Mutant-phobia: a Savage Hypocrisy

[Chris Wallace]

How can the citizenry of the Marvel Universe hate & fear mutants when they have no problem w/people like the Fantastic Four? They can embrace someone like Mr. Fantastic or the HUMAN FREAKIN' TORCHsimply because he wasn't born that way? And what about the Avengers? It's okay to shrink down, sprout wings out of your back & shoot electric bolts, as long as you came by these abilities by artificial means? Or how about Ms. Marvel? Or Captain Marvel, who was a freakin' alien! But they celebrated him & mourned his death. Hell, in the wrong hands Iron Man's technology can be far more dangerous than 1,000 mutants. Nobody minds that Thor & Hercules are walking around but they're wary of Storm & Colossus. What's the difference between summoning lightning with your hands & doing it with a hammer?
Then there are the mutants who actually do cause trouble-who are so few & far between, if not for the occasional alien invasion or anti-mutant activist group the X-Men could probably disband. The REAL threats to mankind are by & large people like Juggernaut, or the wrecking crew. I personally would be more afraid of a guy in a metal mask who calls himself Dr. Doom than I ever would of a guy who calls himself Magneto.
It makes no sense.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Actually brought that up 3 times on the site. Once was in a Spidey thread. It's very strange.

 

[roach]

I think the big fear of mutants comes from the fact that they will phase humanity out as the primary life form on earth. Humans are greedy and inconsiderate beings. Once humans go to being secondary citizens what is to prevent mutants from doing to them what they did to the animals. Sure the FF and Avengers have powers but at no time in the future are they gonna replace humanity.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Don't get me started on Spider-Man, who's trusted by every one of their beloved superhero organizations & yet people still believe Jameson's B.S.!

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

I believe that's what the thread was about, actually...how heroes could praise him one moment, then believe somethin' bad the next and try to take him down. Or somethin'.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I think the big fear of mutants comes from the fact that they will phase humanity out as the primary life form on earth. Humans are greedy and inconsiderate beings. Once humans go to being secondary citizens what is to prevent mutants from doing to them what they did to the animals. Sure the FF and Avengers have powers but at no time in the future are they gonna replace humanity.

The big problem w/that is that it mainly boils down to initial reaction. "Oh, look-a guy flying around on fire! A guy w/a huge hammer that nobody can lift! Let's shower them with praise!"
"Look-it's a black woman with white hair! Stone her!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
And who's to say that the fire-guy & the guy who's supposedly a PRINCE OF THE GODS wouldn't snuff out or enslave humanity?

 

[Wyrminarrd]

This difference is not really all that strange.


It´s a lot harder to accept mutants since the neighbor down the street might be one and have the power to peer through walls while you shower (or something like that). I´ve always thought that the anti-mutant sentiment revolved around the general concept of mutants rather then specific ones (other then known criminals like Magneto of course).

Superheroes are a known quantity and there really isn´t likely that other people will just happen to get the heroes powers. This makes accepting them a lot easier and people do get to know each of them fairly well which also reduces hostility.

As for Iron Man´s suit, I think people in general think the tech is pretty safe from criminal hands since not even the US military can get their hands on it

 

[Chris Wallace]

Did you read the events leading up to him running for Secretary of Defense? Did you read the story back in the early 90's in which Iron Man himself turned evil? Have you ever heard of Arno Stark?

 

[Wyrminarrd]

Did you read the events leading up to him running for Secretary of Defense? Did you read the story back in the early 90's in which Iron Man himself turned evil? Have you ever heard of Arno Stark?

Fraid I don´t know Iron man that well, never interested me.

 

[Darthphere]

I think the big fear of mutants comes from the fact that they will phase humanity out as the primary life form on earth. Humans are greedy and inconsiderate beings. Once humans go to being secondary citizens what is to prevent mutants from doing to them what they did to the animals. Sure the FF and Avengers have powers but at no time in the future are they gonna replace humanity.

