Working for the government in the covert sector, one meets lots of folks and makes friends with folks from all age groups. Sitting across from me here in my office is Captain America, aka Steve Rogers.
"Captain America how are you doing sir. Last reports had you being eliminated."
"I've been better. I'm unemployed, and before that I was unappreciated and underpaid, so I guess I am just tracking the typical US citizen these days."
"What do you think about where comics are going these days?"
"This is a loaded question. You've caught me at a rather cynical point in my career, and I'm not sure I could answer your questions without letting this cynicism taint my comments."
"Go ahead, America deserves to hear your point of view. You're an American. You're out of work, what do you have to lose?"
"You know, you're right. I've sat on the sidelines as I watched my country belittled by guys who like to draw men in tights, it's about time I spoke my peace.
I'm an oldtimer. I remember when you didn't have to explain the phrase 'moms and apple pie' - folks knew this was a reference to America, a nation built around strong families and respect for the people who care for you. In the forties, when I started working, my job was to act as a symbol for all that Americans held dear. Today these things are no longer held as dear by the masses, especially by the cartoonist community.
It's no longer the family, its a family unit. Not a mom and dad, but a structure that acts as a repository for raising a kid. By today's standards a mom and a daycare center are a family unit. A dad, a DVD player and Nickelodeon or two moms an adopted child and a sense of entitlement - All these are family units too and it's messing up this great nation."
"Wait a sec there Cap..you're going to be accused of homophobia. And what's worse the angry e-mails will be flooding my inbox. You want to clarify?"
"That's just it, isn't it? When did America become so cowardly, they can't speak the truth? When did we have to call illegal immigrants, undocumented workers? Or worse, have a President who claims these law-breaking folks are here to help America instead of taking American jobs and food from hard-working Americans? When did such outright, bald-faced lies become acceptable? Why on Earth do we have to call broken families a family? Single mothers and fathers are a fact of life, but a family, by my definition, is a mom and a dad and their children. I know, you'll get a lot of hate-mail for me speaking my mind. I do appreciate this forum and a chance to speak my mind without being edited or words shoved into text balloons above my likeness, by effete creative types who like drawing bulges and indoctrinating children."
"Hey, you're on a roll Cap' my e-mail will be overflowing, so you might as well continue and get it out of your system."
"Thanks SDAI-Tech1, I will. Comics used to be about entertainment. Now, they are all too often about indoctrinating young minds and turning them into pathological folks numb to the worst forms of violence. What place is there for a guy whose weapon is a shield in a world where sicko cartoonists like to draw blood splashing across a panel? Where does Captain America fit in today? In a world where America has been belittled, demeaned and targeted by communists, socialists and globalists whose agenda is to destroy personal liberty, freedom, in the name of a 'greater' good. I'm not the only superhero whose beliefs annoy the gosh-darn out of the folks charged with writing comic stories about them, over at DC, Superman has been unable to say 'Truth, Justice and the American Way' for some time now. When a character can't even say their tagline, you know you're in trouble. They grew his hair long, tried to make him palatable for the selfish-pierced-low-self-worth crowd who they felt were reading comics, but it didn't work so they killed him off too angering some older folks, then brought him back, making money all the while.
The whole Marvel 'civil war' thing was a total farce. Written by folks who detest America and all it stands for and see a police-state where none exists, who see autocracy in the land of the free and who really missed their calling as propaganda writers for Joseph Stalin. They grew up, taught by a leftist dominated US educational system that now teaches conservation, globalism, multi-culturalism and America doubting. In their world America is a dirty word. More than one of them referred to me as 'Captain expletive' as they wrote my story. They think I don't hear them, but I DO."
"Wow. You really let er rip their Cap. You got anything else?"
