricket.
And I know several Brits, working with them both here and over there. They would encourage me to remind you also that the Scots and the Irish are special cases also.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
...you don't see a problem with changing Spiderman in the ways this article describes BUT would be offended and outraged if they changed a non-white comic character to white. A white Storm? Blade? Bishop?
Call it a hunch, but I wouldn't doubt for a moment we'd hear it was racist to change him/her to a white character.
Offended? Here is **HUG** Feel better?
Get rid of Morales before he ruins any more classics. You could've created a new superhero instead of killing off an old classic like spiderman, fucking moron.
I guess now we can answer that age old question: Can a comic book jump the shark?
I have no problem with them having a new hero with similar powers, someone who takes up the mantle but it obviously not the original nor ever claims to be such.
Agreed. its annoyingly stupid to rewrite a known character to reflect some passing 'politically correct' fad. More over, has anyone really thought about the 'why'? I thought Marvel got enough preaching about race issues out of its system by printing the unstoppable flow of X-men spinoffs. I get it Marvel, Mutants==Jews==gays==minorities==good people that just deserve a fair shake. Must you drag spider-man into it too?
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
"'Marvel's editor in chief Axel Alonso denied that having a black Spider Man was a publicity stunt. 'What you have is a Spider-Man for the 21st century who's reflective of our culture and diversity. As someone who grew up on a steady diet of Luke Cage, Hero For Hire and Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, I am personally invested,' "
Ok, first, you're also personally invested in staying employed. I figured that out.
And you're also a hypocrite, or just a Progressive. 'denied having a black Spider Man was a publicity stunt? There is virtually NO OTHER REASON to do this, than to gain publicity and sales.
Please. Don't apologize or try to justify this as anything other than sales driven. It's ok. You are in the business of selling comics. Grow a set of your own and be comfortable with your career. Sheesh. Such disingenous BS leaves me with no respect for ya, Axel.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
I went to buy this comic today and had lot of trouble. I left on my lunch hour to buy the book. The store is down town. Its 20 min dirve to get there and a 20 min drive back. Parking is a parking deck. No air conditioning in the store. They had copies of the book but were not selling them. They were all held for "subscribers." So a huge waist of my time for a 3$ book. I have read that the ultimate line is available digitally day and date. But I have looked and this is not true. The marvel chrome webstore does not carry ultimate spider-man day and date. I suppose it might be available on the IPad but I don't own one of those. I have been buying USM for 11 years and the experiance of getting the books sucks.
Hispanic can best be described as a linguo-cultural grouping; basically anyone who speaks Spanish or Portuguese and lives either in the Iberian Peninsula or in the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas. To that, it's useful as an ethnological description, but utter meaningless from any kind of genetic standpoint. Your average Mestizo is going to be good chunks Amerindian, with a big admixture of Iberian, Berber, Arab, Germanic (via the Goths) and a splattering of pre-Indo European Basque in there.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Bonus points for homophobia, linking to the Daily Mail, and the phrase "politically correct".
Things white people like: white comic book super heroes.
Probability of Buck Stoppage
person A, Chairman/President - enormously wealthy person who everyone wants to be on the good side of
person B, Vice Chair - obsessed with collecting titles but not actually competent at anything else
person C, Ombudsman - obsessed with collecting favors but not actually competent at anything else
person D, Treasurer - specialist in being child of person a's wife's sibling (can do math)
person E, Senior Vice President - specialist in being child of person a's wife's sibling (cannot do math)
person F, Outside Advisor - respected member of the community (coaches persons a & b on their golf game)
person G, Communications - talented at lying, dissembling, misunderstanding, and making excuses
person H, R&D - meek, powerless, talented title-holder there to lend credibility to title-holding
person I-K, Ops/Support/Outreach Directors - talented at culturally diverse vagina ownership
person L, Entry-level worker (responsible for most actual decisions, communications, and failures)
"Diversity" is the big PC buzzword -- PC is involved when you see it. Our culture is still majority white heterosexual Christian, but they do not purposely relect on that for some reason (unless they need a hateful racist character, and then he must be white).
