Mutants: Why does this idea work?

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Mick Price said:

 

But that doesn't explain why non-mutant supers aren't hated.  They aren't artificially separated by anyone. The reasons to fear mutants apply to them as well. Saying "don't waste your time trying to explain it" is a cop-out.  

Ah...you probably misunderstand. It is not that only mutants are hated and feared. It is that they are hated and feared MORE than gods and armored suits and aliens and robots.

 

IHA doesn't discriminate after all (well, they DO discriminate, they are not choosier about it). It is just that mutants and evolution are low hanging fruit, and easy to pluck.  After all, it builds upon the fear of thoes who are 'not us' we already have.

[Greywind]

7 hours ago, Mick Price said:

Mutants tend to manifest without warning during puberty often hurting people. Most superheroes don't emerge like that.  What is confusing is why more mutants don't pretend to be results of radiation accidents etc.  After all they keep their secret identities.  This makes them a better metaphor for homosexuals than racial minorities.   Not that homosexuals coming to is dangerous to their classmates, but they were treated like that.  So not a perfect metaphor, but it's not a surprise when someone is black. 

 

Being akin to homosexuals was Singer's thing.

Stan Lee's take was a reflection of the racial tensions in the sixties.

[steriaca]

1 hour ago, Greywind said:

 

Being akin to homosexuals was Singer's thing.

Stan Lee's take was a reflection of the racial tensions in the sixties.

Wonder if Lee did X-Men today, would he start the "Mutant Lives Matter" movement?

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

But that doesn't explain why non-mutant supers aren't hated.  They aren't artificially separated by anyone. The reasons to fear mutants apply to them as well. Saying "don't waste your time trying to explain it" is a cop-out.  

 

Yeah basically its just the conceit of X-Men because Stan wanted to make a point.  It falls apart under any real scrutiny like a lot of superhero tropes, but this one is a bit more annoying because it feels forced and makes the heroes suffer.  And these days, I think people have had well more than enough ham-handed messaging.

[Lord Liaden]

12 hours ago, steriaca said:

IHA doesn't discriminate after all (well, they DO discriminate, they are not choosier about it). It is just that mutants and evolution are low hanging fruit, and easy to pluck.  After all, it builds upon the fear of thoes who are 'not us' we already have.

 

Well, the IHA does discriminate. Mutants are their bogeymen, although supers who support them also rate as threats in their eyes. And that example highlights one of the justifications for classifying mutants differently -- pseudo-Darwinism. The IHA fears mutants will "supplant" present-day humans, which mirrors the concept from the X-comics that mutants represent a new "species" of humanity, "Homo superior." Their powers give them a practical evolutionary advantage, so left unchecked their numbers will only grow. Many people will point to Neanderthals as an example of what happens when two species compete for dominance on the same planet. One of them goes extinct.

 

Gods exist in set numbers, and mostly stay in their own god-realms. Mutates are the results of random accidents, or specific projects to deliberately create them. Tech-wielders' powers can, in principle, be duplicated for anyone. But mutants breed. And normal humans could unknowingly be breeding more of them.

[Echo3Niner]

I find all these "how come other supers aren't painted with the same brush" questions interesting.

 

Let me pose a point about racism/hate that may help here:

 

So, because Marvel / Stan brought in the concept of mutants in 1963 and mutant hate sometime later (becoming a main focus of the titles in the '80s), and used Prof. X and Magneto as allegory for MLK and Malcom X; everyone has said "this doesn't make sense as an allegory for racism, because people can't tell the difference between Cyclops and Spiderman, just by looking at them."

 

So, the problem with this viewpoint, is that most people posting are from the era of the mutants as presented in the comics, and thus are thinking about racism in the context of modern times, where it is primarily ethnicity based, and thus is as simple for idiot racist as looking at the target of their hate; because it's as obvious as the target's skin color, hair, etc.  (Which is why they often can make mistakes, calling a Native American a slur for a Mexican, for instance.)