"Sure. It's been going downhill for a long time. You may remember back in the seventies I was teamed up with Falcon? Well Falcon was African-American and he was fine, but I knew then and there that my title was being appropriated by the 'politically correct'. In the seventies and eighties you saw a lot of that contrived coupling going on in the entertainment industry; Silver Streak, Lethal Weapon just off the top of my head and you know who Falcon hated? He hated the comic book character 'Chuck Clayton' from Archie. I remember well when he tore into him at a comic convention back around 1975. 'Added Color' he always called him. 'What does Chuck do? Is he a brain like Dilton? Does he love girls like Archie? Is a dumb jock like Moose? Is he conceited like Reggie? No,he's a nice guy. Never does anything mean, selfish, or have anything resembling a personality. Why? because he's black and the Archie writers are a bunch of worthless, spineless jellyfish.' That's why Falcon called him 'AC' whenever they met. Chuck told him off at a San Diego Comicon, I can't remember the year 'look in the mirror' he shouted, 'You think you're Bucky? Think again. You're me - you're the superhero version of Chuck Clayton'. And what's more, Chuck was right and Falcon knew it. Falcon was never the same after that. He developed an attitude and knew when the PC winds changed he would be gone, replaced by the next PC flavor of the month. 'One day your partner will be a crippled, bald, same-sex-oriented Japanese woman and you'll look back on our partnership as the good ol' days'. Falcon was prophetic, he knew better than anyone, how certain 'creative types' use entertainment mediums to indoctrinate the young and push their agenda. He just had the details wrong. Now, if my name were Captain Mexico and I were the champion of illegal border crossers who beats up 'coyotes', 'racist rednecks' and waves the red, green and white instead of the red, white and blue - I'd have a solid job for the next two hundred years. But as it stands I'm pure poison to all too many of the 'creative types' of today."
Captain America sits silent, and after a moment looks down at the floor.
"Cap, you still have more? Or is this a wrap?"
He slowly raises his head and looks up at me. He looks me in the eye and I see that he is truly Captain America, because his pain is America's pain.
"I have more, lots more, but I'm done for now."
"Well thank you Cap' I appreciate it."
"You know why they call me that right?"
"Call you what?"
"Cap - you just called me Cap."
"Yeah, I did didn't I?"
"Yeah, they started doing that so they wouldn't have to spell out Captain America all the time. Saying America aloud burned their tongues and spelling it out busted their pens."
I watch as Captain America looks off into the distance, past me and at the US Flag that sits in my office.
"You don't know what it's like to have folks who despise you, write and draw you. All the subtle degradations, the digs, the back-handed compliments they work into the scripts. And then as folks with bigger agendas than pandering to the common denominator came along they twisted words and put them in text bubbles over my head to try and make others hate America. That, that was the worst. But it's over now. I'm actually glad. Now I can speak for myself."
"Thank you, Captain America. And I really mean it - Thank You."
He nods, picks up his shield and walks out of my office with an honest dignity you don't see much these days. Now I have to consult the lawyers, the PR types and my Japanese Syndicate to make sure I don't find myself out of a job as well...
scc
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Lucky Flew Home
Shay-la sits across the room, on the floor. Her body exercises are unusual and remind me of yoga, but more graceful and refined. She reads my thoughts and we converse normally now, non-verbally almost all the time. I now react to each thought and it is strange to 'feel' someone caress you with their mind and thoughts.
To say that she has opened up a whole new world for me, would be the understatement of a lifetime. I realize now that the best parts of my day revolve around interactions with her. And on her homeworld, where such communication is normal, I now realize she can communicate across time and space and reach her family, friends and work associates just as easily as she reaches me. My skills, thanks to her tutelage, are increasing. I can now read almost any one's mind. The cacophony of thoughts in a crowd can quickly become unbearable unless I put up certain mental shielding. I have kept many of my newfound abilities from the Agency, as Shay-la has. I realize that revealing such would only serve to discomfort many and possibly jeopardize lots of things.
She walks over to me and raises her hands, her palm faced outwards. I raise mine and place them a few inches from hers. I feel the energy flow and can now watch as our auras interface, reaching out towards each other and strengthening our fields. This is the way close friends greet on her world. It's closer than a hug and more energizing as well.
Shay-la reads my mind and sees that I am a bit distraught.
A small, baby bird died quietly yesterday. Its name was Lucky. The name was given to it by a small girl, who lives in the neighborhood and who found it in the clutches of a cat. She nursed it and built a box nest for it, but Lucky flew home and left his injured body behind. She was very sad and buried the bird in the garden. She cried as she patted down the soil. I tried to explain that Lucky was better off, freed of the injured body and that now he could be reborn again, healthy and fly strong and high.
But she was still sad and seeing her sad, saddened me. I could feel her thoughts and emotions and her sense of loss was palpable. She loved Lucky, even though she only knew him for a few short hours.
Shay-la singles out this birds frequency, merely from my thoughts, and she shows me how to listen for it.