They're making him black, Latino and gay to pander to those minorities and those whose political correctness puts those minorities on a pedestal.
Next they'll make him Muslim. With his abilities he can avenge the honor of Muslim families by killing their daughters who become too westernized. It will also add the interesting subplot of living under fear of murder by his fellow Muslims for being homosexual.
They tried that with Ben Affleck, but that movie bombed
Marvel Comics has been Mickey Moused!
How ya like dat?
Ever notice the racially ambiguous people when installing Windows95 so long ago? You might be black, hispanic, asian..? No one really knows but they weren't white. I was like "geez... could they be more obvious?"
Die in a fire, Slashdot. You first, samzenpus.
First, it’s Spider-Man. Not Spiderman. That’s just standards.
Secondly, politically correct. You keep using that word (phrase); I do not think you know what it means.
Calling a black person from Winnipeg an “African American” is politically incorrect. Light-skinned people of African descent aren’t black. Black people who emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba aren’t African Americans. Someone who can’t speak isn’t dumb, someone with Downs syndrome isn’t retarded, and someone with dwarfism isn’t a midget.
Political correctness is awareness of the fluidity and insufficiency of language when it’s used to “box in” people. It’s about not letting those categorizations become mechanisms of control, ostracism, and dehumanization.
Third, the frequent invocation of “political correctness” by people who happen to look like me is sign of racial fatigue, which is to say that you’re under some delusion that you and your kind are under attack. I assure you— the privilege you (and I) have enjoyed your whole life remains in tact.
It’s really not that hard to remember that there are many kind of people in the world and that every individual in every group is deserving of your recognition and respect.
Finally, who- from your lumbar-supporting office chair and ergonomic keyboard- uses his perch of luxury to piss on kids who are finally going to see someone who looks like them represented in a place of prestige? Remember that Spider-Man was born of an age when non-white folks couldn’t buy homes in the suburbs or vote without reprisal. No culture from that time is necessarilly racist inherently, nor was it written by racists, but it was definitely the product of a racist society.
The silver age of comic books was 50 years ago, but its characters are still active today. The world is different— better even! Maybe it’s not different to you. Your neighborhood may still be whitebread and your career a function of nepotism, but for everyone else, things keep changing. It’s okay to let our heroes change, too.
Don’t begrudge the kids a reflection of themselves in the art they love just as much as you do.
And one more thing: he’s not the Green Goblin in the Ultimate Universe. He’s just Goblin. Read a book, fanboy.
How is a half-black, half-Latino teenager more politically correct than a white teenager?
I completely agree with this. The change to some sort of racial token guy was a stupid publicity stun. Not to mention that 'half-black, half-Latino' is an oxymoron as there are black Latinos.
What's important in comics (or it should be) is the story and the super hero original character, not a ethnic makeup change. People don't give a rat's ass if he's a dreadlocks-wearing transgender half-mix between Flores Island Hobbits and Druids, raised and fed by Chinese-raised Klingons immigrants the futuristic ghetto of District 9 (although sadly, this is going to be the recipe for the next Twilight Spiderman Xtreme Ultimate, DragonBall-Z-meets-Sailor-Moon edition.)
... but I'd rather make an effort myself to view and treat everyone equally and pass these lessons on to future children, and hope that those around me do the same, and disassociate with those who believe race is some sort of hierarchy of superiority. Who knows, maybe someday this will catch on to the majority of the population and race will be the least of all our issues?
Marvel's been saying that Ultimate Peter Parker is going to die and be replaced by a new hero for months now, and there was very little complaint outside of a few people who didn't want to see Peter die and a few people that didn't think anybody else should be called Spider-Man. Now that we know he's not white, there's articles all over the mainstream media and even slashdot complaining that he's "Politically Correct"?
