Yeah! Magneto is awesome. Also: I want superpowers. Preferably the ability to modify my DNA at will. (all superpowers at once possible)
The Big Picture: Magneto Was Right
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I'd definitely be on the "teach discriminators a lesson" team, though not by illegal means. So a sympathizer of Magneto, but not his methods.
Brotherhood Scribe, I suppose.
...You can't really ever not sympathize with Ian MacKellan though.
Brotherhood Scribe, I suppose.
...You can't really ever not sympathize with Ian MacKellan though.
Hmm, that's a good question. I'd like to say that I'd fall on the side of the X-men.
But, knowing me like I do, the Brotherhood is much more my style.
But, knowing me like I do, the Brotherhood is much more my style.
X-men's ideology is obviously just a cliche 'moral lesson' in a palatable package, but I agree, especially with Gandalf's demeanor and convincing prose behind the movie incarnation of Magneto.
*Bonus Points* for the inclusion of Bob Ross!
*Bonus Points* for the inclusion of Bob Ross!
Not like Magneto's team of mistifts were any different from the same morons they targeted for their revenge, they were simply more powerful... if anything, Magneto exemplifies the 'bullied = bully' thrope, which is just the best example you can imagine of a neverending circle of reardation.
Meh, I take Bob's angle to be just another self-empowerment fantasy. The idea that bullies are somehow intimidated by a nerds "superior" intellect or alternate vision is nonsense. They wouldn't pick on a nerd, no matter how geeky he/she was, if they happened to be six foot six and on the basket ball team.
Nerds are targeted because they are often physically weak, and that is it. A bully relies on their superior physicality to intimidate and exersize control over those who can't defend themselves. It is unfortunate, but it is primitive drive that has stayed with us from the days where we swung around in trees. The reason why there seems to be a lot of weak nerds is probably because the physical weakness encourages the guys/girls to endeavour in areas that do not require a physical expertise. You do not need to be a muscleman to gain an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Star Trek saga.
EDIT just occured to me that there is another issue with this vid. It talks about how media and entertainment demonise the "different" (i.e. intellectual) through portraying them as elitists and freaks etc. What about the portrayal of Jocks in movies? Are they not demonised as well? They always get portrayed as arrogant, boorish bullies who can't string two words together. The Deliverence portrayed Southern, unintelligent people as inbred, backwater hillbilly rapists. American Psycho satires the handsome young yuppies and entrepeneurs as ego driven pshycopaths.
Every social group gets demonised at some point, depending on who the story is about and who is writing the story. I always find the "anti-intellectualist" movement to be dubious, especially as the producers and writers of entertainment and media aren't exactly simpletons themselves.
Nerds are targeted because they are often physically weak, and that is it. A bully relies on their superior physicality to intimidate and exersize control over those who can't defend themselves. It is unfortunate, but it is primitive drive that has stayed with us from the days where we swung around in trees. The reason why there seems to be a lot of weak nerds is probably because the physical weakness encourages the guys/girls to endeavour in areas that do not require a physical expertise. You do not need to be a muscleman to gain an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Star Trek saga.
EDIT just occured to me that there is another issue with this vid. It talks about how media and entertainment demonise the "different" (i.e. intellectual) through portraying them as elitists and freaks etc. What about the portrayal of Jocks in movies? Are they not demonised as well? They always get portrayed as arrogant, boorish bullies who can't string two words together. The Deliverence portrayed Southern, unintelligent people as inbred, backwater hillbilly rapists. American Psycho satires the handsome young yuppies and entrepeneurs as ego driven pshycopaths.
Every social group gets demonised at some point, depending on who the story is about and who is writing the story. I always find the "anti-intellectualist" movement to be dubious, especially as the producers and writers of entertainment and media aren't exactly simpletons themselves.
I'd be in the "I will make good, but only if pay me really well" side of things, just like Deadpool.
There's another reason why Magneto is right anyway... technically, 'Homo Superior' isn't some kind of mutation (i.e. despite being called Mutant)... it's evolution.
Meaning that in the Marvel Universe (barring that whole House of M debacle), in a couple hundred years - the 'mutants' will be the majority. And Magneto, if history keeps his name around, will probably be seen as some kind of messianic figure.
Meaning that in the Marvel Universe (barring that whole House of M debacle), in a couple hundred years - the 'mutants' will be the majority. And Magneto, if history keeps his name around, will probably be seen as some kind of messianic figure.