I hear Lucky chirping. It is unmistakable. Lucky is alive and well in some dimension I can't quite define, a dimension which Shay-la can access simply because she has a mastery over attenuation of her mental thought frequencies.
Lucky's chirps can still be heard and he wanted to thank the young girl who tried so hard to save him.
I know I may never be able to teach this girl how to hear Lucky sing, but Shay-la has helped me return to equilibrium.
And what about you...can you hear Lucky chirping?
To say that she has opened up a whole new world for me, would be the understatement of a lifetime. I realize now that the best parts of my day revolve around interactions with her. And on her homeworld, where such communication is normal, I now realize she can communicate across time and space and reach her family, friends and work associates just as easily as she reaches me. My skills, thanks to her tutelage, are increasing. I can now read almost any one's mind. The cacophony of thoughts in a crowd can quickly become unbearable unless I put up certain mental shielding. I have kept many of my newfound abilities from the Agency, as Shay-la has. I realize that revealing such would only serve to discomfort many and possibly jeopardize lots of things.
She walks over to me and raises her hands, her palm faced outwards. I raise mine and place them a few inches from hers. I feel the energy flow and can now watch as our auras interface, reaching out towards each other and strengthening our fields. This is the way close friends greet on her world. It's closer than a hug and more energizing as well.
Shay-la reads my mind and sees that I am a bit distraught.
A small, baby bird died quietly yesterday. Its name was Lucky. The name was given to it by a small girl, who lives in the neighborhood and who found it in the clutches of a cat. She nursed it and built a box nest for it, but Lucky flew home and left his injured body behind. She was very sad and buried the bird in the garden. She cried as she patted down the soil. I tried to explain that Lucky was better off, freed of the injured body and that now he could be reborn again, healthy and fly strong and high.
But she was still sad and seeing her sad, saddened me. I could feel her thoughts and emotions and her sense of loss was palpable. She loved Lucky, even though she only knew him for a few short hours.
Shay-la singles out this birds frequency, merely from my thoughts, and she shows me how to listen for it.
I hear Lucky chirping. It is unmistakable. Lucky is alive and well in some dimension I can't quite define, a dimension which Shay-la can access simply because she has a mastery over attenuation of her mental thought frequencies.
Lucky's chirps can still be heard and he wanted to thank the young girl who tried so hard to save him.
I know I may never be able to teach this girl how to hear Lucky sing, but Shay-la has helped me return to equilibrium.
And what about you...can you hear Lucky chirping?
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Assaulting Popular Culture (PC) Yet Again! Shrek 3!
Shrecklich is German for horrible or frightening. Shrek 3, the movie is coming out on May 18, but already the series is worthy of an assault because its message is indeed frightening and destructive to those who accept it, when you pull away the layers of feel good syrup and slapstick.
Many folks will want to believe that the folks who penned Shrek belong to that noble underclass, and believe those transparent sentiments they so blatantly knock the viewers over the head with are their true ideals. That's the masses prerogative.
Quite the opposite is true though.
The screenwriter with his/her finger on the pulse of the masses can always churn out material that exploits and panders to their tastes, beliefs and frustrations.
The Disney era is over. The sentiments Walt tried to further are now outmoded and poisonous to present entitlement generation mindsets.
Shrek poses as a champion of all the little people or in this case is the ultimate champion of diversity. Talking jackasses are really where its at! Fairy godmothers are really evil. Shrek's ugliness is now revealed to be beauty, his coarseness and orgiastic farting revealed to be a sign of a superior "lifestyle choice". The kids all love him as he is his own Ogre/Troll and answers to no one, especially not the rich, "beautiful" folks who live in castles - who, naturally, are evil. Which is to say all who value traditional beauty and excellence are obviously mean, cruel and self-absorbed.
It is a Bolshevik/PC fairy tale come to life. I won't bore you with an Andrew Lang-esque collection of tales which precede this one, which share similar underclass glorification/ happy endings and which have really been written as a form of pacification by those very same castle dwelling folks you and others are being conditioned to despise.
The message is simple. Manners are obsolete, cursing and griping are 'real'. 'Traditional' beauty is also obsolete and now must conform to the tastes of the superior underclass, which has the "real" insight on what's beautiful.
