Friday, October 27, 2006

Marvel Comics' Civil War and politics

I've been through a few "discussions" about Marvel's Civil War storyline and gone on a few rants. A lot of my ranting and raving has focussed on it purely as a comic storyline but during a disagreement I had with some fellow readers online it turned more and more political. For me to type up all the points raised would take too long but the point that has me the most upset at the moment is this...

The government's passing of the registration allows them to force any one they deem to be worthy to sign up. Signing up forces them to become agents of the government. Simply to refuse to sign up is enough to warrant your arrest (with force) and shipping you off without any legal recourse to the Negative Zone (a trip which could lead you to go insane and possibly kill yourself) until you either die or agree to sign. Also, they are free to detain anyone who they think might be withholding information for as long as they like again, without any legal recourse by that person (as they do with a journalist during the storyline).

Yes, it echoes much of what's going on in real life but taken to the next level I believe. After bringing up the issues of the government having the power to simply pick and choose any of its citizens to be put under their control and refusal to do so or simply being suspected of withholding any information relevant to someone they deem of interest puts you behind bars for life (or worse if you're one of the unlucky ones in the Negative Zone) the retort from the other side is "So, the real government does stuff like this all the time. This would be a good thing."

If that attitude doesn't make you worry then I guess I'm just not normal. I've argued with them and ranted until I was blue in the face and I think I'm done with it because they obviously won't see my side. But I just had to rant one more time. :)

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