I can respect people who don't want to see Peter die and people that don't think anybody expect Peter should be Spidey, but if you think that the new Spider-Man is "politically correct", then you're the racist here, not Marvel Comics.
I never think of myself as European. I've never been there. I think of myself as an American. I suggest all Americans do the same.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
The new mixed-race, politically neutral,. inclusive, sexually ambiguous well-educated and eco-friendly super (or moderate) hero (or achiever). Differently-abled and culturally-aware with healing crystals, a dream catcher, wind chimes and a cape made from recycled hemp fibres.
Stick Men
Thanks for seeing a non-white superhero as somehow remarkable purely on the basis of his race, instead of any other commentary on the storyline, business decisions, or anything else driving the reboot of a franchise. That's, like, totally not a bummer to non-white fans of comic books.
I see this whole "preferential treatment" BS a lot. Before you go spouting off again, here are a few things to keep in mind. Let's take African-Americans as an easy example, since that is where Affirmative Action is almost always applied.
For hundreds of years, African-Americans were brutally oppressed. All of a sudden, in 1964, it became illegal to discriminate against them in many places, such as housing, jobs, etc. However, it's not like on midnight July 2, all of a sudden, African-Americans, who had been systematically denied access to things like education, job opportunities, social infrastructure, etc. were equipped with all of the tools, knowledge, and contacts to really be equal. And it's not like all of a sudden, the vast white infrastructure steeped in bigotry and racism suddenly said, "You know, let's give these folks a fair chance."
Unfortunately, what happened is that racism continued in various forms, just as it continues today. You have two candidates, one African-American and one majority white, applying for a job, each with equal qualifications? The theory behind giving the job to the African-American is two-fold. First of all, it is an effort to try to right the wrongs of centuries past. That African-American person who gets the job will now be able to send their kids to college, to integrate themselves in a more equal social structure, to provide much-needed diversity that will make opportunities truly equal, not just equal "on paper." Secondly, as for the white candidate that got turned down? Don't feel too sorry for him or her. Statistically speaking, that person has a much better chance at finding another job, and getting paid more for it, than his African-American counterpart would were the situation reversed.
People kill me, acting like those poor white people are so disadvantaged because of Affirmative Action. The stats just don't bear that out. I don't know a single white person who has ever said, "Wow, I wish that I were African-American!" because their job prospects would be better. They're not. I don't know a single white person who has ever said, "Wow, I wish that I were African-American!" because they wanted better pay. Why do you think that the recent recession has hammered minority communities a lot harder than white communities? Because even today, almost 50 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, there are huge disparities in minority employment and minority pay as compared to their white counterparts. So yeah, poor white people, being all discriminated against with Affirmative Action. What's your idea for providing equal opportunity and upholding the Civil Rights Act?
Also, one thing that I think is lost on a lot of people is that it's not like if you have a large company, you have to have a 50/50 split of minority/majority employees. Affirmative Action only kicks when when there is such a significant statistical deviation from the norm that you are obviously discriminating in your hiring practices. If you have 2,000 employees in an area where minority population is, say, 20%, but only 3% of your employees are minorities, something's wrong, and you're going to get bitten. If 19% or 18% of your employees are minorities, you're not going to have a problem.
So when people gripe about Affirmative Action, I have to ask, okay, so what exactly do you think should be the result of flagrantly disregarding the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Let's say I'm a company with 2000 employees, and I have an implicit hiring policy not to hire any minorities, which is against the law. If there's no Affirmative Action, what's the punishment? I get to just keep right on discriminating and hiring white people exclusively because I hand-wave the law off saying, "they make better candidates"? I'm not asking at what point you draw the line between someone discriminating and someone not, but if you're against Affirmative Action, you're basically saying there should be no line, and without some sort of
He's Black (half);
He's Gay;
He's from America.