The viewer says to himself/herself:
"Hey, Shrek and I are kindred spirits! I fart, curse and live in a humble hovel - I am really beautiful, a hero, like Shrek!"
And 100,000,000 other undiscriminating viewers/children think the exact same carefully engineered thought simultaneously. Everyone's a hero and all they have to do is despise the rich, champion diversity and conform to anti-conformity - what a piece of cake!
Again a subtle form of pacification. No need to strive for excellence as excellence, along with beauty, are objectionable as are all those old fashioned traditional cultural ideals. Besides it's easy to look in the mirror and say "Hey, I'm perfect!".
Someone, who doesn't care for my ideas, once likened me to the evil guy in The animated film The Incredibles.
That's one of the few kids' movies with a throwback message. I actually LIKE The Incredibles. The Incredibles is a throwback animation flick, because it presents a 100% diametrically opposed message to Shrek.
When the superheroes are forced to live "normal" lives. Their abilities must be suppressed for the "good of the masses" who find their abilities, excellence, beauty and goodness, objectionable.
"When everyone is special, no one is" is the message of The Incredibles.
Shrek's message is exactly that: "Everyone is special".
Without hardly looking the message underneath is the same old Bolshevik message of "Universal equality for everyone but the rich" a far cry from the American vision of "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise."
That's why Shrek is garbage. It's a pacifier. It tells the viewer they need not seek excellence or work to improve themselves but instead that they are all already 'special', better than the rich, better than the beautiful - and more importantly that the world should really conform to them!
Shrek (the poor persecuted troll) by his refusal to conform, destroys the oppressive world of beauty and castles and the world is remade in HIS image - the 'ogre' image. He is 'empowered' now. This message is encapsulated by Fiona's choice to throw away her 'traditional' beauty for superior ogre/troll beauty. AH! She has joined the Proletariat! Good for her!
You see that is the underlying lie concealed in the whole series, namely that Shrek's happiness was unobtainable as long as Fiona held to her own looks. To make the troll happy she had to look like a troll herself. Translation for those who didn't quite catch it after two whole movies of it being shoved at you: old ways of thinking need to be abandoned. The typical filmgoer doesn't quite catch that contradiction - namely that Shrek is JUST as shallow as the evil Prince and seeks an ideal that conforms to HIS standards. in fact, he is WORSE because he is also a hypocrite!
Meanwhile, the writers, directors, actors - the very embodiment of the castle-dweller types - don't believe a word of it, because they just want to cash in on the gullibility of hundreds of millions viewers by telling them exactly what they want to hear - not what is actually good for them. They reach into the pockets of the very masses while they pat them on the heads and pacify their numerous insecurities.
It's bound to appeal to hundreds of millions of kids and adults all over the world who want and need such pacification and ego reinforcement - and are willing to pay for it. And unfortunately, for the world Shrek 3 will be more of the same, a fairy tale whose glass slipper is marked 'one size fits all' for all those whose behavior, looks and manners were more stepsister than Cinderella.
Ironically, the folks who ARE looking out for others best interests are the anathema to the masses and the ones who couldn't give a rat's behind about them are celebrated and money is showered upon them. The truth is everyone is "special" but everyone is not equal. Everyone can use improvement - even the special folks. Accepting the status quo and being taught to believe 'diversity' is a synonym for superiority, is not healthy for your own development. Never accept a pacifier that leads to reinforcement of unhealthy habits.
The entire Shrek series is living proof the villains (or in this case perhaps trolls of society) do prosper from their actions and win in the end.
But, yeah, yeah I know...you and your kids just LOVED IT!
(Most of this article appeared originally in another forum)
Many folks will want to believe that the folks who penned Shrek belong to that noble underclass, and believe those transparent sentiments they so blatantly knock the viewers over the head with are their true ideals. That's the masses prerogative.
Quite the opposite is true though.
The screenwriter with his/her finger on the pulse of the masses can always churn out material that exploits and panders to their tastes, beliefs and frustrations.
The Disney era is over. The sentiments Walt tried to further are now outmoded and poisonous to present entitlement generation mindsets.
Shrek poses as a champion of all the little people or in this case is the ultimate champion of diversity. Talking jackasses are really where its at! Fairy godmothers are really evil. Shrek's ugliness is now revealed to be beauty, his coarseness and orgiastic farting revealed to be a sign of a superior "lifestyle choice". The kids all love him as he is his own Ogre/Troll and answers to no one, especially not the rich, "beautiful" folks who live in castles - who, naturally, are evil. Which is to say all who value traditional beauty and excellence are obviously mean, cruel and self-absorbed.