An interesting look into our escapist reactions to bullying. I think really, perhaps unintentionally, you've hit on the very heart of bullying, when you get right down to it:MovieBob said:
Bullying is the act of forcing someone else to engage you in a domain in which you know you have the advantage, for the purposes of demonstrating your superiority and exerting control. This is often (but not always) fueled by frustration with an area of a person's life in which they feel inferior, or that control is being exerted over them. (NOTE: This is not intended to excuse bullying in any way)
The most overt and easy type of bullying is, of course, physical. Bigger kid picks on smaller kid. Why? Because bigger kid is better at... being bigger. So, big kid can force little kid to eat bugs and dirt, or take his lunch money. It is hard to counteract this type of bullying because:
1) It's easy to do. Just be bigger and/or stronger.
2) It requires little effort. There are plenty of readily-available targets to choose from.
3) It is hard for the target to escape.
(The only ways to address it are by avoidance, which is difficult in settings like school, or by meeting with like force. And, of course, the reason you were chosen as a target is because that is unlikely to go well for you.)
But there are other types of bullying, and all work the same way. You pick something you are good at doing. You pair yourself up with someone who is not good at it. You show them who's boss, forcing them to admit (by word or deed) your superiority.
Where the geek/nerd crowd meets with frustration is that it is far more difficult to force someone to engage you on an intellectual battlefield if they don't want to. Physically, you can block someone from leaving a room... but intellectually? It's just not as concrete. This promotes the feeling of powerlessness in the Geeks--they are forced to face their own inferiority in the physical domain, but are not given equal opportunity to demonstrate their superiority in the intellectual domain.
So instead, we concoct fantastical means by which our own advantages become translated into our "enemy's" domain. My brains become a proportionate amount of brawn, allowing me to "beat you at your own game," since I don't have the opportunity to beat you at mine. Of course, we also keep our brains, and we don't give our enemy the same fantastical exchange... which is why heroes are usually smart and strong, while villains are just one or the other.
A lot of the superhero mythos revolves around the struggle between Will and Force--or intellectual strength and physical strength. Pretty interesting stuff.
Cracked took an interesting approach to the villainy of humans through the first X-Men movie, the article itself is more aimed specifically at movie villains hence why it ignores the comics & animated features, but anyway;
The "villain": Headed by Senator Robert Kelly in the first X-Men movie, the Mutant Registration Side are the speciecist.. spesist... racist ... the jerks who demand a legislative bill forcing every super-powered individual in the country to register with the government. Just like the Jews in Nazi Germany!
Hold on a minute there:The Nazi analogy would probably work a lot better if real-life Jews could shoot boiling acid out of their assholes or level entire cities by blinking, which our Jewish friends assure us only Mossad agents can do. The X-Men mutants on the other hand actually can conjure up hurricanes, stop time, and completely alter a person's mind until he really believes that Flavor Flav is a reasonable and intelligent media personality. It seems perfectly understandable that some folks might want to keep tabs on such individuals. If they require licenses for concealed handguns, they should probably keep some of these guys on file too.
Then there's the argument that mutants are in control of their powers, hence why the registration in unnecessary. And what happens when they can't? As a human in the X-Men movies you constantly have to be on the lookout not only for the evil mutants who want to kill you, but also for the supposed "good guys" who are often in the process of accidentally killing you. In X-Men, Cyclops loses his protective goggles in a crowded train station and just starts straight fire-blasting with his Murder Vision uncontrollably, unable to handle his powers or discern between bad guys and random kids who happen to be in the same building. And he's the good guy! In X2, every human on the planet almost had their brains melted simultaneously by a mutant.
Obviously there is a thin line between cautious concern and downright mutant-prejudice but cut the civilians of the X-Men universe some slack. They live in constant fear, not knowing if the guy they just cut off on the freeway can explode their dick with his mind.
Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18417_the-lighter-side-dark-side-5-villains-who-were-good.html
The "villain": Headed by Senator Robert Kelly in the first X-Men movie, the Mutant Registration Side are the speciecist.. spesist... racist ... the jerks who demand a legislative bill forcing every super-powered individual in the country to register with the government. Just like the Jews in Nazi Germany!
Hold on a minute there:The Nazi analogy would probably work a lot better if real-life Jews could shoot boiling acid out of their assholes or level entire cities by blinking, which our Jewish friends assure us only Mossad agents can do. The X-Men mutants on the other hand actually can conjure up hurricanes, stop time, and completely alter a person's mind until he really believes that Flavor Flav is a reasonable and intelligent media personality. It seems perfectly understandable that some folks might want to keep tabs on such individuals. If they require licenses for concealed handguns, they should probably keep some of these guys on file too.