Come on ... :-) We all got trolled big time :-)
What's next - his theme song will be about how he will never going to give us up ? :-)
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Slashdot, I'm ashamed.
Go read the comments here, left mostly by DRUDGE wingnuts that invade whatever website he links to making ridiculously unhinged comments...
(Link: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/04/27/superman-renounces-us-citizenship/) ...and then compare them to the ones in this same thread.
Disgusting. One more like it, and I know at least one person who's removing the /. RSS from their daily reader.
And I know several Brits, working with them both here and over there. They would encourage me to remind you also that the Scots and the Irish are special cases also.
If you include the Irish, you should have defintly included the Welsh as a special case. And it probably would have been better to special case the Anglo-Irish (and/or maybe the Ulster-Irish) rather than not make the distinction as most other Irish (esp those that don't live in northern ireland) probably don't think of themselves as Brits (even as a special case)...
The Tea Party is going to claim the new Spiderman is a Muslim!
I think that movie would have bombed no matter who they stuck in the starring role. Ben wasn't that bad, it was the rest of the characters and story and everything else.
I do forget the Welsh. Darn. And they have such a beautiful language. Yes, they are another non-brit case.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
...and disabled.
In Living Color was way ahead of its time.
Handiman joined the Justice Legion to settle an affirmative action suit brought on by the U.S. government.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4992/in-living-color-handiman-joins-the-justice-legion
This is fabulous people. So, comic books are now jumping the shark. The reasons sales are down (guessing here) so the problem must not be the story. It has to be something else. I vote for 3D comic books using red/blue glasses!
First Nick Fury turned out to be black, then Batman turned out to also be black, now Spiderman is half-black half-latino. I am expecting Superman to turn asian within the next year or so.
The Scots, Irish, and Welsh are the true owners of Iberia, anyhow. If anyone can call themselves "Hispanic" ...
...is they essentially undid all of Peter's character development, erased his marriage, made him back to a 'single nerdy guy'...and then killed him off and replaced him.
Hey, idiots? Why not just, I dunno, injure him, or remove his powers, or something, and let him retire in peace with his wife? And then have a new guy take over?
Different universes..
The "One More Day" reboot / marriage-erasal / etc was from the main universe.
This is from the "Ultimate" universe, think of it like a parallel universe with different origins / back-stories / etc. The "Ultimate" line is still normally a good read, but the regular Spider-Man is still alive and well. Though still suffering from the horrible writing of One More Day and all of that.
Later than Jewish.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Half-Black, Half-Latino and *possibly* gay? Let's erase all doubt, it's totally gay!
Now, if you make "him" an "it", and also a narcoleptic vegan, I'm in!
They would say yes in the US, no if in Mexico.
Would a pre-Zionism Ashkenazi and a pre-Zionism Falasha think of themselves as the same race? What if their descendents are serving side-by-side in the same Tsahal outpost?
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Unless you're Jewish. See, for example, the non-Hispanic US Supreme Court Just Cardozo. And this is how we know he's not Hispanic.
So what next Marvel writers?
Thor the Norse God of Thunder as a Rastafarian?
Your mish is my mash... ( http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=jewverine )
I'd like to read the Daily Bugle's take on this piece of news.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
I love experimentation. If I had to say something against this black/latino guy would be that he is kinda gimmicky, meaning, his background doesn't flow naturally from the plot but from a deliberate effort to make him a multiracial bi-minority.
But in the spirit of experimentation, why not create a new superhero? I think it's lame that you have the dare to experiment with his race but avoid experimenting with a new franchise.
But... the future refused to change.
How about you make a NEW superhero that is black or gay, or whatever, and for the superheroes that I grew up with just leave them the fuck alone! Where's your goddamn originality? Of course this is a fucking gimmick to make money, you stupid asshole!
The comic book industry already constantly messes about with their established superheroes and comes up with stupid ideas to keep people buying their ink-marked sheets of reconstituted dead tree, and has been doing so for donkeys years. (*)
These are what are known as "fucking gimmicks to make money".
