The Four Color Media Monitor: CBR's Brett White thinks diversity is far more crucial than good writing

The CBR contributor Brett White has fawned over the new Muslim character in the role of Ms. Marvel, and he says:

Contestants on "Check Your Privilege" are exclusively angry comic book fans hailing from the town of Yesterday who describe their favorite hobbies as buying comics that make them angry, trolling and just generally "bein' a hater." They have a tenuous grasp on gender and global politics -- a fact that only makes them yell louder -- and their life's ambition is "upping their snark game." This week's "Check Your Privilege" grand prize is the knowledge that you'll eventually have to explain your Internet presence to your ashamed children and watch popular opinion leave you behind! Now, let's play the "Privilege!"

This sounds like an attempt to obscure the real issues at hand, and maybe he should look at himself in the mirror to see who's got the tenuous grip.

This is a game that we thankfully -- yes, thankfully -- play with regularity nowadays. I say thankfully because that means that comic book companies are actually shaking things up from the status quo they've been operating under since the '60s. Marvel Comics has particularly shown a commitment to diversity that puts the competition to shame. Miles Morales, Captain Marvel, the all-female "X-Men" team and "Mighty Avengers" are just a few of the big initiatives that have gone a long way to make the 616 universe a much more inclusive place. Now we can add Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel, to the list. And no matter how angry I'm sure people are in every comment thread on the Internet, it's the right move.

Adding a Pakistani to the list, yes, but a Muslim, no. Definitely not without being honest and transparent about the core beliefs of the Religion of Peace, which he hasn't referenced any more than any other mainstream news outlet.

He's also making a fool of himself by boasting about diversity while showing a disinterest in whether Marvel's shown a commitment to good storytelling. And by whitewashing the Religion of Peace, they're not. And how can this be diverse if they won't create Pakistani Christians and other non-Muslim protagonists as leads?

With Kamala Khan, the daughter of Pakistani immigrants living in Jersey City, Marvel Comics has shown yet again that it wants to include groups of the American population that have yet to be personally inspired by their heroes. Unlike previous Muslim superheroes, like Monet from "X-Factor," or Dust from various teen X-Books, the new Ms. Marvel has her own ongoing series and will bear a very prominent superhero moniker, one previously owned by Carol Danvers.

I'm not sure how just instantly launching a new character in her own starring book these days without even testing the waters to see if she'd become popular with a wide audience makes for good strategy. Birds of Prey only became an ongoing series after the success of a number of miniseries/specials that preceded it. And there's questions to be raised about whether most Muslims actually consider Marvel's heroes an inspiration. Yes, there may be some Muslims who actually read the creations of a company that was founded by Jews, but how many, really? And how many of them even develop respect for the racial background of the founders? White proceeds to say:

As a white dude, I can't really imagine the joy that the entire Muslim and/or Pakistani readership felt yesterday when they learned that after years of Marvel fandom they'd finally gotten a leading character of their own. But also as a white dude, I can't really imagine what's happening in the brains of other white dudes that makes them take to comment threads and partake in a round of "Check Your Privilege." What's going on, guys?

I'll address the haters for a bit: So "Ms. Marvel" won't feature a protagonist that looks like you. This is not a bad thing. It's not like they're taking away one of the white male books to make room for "Ms. Marvel"; Marvel didn't say, "We were going to keep 'Daredevil' going but 'Ms. Marvel's' taking his spot!" This book is not affecting your comic book buying habits at all. The only way it will is if you buy it, which -- maybe you should. This anger you're showing, hater, shows a fundamental lack of empathy and understanding for people that don't look like you. Isn't it crazy how comic books can bring this out of people? Yeah, it's true! Us white dudes find it super hard to understand the importance of having heroes that look like you or come where you come from because there are thousands of white male protagonists in all of fiction. Muslim readers now get one leading character in all of comicdom; chill out and be excited.

And I'll address this leftist apologist for a bit. Since when did I ask that the protagonist actually be like myself? What really offends me is that a religion whose beliefs include violence towards women is presented in a whitewashed POV without acknowledging its darkest corridors. And since the new girl doesn't dress exactly in the way a lot of totalitarian Muslim regimes do, I'm not sure the entire Muslim readership - assuming there even is one - will really care. Some might not even support having a girl protagonist rather than a boy at all.

I find it facinating he's being so distorting: without providing any clear evidence, he claims "haters" are against having a title with a woman in the lead. Absolutely not. Those of us with common sense do find it objectionable, however, to give a false portrait of a violent religion. Something he must be too scared to acknowledge. And why does he act as though a lot of the world's Muslims aren't white too?