 

However, think about it in the context of the Civil War in the USA.  A political belief motivated war, having nothing to do with race, religion, or any outside, easily identifiable aspect.  It sometimes led to families hating and killing each other.

 

Between WWI and WWII period of Europe, and the Nazi hate for the Jewish.  It is often impossible to discern the difference between a Jewish person and non-Jew Caucasian of the same nation; especially when you start talking about Russian Jews (among others).  A point Magneto himself has made in both the comics and movies; yet ignored by this whole line of thought.

 

How about Northern Ireland?  Same people in every way, hating and killing each other simple because one was a Catholic and one was Protestant (among other reasons)?  

 

Want a more modern example?  How about the Genocide in Bosnia during the Bosnian War (92-95) - three different sub-cultures from the same area, same ethnicity, in some cases same families.

 

My point here is simple; just because it is not "obvious" that Spiderman is NOT a Mutant, and it is NOT obvious that Wolverine is NOT an altered human, but an altered Mutant, simply by looking at them, doesn't mean people still can't hate one, and not the other.

 

Hate and racism have never been isolated to "white vs. black (or brown)", until recent times.  Many times in history there has been hate against a sub-group with no possible way to simply "seeing" the difference; yet the human capacity to hate, and be aggressive toward any sub-group they wanted, has never been hampered by such simple things as having to be able to tell the difference in an obvious way.

 

So, I would challenge that looking at the "Mutant Problem" through glasses colored by today's ethnicity (color) based hate and not understanding the capacity of human nature to hate and somehow figure out who to hate, without it being obvious, is the true "cop-out".

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by Echo3Niner
Adding additional thoughts

[Greywind]

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Well, the IHA does discriminate. Mutants are their bogeymen, although supers who support them also rate as threats in their eyes. And that example highlights one of the justifications for classifying mutants differently -- pseudo-Darwinism. The IHA fears mutants will "supplant" present-day humans, which mirrors the concept from the X-comics that mutants represent a new "species" of humanity, "Homo superior." Their powers give them a practical evolutionary advantage, so left unchecked their numbers will only grow. Many people will point to Neanderthals as an example of what happens when two species compete for dominance on the same planet. One of them goes extinct.

 

Gods exist in set numbers, and mostly stay in their own god-realms. Mutates are the results of random accidents, or specific projects to deliberately create them. Tech-wielders' powers can, in principle, be duplicated for anyone. But mutants breed. And normal humans could unknowingly be breeding more of them.

 

"We are the future, Charles. Not them. They no longer matter."

[Lord Liaden]

23 minutes ago, Echo3Niner said:

So, I would challenge that looking at the "Mutant Problem" through glasses colored by today's ethnicity (color) based hate and not understanding the capacity of human nature to hate and somehow figure out who to hate, without it being obvious, is the true "cop-out".

 

 

Often the very fact that "they" are superficially the same as "us" is part of what frightens people. It fed the Cold War paranoia about Communists; they're hiding among us right now, and we can't even tell. It was what made the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers such a powerful metaphor for the era -- the invaders are taking over our minds, so the people you knew aren't the same people any more. And for the mutant analogy, you never know if your friends, your own family, will be revealed to be one of them.

 

(BTW America, we Canadians look like you, sound like you, and have infiltrated all aspects of your society. Watch your backs.)

[Christopher R Taylor]

All instances of ethnic spite and hatred have a basis in some events or actions in the past.  Its almost always crazy exaggerations or fears, but its based on something, its not simply at whim or random.  The problem with distinguishing between mutants and every other super is that you cannot both argue "its irrational, people are stupid" and also "people pick these things based on scientific examination of the facts and fear natural consequences".  Those two things are in direct conflict.

 

For the average person with a fear of people who are different and fear their race being replaced (kind of an abstract fear, even if it happens, it would be scores of generations into the future) there's no real distinction between Wolverine and Spider-Man or Superman (an alien!) or Captain Marvel and on and on.  There's me with no powers struggling to get through life and that dude who flies and juggles trucks.  You say one's a mutant and one isn't but what's the difference to the man on the street?  They're all superbeings.  They're just better than me.