So how is this one any different? Let me guess, when (e.g.) the current Superman traded places with one from a mirror universe created by the Green Goblin- the new Superman having a purple cape and his nose on upside down- it's an acceptable money-making gimmick, but when the character's black or gay it's "unoriginal" and messing about with the superheroes you grew up with?
(*) Yes, comic book history, chronology and all that "canon" bollocks that fanboys get obsessed with is, is essentially 50 years worth of ratings-chasing dicking about piled into an impenetrable mess.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Imagine the outcry if they had decided to replace the Green Goblin with a character who is a half-black, half-Latino teen, and whose creators haven't ruled out that he might be gay. Whenever the hero is changed it's lauded as a reflection of our diversity, if it were the villain being changed it would be called a throwback to old negative attitudes.
He wears a mask. Why must everyone assume if a superhero is masked he must be white? Is it so impossible that he can't be a minority? Are people so threatened as to run out of white superheroes? There are plenty out there.
Stuff that matters?...
i'd rather watch spider tranny in a figure-hugging suit than a sweaty guy ... anyway..
i still dont get this comic- book fascination. it cant make the car jeez. !
flames to /dev/null
Spider-Man! Yeah, I am picky. :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
But everyone knows that only Americans that agree with my political beliefs are real Americans.
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They just don't. DC put a lot of investment into Milestone, and coughed up some money to keep it afloat as it fell apart, even doing IIRC a DC-Milestone cross-over. And it did not work.
Black kids don't read comics. Heck most don't read -- Detroit a nearly entirely Black city with a Black super-majority, has 47% of its residents who are illiterate. Hispanics are not much better.
Lets get real. The readership for comics are 35-45 year old White fanboys, able to afford $3-5 a pop for a comic book. Sold almost exclusively in specialty comic book stores. Girls, Asians read Manga, and that stuff sells fine, but they are not traditional super-hero comics. Black and Hispanic kids aren't interested in reading comics, which are written by and for nerdy White guys who got beat up at school. Black and Hispanic kids if they get beat up in school, join a gang and retaliate. That's why grannies and little kids get shot in the ghetto, and not in the White suburbs.
White nerdy guys love tales of empowerment. Because they're not allowed to fight back and are on their own all the time. Black and Hispanic kids have a gang of one sort or another rolling with them all the time, and their empowerment is as close as the nearest drive-by. Is that ugly? Sure. Its also reality. I can read every day of a stupid drive-by where some gangbanger shoots a kid or a granny. But its never in the White suburbs and always in the Ghetto or Barrio.
This is just more PC bunk. Just like commercials with all those Black and Latino scientists (nearly all real-life scientists are White or Asian), or "diverse" Navy Seal Units (among the Whitest around in the military) or fictional football teams half-White (nearly all "skill position players" are Black). I'll start buying a gay/Latino/Black Spider-Man comic book when the NBA has 65% White players (to match the demo of the country) and about 24% Latino (again to match the demo of the country).
If we want to talk "reflecting the diversity of the nation" then let's make Rappers 65% White, the NFL 65% White, College Football 65% White, do away with BET, the Image Awards, the NAACP.
More PC stupidity. Like Superman giving up his American Citizenship. That went over real big.
Or maybe we can just let Rappers be mostly all Black, and Superheroes be all White, mostly.
Most friends of mine from Chile tend to think of themselves as 'American' after Chilean. Some are even insulted when I use 'American' to refer to people from the USA exclusively.
Btw, the majority of Chileans from German decent in Chile arrived well before WW2, I imagine it's the same for Argentina but those wouldn't make your example more interesting.
"I'm not much interested in interoperability. I want substitutability. I want to be able to throw your software out."
But, but.. doesn't he wear a mask? How's anyone going to tell he's black? (Or, for that matter, how could anyone tell Peter Parker wasn't?)