It is a Bolshevik/PC fairy tale come to life. I won't bore you with an Andrew Lang-esque collection of tales which precede this one, which share similar underclass glorification/ happy endings and which have really been written as a form of pacification by those very same castle dwelling folks you and others are being conditioned to despise.
The message is simple. Manners are obsolete, cursing and griping are 'real'. 'Traditional' beauty is also obsolete and now must conform to the tastes of the superior underclass, which has the "real" insight on what's beautiful.
The viewer says to himself/herself:
"Hey, Shrek and I are kindred spirits! I fart, curse and live in a humble hovel - I am really beautiful, a hero, like Shrek!"
And 100,000,000 other undiscriminating viewers/children think the exact same carefully engineered thought simultaneously. Everyone's a hero and all they have to do is despise the rich, champion diversity and conform to anti-conformity - what a piece of cake!
Again a subtle form of pacification. No need to strive for excellence as excellence, along with beauty, are objectionable as are all those old fashioned traditional cultural ideals. Besides it's easy to look in the mirror and say "Hey, I'm perfect!".
Someone, who doesn't care for my ideas, once likened me to the evil guy in The animated film The Incredibles.
That's one of the few kids' movies with a throwback message. I actually LIKE The Incredibles. The Incredibles is a throwback animation flick, because it presents a 100% diametrically opposed message to Shrek.
When the superheroes are forced to live "normal" lives. Their abilities must be suppressed for the "good of the masses" who find their abilities, excellence, beauty and goodness, objectionable.
"When everyone is special, no one is" is the message of The Incredibles.
Shrek's message is exactly that: "Everyone is special".
Without hardly looking the message underneath is the same old Bolshevik message of "Universal equality for everyone but the rich" a far cry from the American vision of "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise."
That's why Shrek is garbage. It's a pacifier. It tells the viewer they need not seek excellence or work to improve themselves but instead that they are all already 'special', better than the rich, better than the beautiful - and more importantly that the world should really conform to them!
Shrek (the poor persecuted troll) by his refusal to conform, destroys the oppressive world of beauty and castles and the world is remade in HIS image - the 'ogre' image. He is 'empowered' now. This message is encapsulated by Fiona's choice to throw away her 'traditional' beauty for superior ogre/troll beauty. AH! She has joined the Proletariat! Good for her!
You see that is the underlying lie concealed in the whole series, namely that Shrek's happiness was unobtainable as long as Fiona held to her own looks. To make the troll happy she had to look like a troll herself. Translation for those who didn't quite catch it after two whole movies of it being shoved at you: old ways of thinking need to be abandoned. The typical filmgoer doesn't quite catch that contradiction - namely that Shrek is JUST as shallow as the evil Prince and seeks an ideal that conforms to HIS standards. in fact, he is WORSE because he is also a hypocrite!
Meanwhile, the writers, directors, actors - the very embodiment of the castle-dweller types - don't believe a word of it, because they just want to cash in on the gullibility of hundreds of millions viewers by telling them exactly what they want to hear - not what is actually good for them. They reach into the pockets of the very masses while they pat them on the heads and pacify their numerous insecurities.
It's bound to appeal to hundreds of millions of kids and adults all over the world who want and need such pacification and ego reinforcement - and are willing to pay for it. And unfortunately, for the world Shrek 3 will be more of the same, a fairy tale whose glass slipper is marked 'one size fits all' for all those whose behavior, looks and manners were more stepsister than Cinderella.
Ironically, the folks who ARE looking out for others best interests are the anathema to the masses and the ones who couldn't give a rat's behind about them are celebrated and money is showered upon them. The truth is everyone is "special" but everyone is not equal. Everyone can use improvement - even the special folks. Accepting the status quo and being taught to believe 'diversity' is a synonym for superiority, is not healthy for your own development. Never accept a pacifier that leads to reinforcement of unhealthy habits.
The entire Shrek series is living proof the villains (or in this case perhaps trolls of society) do prosper from their actions and win in the end.
But, yeah, yeah I know...you and your kids just LOVED IT!
(Most of this article appeared originally in another forum)
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