 

Quote

 It fed the Cold War paranoia about Communists

 

Somewhat, but that was mostly based on the Communists being the enemy of the USA, with an ideology that wanted to destroy the west, and who was actually, and provably, attempting to infiltrate and manipulate the US.  That some built on that fear of the hidden other was an added layer, but its not crazy to see how they were, actually, amongst the west and working amidst everyone in secret.  People took that to crazy and unconstitutional places out of fear, but the fear wasn't unreasonable or unjustified.

 

Contrast that with Mutants many of the most prominent who work to save the world, protect people, save lives, rebuild, and help people and you've got a pretty poor comparison.

[Greywind]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

(BTW America, we Canadians look like you, sound like you, and have infiltrated all aspects of your society. Watch your backs.)

 

Eh?

[Lord Liaden]

4 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

All instances of ethnic spite and hatred have a basis in some events or actions in the past.  Its almost always crazy exaggerations or fears, but its based on something, its not simply at whim or random.  The problem with distinguishing between mutants and every other super is that you cannot both argue "its irrational, people are stupid" and also "people pick these things based on scientific examination of the facts and fear natural consequences".  Those two things are in direct conflict.

 

For the average person with a fear of people who are different and fear their race being replaced (kind of an abstract fear, even if it happens, it would be scores of generations into the future) there's no real distinction between Wolverine and Spider-Man or Superman (an alien!) or Captain Marvel and on and on.  There's me with no powers struggling to get through life and that dude who flies and juggles trucks.  You say one's a mutant and one isn't but what's the difference to the man on the street?  They're all superbeings.  They're just better than me.

 

 

Have to disagree here. Hatred and spite need no more basis than envy, fear, projection, and/or someone exploiting those emotions for their own gain. It's been that way throughout history. Jewish global conspiracies and poisoned vaccines are just another variation on witches and baby-eating Christians. Someone starts a rumor, it spreads and amplifies and mutates, until there's something outrageous that everyone has heard and believes because it's so repeated. And the explanation doesn't have to be legitimate science, it can have a pseudo-scientific veneer that sounds plausible enough to fool the gullible. Like Jews building space lasers, or vaccines making someone "magnetic." These things aren't subject to reason -- as has been illustrated lately, trying to counter irrational belief by pointing out rational facts carries no weight.

 

To the man on the street, it's not that there's a difference, as that there's believed to be a difference. Aliens can be (and have been) a target of paranoia, but Superman for example is just one person, who happens to look and act like America's dominant ethno-cultural group (at least dominant until recently). Spider-Man is not the best example either, as he's been the target of distrust and fear for much of his career. But neither of them are breeding more of their own kind, at least not obviously. And it taking many generations until mutants become the dominant species? Again, you're trying to counter emotion with reason.

[Mick Price]

On 12/12/2021 at 1:20 AM, Greywind said:

 

Being akin to homosexuals was Singer's thing.

Stan Lee's take was a reflection of the racial tensions in the sixties.

Yes but I think homosexuals works better, although both suffer from the fact that neither group is actually inherently dangerous.  I suppose using mutants as Jewish surrogates works because you could live and/or work with a Jew and not know it.  So they idea that they need to be tracked and identified is more credible.  You don't need to register black people to exclude them.  

[HeroGM]

On 12/11/2021 at 7:10 PM, Lord Liaden said:

 

 

 

(BTW America, we Canadians look like you, sound like you, and have infiltrated all aspects of your society. Watch your backs.)

 

 

That's why Americans created global warming, so the great lakes wouldn't freeze. 🥵

[Duke Bushido]

Bit of a nitpick:

 

The Mutant / Jewish analogy doesn't work, either, simply because at the end of the day, no one hates Spiderman or - crap?  I don't know enough about who is what company-- some other non-mutant superhero, and all the criteria being applied to why mutants are scary applies to any other super:  We only hate this group of super-powered individuals, but not _that_ group of super-powered individuals works as a jewish analogy if and only if there is a means to determine who is one.   In reality, most people knew which of their neighbors were Jewish prior to the Nazis, and after it was a simple matter of hunting up birth certificates or relatives.