Pretty much.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I believe that's what the thread was about, actually...how heroes could praise him one moment, then believe somethin' bad the next and try to take him down. Or somethin'.

The Spider-Man hypocrisy is another matter for another thread. Besides, if we delve too far into it then Marvel's gross mishandling of this once-awesome character will be brought up, & I don't wanna discuss that on this thread.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Fraid I don´t know Iron man that well, never interested me.

Well, my point is, his technology can and has fallen into evil hands. If you wanna get technical, Doom's tech is at least on par with his, so that's another pari of evil hands that has access to it.

 

[The Question]

It's not hypocracy. The FF were, at one time, human beings. People can say "hey, they're still one of us." It's much easyer to outcast a group of people who were born different than it is for people who, through an accident of some kind, became different.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

It all boils down to uncertainty. People hate not being able to know if the people they interact with everyday are capable of blasting them away with lasers from their eyes. Making this even worse is that you have absolutely no idea what powers a mutant might have, can he walk through walls? Read your mind? Control your mind? Makes it very hard to trust them.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Why aren't people picketing Dr. Strange? He can do those 3 things & then some. Who knows what he's cooking up in that weird house of his?

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Dude, it WAS a thread. T'hell you think I been talkin' about all this time?!

 

[Wyrminarrd]

Why aren't people picketing Dr. Strange? He can do those 3 things & then some. Who knows what he's cooking up in that weird house of his?

Because it´s known who he is, this isn´t just some guy down the street. The more you know about a person the less you fear him (provided that he is a good person).

It´s not just the powers, it´s the not knowing that drives the hate.

 

[Norman Osborn]

Why aren't people picketing Dr. Strange? He can do those 3 things & then some. Who knows what he's cooking up in that weird house of his?

Anti-mutant mentality is like any other prejudice in the Marvel or any other Universe.....indefensible.....

I've yet to hear a compelling argument as to why some self-proclaimed "Christians" can hate Jews when their beloved Jesus was king of the Jews??....and I never will.....prejudice = ignorance and to look for rationale within the confines of said prejudice...of any prejudice... is about as productive as looking for the Bread aisle at the local Home Depot!

 

[Chris Wallace]

It's not hypocracy. The FF were, at one time, human beings. People can say "hey, they're still one of us." It's much easyer to outcast a group of people who were born different than it is for people who, through an accident of some kind, became different.

"One of us"? How do you look at THIS & say he's "one of us"?
And mutants are still human beings. If not, then 2 humans couldn't produce one. And since two mutants can even produce a completely normal human child (Graydon Creed), you can't say they're not human.

 

[The Question]

"One of us"? How do you look at THIS & say he's "one of us"?

Because he was, at one time, a human being.

And mutants are still human beings. If not, then 2 humans couldn't produce one. And since two mutants can even produce a completely normal human child (Graydon Creed), you can't say they're not human.

Dude. You're thinking logically when trying to understand the mentality of racists. Racism, by it's very nature, is illogical. Because mutants were born the way they were, the FOH types see them as not human.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Actually if ya remember people aren't as warm to the Thing as the rest of the FF.

 

[Darthphere]

The main thing is, how do people distinguish a mutant from a person who just got his or her powers.

 

[The Question]

Most people who are mutated in any way are simply mutant. There are very few mutated individuals who got that way through an accident or experiment of some kind. At least, compared to the rest of the population. Besides, the FOH guys usually just wail on kids who were born with six fingers or something like that.

 

[Chris Wallace]

The main thing is, how do people distinguish a mutant from a person who just got his or her powers.

And as usual, you've found the core purpose of this thread.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Most people who are mutated in any way are simply mutant. There are very few mutated individuals who got that way through an accident or experiment of some kind. At least, compared to the rest of the population. Besides, the FOH guys usually just wail on kids who were born with six fingers or something like that.

In the JLA/Avengers crossover, weren't the FOH about to lynch a kid who just turned out to have a skin disease or something?