UTF-8: There and Back Again
http://gayspiderman.com/
I don't know about that. Growing up, most of the Blacks I knew were comic book readers. Marvel fans mainly. Mostly the Hulk, Iron Man and Spider-man. This was before Spawn.
Bye bye, Marvel!
Most of the Spider-Man merchandise (where the real money is made) is bought by parents for their young boys. You're about to turn off a whole new generation. Watch your profits take a dive.
I don't mind if they made him whatever ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, criminal background, or state of health, I really don't. But their excuse is just plain dumb.
Sorry but "What you have is a Spider-Man for the 21st century who's reflective of our culture and diversity" doesn't fly with what they did. If they just said, "We wanted to try something new." That would have been more acceptable than cause lets face it, last time I checked about 80% of the USA were white and most of them are heterosexual. So Peter Parker, for all intent and purpose, was more reflective of our culture and diversity, if they wanted to make a hero more reflective of our culture, they should have taken Flash Thomson and made him poor and gave him an Iphone, maybe gave him a bigger attitude and a player when it came to women.
A bunch of people that don't read comic books will somehow be outraged about this...
Half black... half white... agitate a few communities briskly... half-bake for a few years in the Senate... elect to serve the unwary.
Guess.
it's not about political correctness. it's about marketing. white people are dying off or breeding into other ethnic groups. white people are not frivolous with their money either. however, the ethnic groups of the new spiderman are exploding in US population and love to spend money on swag. surely everyone knows by now that being white ain't cool. it's a simple marketing decision.
You realize, all the outrage is to the opposing position, right?
In addition to balanced demographic representation, should they also decipt all the (mostly unfortunate) cultural traits related to these groups that show up on statistics? (One of these is considerably higher relative amount of hate crime, not to even mention others.) Or is expression of those limited to caucasians? Does this hero feel angst over these traits that drag his socio-cultural subgroups downward, like any sane caucasian with questionable family background or friends would do? (In "progressive" circles, even being white heterosexual male is often considered such a trait to be ashamed of.) I don't think so. Nobody seems to enforce realistic, self-critical thinking to those eligible for affirmative action. (Of course it's another question if superhero comics make any sense at all. I highly doubt it.)
Well, I have nothing against gays, they're fine (but still, heterosexuality is not to be treated as a marginalized and archaic trait, and gays should also accept this view) and I have nothing against societally integrated individuals from minorities, but I do have plenty against those that refuse to see other problems in racial/cultural relations than "it's all white man's fault."
If 15% of the population is purple, and 15% of the characters are purple, it's real.
If 15% of the population is purple, and 30% of the characters are purple, it's politically correct.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
Green Lantern logo will be rotated 90 clockwise to resemble goatse, and the whole thing will be about fighting homophobes across the universe.
And let's be honest, Peter Parker was never the most dynamic character in the world, so it's not that sad to see him go Though I was never a Spider-Man fan to begin with so I'm biased
This is highly irritating, as a Caucasian I have been called raciest. Not because I have used racial slurs, or have a dislike of another race. But simply because I have been involved in a disagreement with someone of another race. The prejudice ball is no longer in the European decent court but now in the court of those who "call" themselves minority's. On top of that if I ever call someone else raciest, it's me who gets shot down not them. If you want more proof of this look at the college scholarship funds. The finical aid page for me is completely blank. Some of my Native American, and Latino friends some of whos familys make far more than mine ever did, have pages of available grants and scholarships available to them. (when i brought this to their attention they didn't believe me, until I logged in and showed them the page.) I've been told i can still apply to those, the problem is that I am at the bottom of the pool, meaning I'm only considered only if there are 'left over' moneys after distribution. Do any of you have any idea how embarrassing it is to fill out an application for an American American college scholarship as an Caucasian?