And he's not the least bit disappointed that the new Ms. Marvel isn't of a more challenging background like Romanian or Armenian heritage? On that note, I'm curious if he'd say anything about such a premise if Marvel's editors actually greenlighted it.

Kamala's big debut in the New York Times is being criticized for including the character's religion in the headline, with people saying that it shouldn't be a big deal. These people are trying to sound informed and socially progressive while ignoring the actual truth of the situation: It's a big deal to have a Muslim superhero because our culture has made it a big deal. It's actually a shame that our media is still so homogenous that any deviation from straight white male-ness makes headlines -- but that's the reality of the situation.

Now isn't that rich coming from somebody who fits the category of "progressive"; in other words, a PC leftist. I wonder why leftists like him have no problem insulting a mainstream press that is on their side and isn't as homogenous as he's claiming. And he should look at himself in the mirror before telling people the dissenters are trying to sound informed. It's not our culture so much as it was a dishonest left-wing movement in the press and showbiz that made it a big deal for the wrong reaons.

As for a "big debut", that's only because the liberal media thinks it's oh-so important, as though it hadn't been done already. But after a while, all the fuss they're making about it is only bound to drift away.

Maybe I'm a bleeding heart liberal (maybe?), but I'm incredibly excited for this book. I'm excited to read G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona's take on what being a superhero means to someone who isn't a white man, or even a white woman. I'm excited to learn more about this culture that I know very little about. You can make your ignorant "keep politics out of comics" argument all you want, but the truth is that comics are where we learn a lot about other cultures. I truthfully don't know how okay I would have been with my gayness if I hadn't had decades of X-Men comics preaching tolerance -- at times specifically mentioning homosexuals -- ingrained in my brain. Cultural awareness is incredibly important, and reading stories about different cultures are where the seeds of empathy and understanding flourish. If you know nothing about people of the Muslim faith outside of how the media has portrayed them since 9/11, I bet you'll be surprised by what you read in "Ms. Marvel." You might even be able to relate to her!

He doesn't think he's a bleeding heart liberal? How strange. And I don't think homosexuality was ever explicitly brought up as an issue in X-Men until the turn of the century, so I don't see what he's driving at. It wasn't until the 90s that LGBT activists started trying to hijack the X-Men in their push to require everyone to accept poor mentalities. But if he really believes in his lifestyle, and wants to know more about Muslim culture, then I don't suppose he'd care to ponder that many Muslims are homophobic in ways that Judeo-Christian dissent can't even hold a candle to? And, maybe he'd even like to study some of the Koranic verses condoning violence against gays and lesbians?

Diversity is important in comics, and it's so important that it's not going anywhere. If it wasn't for Marvel editor Sana Amanat's own personal experiences growing up as a Muslim American, "Ms. Marvel" might not be here today. The Marvel editors might have never even thought to introduce a character like this if they all came from the same basic background. That's what's so cool about diversity and story telling; different people tell different stories, and it baffles me that some readers want to put up arbitrary restrictions on storytelling potential. Amanat's childhood experiences are just as worthy of exposure as mine -- and mine can be seen in dozens of sitcoms and movies already. I want a new story, and I'm excited to read one.

If he really wanted a new story with diversity, he'd pine for one about Arabs and Pakistanis from non-Muslim backgrounds. Amanat's "experiences" are bound to be more like taqqiya.

Did we learn anything on this week's round of "Check Your Privilege"? I hope so, but I also have a feeling we'll be firing up the spinning wheel when-not-if Marvel unveils another character created to give an underrepresented group a voice (trans*, asexual, an incredibly long list of ethnicities). But if this imagined game show goes hand in hand with the ongoing diversification of comics, then I'm glad to keep hosting it.

All we learned is that White is one very dishonest left-wing ignoramus. I've got a feeling that if he did learn about the contents of the Koran, he wouldn't even say a word, which would make him a coward and suggest he's decided Muslims get the pass he wouldn't give to Judeo-Christians. So why is he wasting his time lecturing us?

Labels: bad editors, islam and jihad, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, politics

Because he's a White elite who wants to preen his moral superiority? Because he gains social status by throwing white characters under the bus?

I can't wait to see if his attitude changes whenever whites become the minority in America in 2040, or whenever that number is.

And on that note:

"Us white dudes find it super hard to understand the importance of having heroes that look like you or come where you come from because there are thousands of white male protagonists in all of fiction."

That excuse won't be working much longer, given the hyper-intense diversity push by media. At the rate we're going, soon that number will be decreasing quite rapidly, if not already. And we "white dudes" today, didn't care about skin color, until you elites of all races -- Whites, ironically, more so -- made us care so damn much, to the point where skin color is the only thing that matters anymore. But saying that publicly is akin to a death sentence.