Then there's the argument that mutants are in control of their powers, hence why the registration in unnecessary. And what happens when they can't? As a human in the X-Men movies you constantly have to be on the lookout not only for the evil mutants who want to kill you, but also for the supposed "good guys" who are often in the process of accidentally killing you. In X-Men, Cyclops loses his protective goggles in a crowded train station and just starts straight fire-blasting with his Murder Vision uncontrollably, unable to handle his powers or discern between bad guys and random kids who happen to be in the same building. And he's the good guy! In X2, every human on the planet almost had their brains melted simultaneously by a mutant.
Obviously there is a thin line between cautious concern and downright mutant-prejudice but cut the civilians of the X-Men universe some slack. They live in constant fear, not knowing if the guy they just cut off on the freeway can explode their dick with his mind.
Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18417_the-lighter-side-dark-side-5-villains-who-were-good.html
there shuold be a 3rd side: one that is tolerant to the inferior humans, until they show intolerance, and then you kill them! BUT onley the intolerant ones!
on the other hand, if Magneto gives me that cool helmet (god i love that thing! don't realy know why) I'll be on whatever side he wants me to be...
on the other hand, if Magneto gives me that cool helmet (god i love that thing! don't realy know why) I'll be on whatever side he wants me to be...
Well Bob, then we are at odds. I'd be on the "good" side (good in quotations because I don't view Magneto's cause as inherently evil), since I feel their is an inherent beauty in the human condition that should be preserved and grown.
I'd just be in the "leave me alone" team, probably. Trying to hide among the normal humans (if I could blend in), using my powers for selfish, but insignificant things, and just try to live.
I'm pretty sure I know why I was bullied. I was always alone, not interested in social activities, and thus didn't have any supportive group around me. Also my social skills sucked, and I was told later that people thought I was mean, which I never tried to be. I was just honest with people, and couldn't ever remember their names or faces (humans kinda look the same to me) or really understand the social things.
And once you got the reputation that you were mean and looked down on people, they would just interpret anything as me being mean.
Some bullies were, not afraid of my intellect, but feeling inferior, but that was just a part of their motivation, and not all did it because of that.
I'm pretty sure one who made my life hell had a crush on me.
Isn't the mutant-gene (or whatever makes you a "mutant") something that spontaniously happens in the offspring? And that even if everyone who is a mutant or carries the gene would be killed (or wouldn't breed), there would still be more mutants?
The biology of this confuses me.
BTW, as far as mutants go, you are a mutant, I am a mutant. Everyone has mutations in their genome. Most mutations don't do much, of course.
I'm pretty sure I know why I was bullied. I was always alone, not interested in social activities, and thus didn't have any supportive group around me. Also my social skills sucked, and I was told later that people thought I was mean, which I never tried to be. I was just honest with people, and couldn't ever remember their names or faces (humans kinda look the same to me) or really understand the social things.
And once you got the reputation that you were mean and looked down on people, they would just interpret anything as me being mean.
Some bullies were, not afraid of my intellect, but feeling inferior, but that was just a part of their motivation, and not all did it because of that.
I'm pretty sure one who made my life hell had a crush on me.
Yes, evolution works very differently in Marvel universe than it does in ours. Has it ever been explained how it works, exactly? From what I've read, it seems there must be some intelligence guiding it (which realistically there is, it being a comic book), and I think there are god-like entities in that world?Tarkand said:
Isn't the mutant-gene (or whatever makes you a "mutant") something that spontaniously happens in the offspring? And that even if everyone who is a mutant or carries the gene would be killed (or wouldn't breed), there would still be more mutants?
The biology of this confuses me.
BTW, as far as mutants go, you are a mutant, I am a mutant. Everyone has mutations in their genome. Most mutations don't do much, of course.
I won't hide behind this one. I'm with Magneto. Everytime. I remember watching the X-Men when I was young and wonder why Xavier and his team worked so hard to defend the very people who have cast them out of society. Magneto had it right, they don't deserve sympathy, compassion, they deserve what's coming to them.
But in the wider philosophical questions that come out of it are whether, if you or someone else is superior (physically, mentally, or both) than the average human should you use that power to for yourself, and rule over the rest, or should you use it to help the greater good? More importantly, should you do the latter even if you've been treated like shit by the rest of the world? The thing is you might end up turning into the very thing you despise.
I know what the right thing is, but honestly, there would be hell to pay if I were a mutant
.
But in the wider philosophical questions that come out of it are whether, if you or someone else is superior (physically, mentally, or both) than the average human should you use that power to for yourself, and rule over the rest, or should you use it to help the greater good? More importantly, should you do the latter even if you've been treated like shit by the rest of the world? The thing is you might end up turning into the very thing you despise.
I know what the right thing is, but honestly, there would be hell to pay if I were a mutant
.