The point is that I am sick of this politically correct BS. It's just a ploy to either create sympathy or just get something for free. If an artist wants to create an superhero of a specific decent, no problem, but there is no need to say it's for these reasons. This is an insult to the community involved, and to add insult to injury they have to pick another 'minority' group to place them in to try and create more sympathy. I personally consider this announcement to be raciest influenced, and will not enforce this move.
Therefore, Spaniards are excluded from your definition of Hispanic, since they would not at all identify with neither Mexican nor Peruvian cultures. That would be a bit weird, since one may think that "Hispanic" should have something to do with "Spain".
It's true that race plays on many people's consciences, but *not* making a deal about race is how whiteness remains the "default." If you think just ignoring race whenever it comes up will solve the great disparities and continued injustices that exist for people of color in the US, you need to get out there more.
"Racism without Racists" is a great book that argues how colorblindness works to perpetuate a white-dominant US culture.
What I do not want to know
He's Black (half);
He's Gay;
He's from America.
What I want to know
How to get bitten in the exact same fashion as the original spider man, to get the exact same powers, to be able to BE the next spider man....
THAT ...is the question!
It is pretty unbelievable that a gay guy would have bad enough fashion sense to go with the Spiderman costume.
Oh wait, this is the politically correct spiderperson...
If you're going to "kill him off" then leave him dead! What is it with the industry that seems to require a specific character exist regardless of whom it is? Let them stay dead instead of replacing them with a new character. Why come up with some contrived story to create that same character but in a different person. There's no "storytelling" or artistic reason to create such a change. When you're dealing with a character that had their first appearance in 1962 you've got almost a half century of back work on them. Spinning, pun intended, off a replacement isn't PC or non-PC, its a simple marketing ploy at its best!
There have been numerous characters over the years that have "died" only to reawaken in some form or another. There's always a financial reason to keep a good franchise running and that's all spider-man really is after all; a great franchise. If you don't like the character, don't buy the title. If the title flops then they'll stop making it. You can shout and stamp your feet all you like but the loudest voice you have with any business is where you spend your dollar. *shrug*
There's the problem. Many don't want a melting pot. They want their own imported culture to be dominant. Political correctness helps them in this endeavor, since any culture except for white European Christian is praised and elevated. You are allowed to be racist, as long as you aren't a white racist. You are allowed to express your religion, as long as it isn't Christianity. You are allowed to assert that your LGBTQABPNWXYZ sexual preference is desirable or even superior, but you're a homophobe if you promote heterosexuality. To state that an immigrant should learn the language of this country is practically forbidden. We should learn the languages of the immigrants if we want to communicate with them.
And don't even get me started on the hypocrisy this all engenders when to PC platforms collide.
Melting pot is good. Trying to destroy the pre-existing culture is not. From the existing culture there is a duty to accept and integrate the desirable aspects of the new cultures. From the immigrating culture there is a duty to assimilate that I don't see happening much.
No justifying either way here, but just a commentary on human behavior.
Many people joke their way through awkward situations as a way of covering their own fear or confusion.
In the case of those who have "transitioned," I'd imagine that there's a whole lot more of both, and a lot of issues that spring from it.
For example, the bathroom issue for those that are "in transition" (men's, women's, or a new bathroom, which is less discriminatory).
But beyond that, there's an element beyond the usual homophobia, etc. Most times, if you're interested in a given gender, it's a simple thing in concept. I'll use the male viewpoint for example.
Meet girl, hit on girl, succeed or get shot down. If you get shot down, then does it matter whether the girl is non-interested in you or your gender? If a guy is interested in you (and you're not), hopefully a simple "sorry, not my thing" will suffice.
But how about, meet girl, succeed (have relationship), discover that girl isn't actually a girl (extra parts) or wasn't originally a girl (missing parts in some ways). Not everyone is honest about that sort of thing, and it's probably not something most people are going to share in a crowded room. There are people who actually fear that scenario, and anger/gallows-humour/etc are often how those people cover such things.