Good luck finding a currently made White protagonist who doesn't make occasional racially insensitive remarks or come across as anything but a doofus in some way. After re-viewing Scrubs, recently, I never realized how that bad the White characters came off as. (But in fairness, the non-White characters were occasionally jabbed, too.)

And as I asked about the gay readership, how much is Marvel's readership is made of Muslims or Pakistanis? I don't doubt they exist, but it's hard to prove a negative. Do they honestly care about what White and Marvel push in that "oh, that character looks like me -- I love that character." Do black people like what Marvel did with Luke Cage in the early 2000's, because I'd love to know the answer. Are the numbers there to justify all these changes?

I'm curious to wonder how many comic fanboys, who, yes, are white males, like the fact that their comic companies basically want to replace them or they are embarrassed by their base being only one race/gender? (Or, as Rush would put it, how the Republican establishment doesn't like its conservative base, and wants to replace it with a media-approved one.) If Marvel and DC were truly intellectually honest, that's their endgame.

Sorry for the rant, but people like White are the worst of all. But he's an elite, so he'll be exempt from all the changes he's pushing for. Or he might get it, when it's far too late.

Posted by Killer Moth | 10:34 AM

Whenever someone goes on about "diversity" in comics, I always ask them to identify one conservative, Caucasian male hero who happens to be a Southern Baptist.

Strangely, desires for "diversity" suddenly end.

Posted by The Drizzt | 11:58 AM

'I truthfully don't know how okay I would have been with my gayness if I hadn't had decades of X-Men comics preaching tolerance -- at times specifically mentioning homosexuals -- ingrained in my brain.'

Save this for the next time some glassy-eyed fanboy claims that it's all 'just stories' and can't possibly influence public opinion or behavior in any way whatsoever.

Posted by Hobgoblin | 12:12 PM

This new character just sounds like another exercise in PC crap. Personally, I don't care what a character looks like, but given Wilson's track record odds are they won't have her deal with the lack of women's rights in the Muslim world (the REAL War on Women)and instead with "discrimination" from racist white people and so on. The usual nonsense. If they go that route, don't expect to last for very long. The only people who would pick the book up would grievance-mongers (of the Sharpton/Jackson variety) and progressives with perpetual chips on their shoulders.

I've always found it beyond laughable that because I'm a straight white dude, I'm somehow "privileged." That would imply that I've had it easy throughout my life. Truth is, I haven't. I've had to work hard to get things I want. At no point in my life were such things handed to me. I had to work hard to get things I wanted/needed. It never came easy. Idiots like White need to take their "white privilege" nonsense and shove it.

I have Asperger's syndrome, but I don't need to have characters who are just like me to enjoy the story. White's assertion that all readers want/need characters who look like them is pathetic and factually incorrect. Sadly, this kind of attitude is prevalent these days.

Like I said, I just want a good story with decent characters. Is that so much to ask?

Posted by Anonymous | 7:06 PM

Well said, Carl. Truly.

To carry an extra point from this, a special moment from the recent Spider-Men x-over (as Peter and Ultimate!Nick Fury meet):

http://www.vdare.com/letters/a-reader-on-the-new-spiderman-and-anti-white-racism-in-the-color-comic-books

Yeah, as per the OP, "However, just try to imagine what would happen if the tables were turned, and Peter told the main universe–and anglo–Nick Fury that the Ultimate Universe version was a black man, followed by a smirk and the line, 'Sorry to hear that.' The indignant cries of racism and outrage would be deafening."

Indeed.

Posted by Killer Moth | 8:25 PM

The only group that is allowed to be mercilessly mocked on comicbook pages today is conservative Americans.

As I've written, I could care less about the new Ms. Marvel being a Muslim. But the fact that I asked whether her ruminations about her faith will include hard questions about it, and not the usual PC blame-America-first nonsense, got me labeled the usual epithets (y'know, "bigot," etc.) by the likes of Ron Marz and his minions.

Posted by Hube | 5:33 AM

Hube, I saw those posts on Twitter from Marz and his minions. They don't possess a single thought in their heads. When someone expresses a thought with which they disagree, they always call them "bigots" and "racists" and "homophobes" and whatever immature epithet they can come up with. You asked some hard questions about it, and you get called names. These people need to step out of their insulated bubbles and actually talk to people with differing views.

And indeed, conservative Americans are the only people comic book creators like to mock these days. It's sad. Every conservative character in comics is usually a straw man of what liberals believe conservatives are.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:40 AM

...you sure the Koran wasn't written by a person who wanted to go on a power-trip and wasn't frustrated by his lot in life?

Posted by Drag | 1:23 PM