In circles of geeks with lower social skills, meeting somebody within your gender of preference is *hard*, and leads to plenty of feelings of inadequacy etc. Within my friends there are plenty of higher-level-geeks so it's come up as a topic of debate rather than crude jokes (what *would* you do if you discovered your S.O. wasn't originally of the current visible gender), but it's still a pretty complex situation with a variety of levels of acceptance/coping/etc.
Again, I won't say that it's the *right* behavior, but for many - usually people who are hiding their own insecurity - one can see where the behavior comes from.
Just off the top my head I can think of a latino superhero ( Araña ) and two homosexual ones (Apolo and Midnighter from the Authority) and I'm pretty sure that anyone who's more of a comic book enthusiast than me can think of many more. Superheroes who are minorities are nothing new so to me the article is either a) just the typical sensationalist ploy to improve readership from whom ever posted the article or b) Marvel tooting their own horn to sell more copies of the book. All publicity at the end of the day.
You fabricated 'facts' from prejudice,
It's sad that you can't see your fellow people; they're just representatives of 'groups' to you; it's us vs them. But really it's the bigots vs everyone else. Join us and you'll find that all your hatred and paranoia is a waste of time.
Q: Why don't you throw rocks at a spiderman riding a bike?
A. Because its probably YOUR bike.
Yes, racism will just disappear if we keep only putting white people in media! Increasing visibility of POC is clearly an insidious liberal plot to reinstate slavery!
Nope, Byrd actually was a Klansman. It was the style of the times.
Don't you know your history? Prior to the sixties, the Democrats were the party of racism, conservatism, and discrimination, but then thanks to Johnson they passed the Civil Rights Acts, the Voting Rights Act, and while southern whites like Byrd (who at least repudiated his views eventually) and Strom Thurmond (who became a Republican and ever explicitly refuted his views) argued that it was a states' rights matter, the reality is that they just wanted the freedom to discriminate, much like their pro-slavery ancestors just wanted the freedom to enslave others.
But once the Democrats were cajoled by Johnson into passing the laws, the Republicans saw an opening, and gave up the Black vote in the South for the much larger White Vote, and became the modern party of conservatives and racists. Oh sure, they make protests about states' rights, but as I said, they just want to use it to abuse others, not for any genuine purpose. How do I know? Because they contradict themselves at other times, such as passing the DoMA. Discrimination, it's a useful rallying point for votes. Notice how the liberal wing of the Republican party is nearly gone? There's a long tradition of that, from Ogden Reid to the current problems of senators like Stevens, Murkowski, Snowe and Collins, who face challenges from the Tea Party because they aren't crackpot enough for the "true" conservatives.
This history lesson has been brought to you by the letters V R and A, and the numbers 37 and 2.
Guess what those numbers represent? The current numbers of black members of Congress for the respective parties.
Why is that?
Because of what the Republican party is today. Today. Not yesterday. At least they're somewhat better in terms of female representation.
I hate all people, does that make me racist?
Only Robots and Aliens for me!
That is what the new reboot should have been, a half-robot half-alien, radioactive spider bitten superhero!
Seriously that would be awesome!
An Alien spacecraft crash lands on earth. Its mysterious badly injured occupant is found by Doctor Octavius. Using his (Patent Pending) design for symbiotic robotic arms, he saves the aliens life, but for his own nefarious purposes. The alien after inadvertently finding out about plans to use him/her/it, attempts a dashing escape from the lab through the rector level. However during the escape a radioactive spider bites him. The rest is history... :)
Does he even have superpowers? Was that covered?
Or is he just guy running around in Spidey pyjamas?
Also, why stop at half-black, half-latino? Why not 1/8 Asian, 1/8 Hispanic, 1/8, Native American, 1/8 African, 1/8 Anglo-Saxon, 1/8 Australian, 1/8 Antarctican and 1/8 German Shepard?