 

That doesn't work in a universe where superheroes can wear masks and their real identity never found out.  Things in the Champions Universe reading material (particularly the Mutant FIle) include some form of "Mutant Detector," and if we are ripping off ... Marvel?  X-Men is Marvel, right?  (seriously: if they had been in a movie with some other characters, I would know, but they weren't.     ).  Anyway, if we are ripping off the "we hate mutants," then I suspect the mutant detectors, etc, are ripped off as well (I know the giant robots were).  So-- we have an in-universe means to separate mutants from non-mutants, but NO ONE is pushing for testing all the supers.  No one.

 

It just doesn't work on that angle: it is at best a very thing analogy that worked in the early days of comic books when stories were simple and backgrounds weren't important.  Today it continues to work, I believe, for the reason someone wiser than me pointed out well-upthread:  the idea that super powers can spontaneously develop at about the age of the then-most-typical comic book reader.  They were written for and consumed primarily by kids around the age that powers would develop.  It was filled with angst-- pre-teens and even a lot of teens _love_ angst.  It "works" because it provides a titillating amount of wish-fulfillment not offered by the titles were the super-genius built armor or created an experiment or rode his own rocket to space, of was already a phenomenal physical specimen--

 

It works for the same reason Captain America and Captain Marvel and certain other things worked:  "That could be me!"

 

I can't help but feel anything else is simply reading into it enough to come up a justification that allows the reader to ignore his desire to be the character he is reading about.

 

[Lord Liaden]

Two points of order: One, for much of his career Spider-Man was the subject of fear and hatred, albeit a significant amount of that was pushed by J. Jonah Jameson's obsession with him.

 

Two, if you're a mutant and your powers suddenly emerge, someone is going to know -- family, (former) friends. Any of them with prejudice is likely to inform the authorities if they want to know, or the media. Plus many superhuman mutations are very hard to hide, like Angel's wings, or Nightcrawler's, well, whole body. Even Cyclops just has to lose his glasses once at the wrong time and place.

 

If you're Jewish, or black, or gay, and you're discriminated against, the point comes when you're not willing to hide it any more, or conform to whatever role the majority of society defines for you. You want recognition and rights for who you are, and you're going to proclaim yourself and organize with others like you to demand that acceptance. That's been the history for every oppressed minority, and the only way that aspect of society has progressed.

[Greywind]

Take into account the likes of, say, Magma. When she first came into her powers there was the small issue of volcanoes, magma, and their byproducts.

 

Everyone knows real superheroes get their powers from their own government science squads, led by scientists from the nation the country is at war with. Or they make their own power armor while stuck in a cave as a hostage by people their nation is at war with.

[Beast]

On 6/7/2021 at 3:05 PM, armadillo said:

First let me say that I was always onboard for the idea of mutants. In Marvel, there are all these people with powers but for some reason mutants are singled out to be feared and hated.

 

But, to me, it always worked. I bought into it. Captain America could be high-fived in public by a little kid, but someone suspected of being a mutant wouldn't be allowed anywhere near that kid, even if that mutant just saved the day.

 

I guess what I'm asking is, What is the psychology of this situation? Why does it work and ring true narratively?

at least in the comics depending on the power, when it first appears
1 they are young and do not have a clue what they can do
2 it is usually a very emotional time when it happens
3 some powers are just too explosive and lots of damage being done
4 some are just born what might be considered deformed or demonic

 

[Duke Bushido]

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Two points of order: One, for much of his career Spider-Man was the subject of fear and hatred,

 

 

For being a mutant?  For possibly being a mutant?  For refusing a detecto-scan instant mutant test?

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Two, if you're a mutant and your powers suddenly emerge, someone is going to know -- family, (former) friends.

 

I maintain that this is entirely an artifact of the medium.  Comic books are not prose; they tell their various stories through still images and _dialogue_.  They forgo prose to the point where the descriptive dialogue gets downright silly on occasion.

 

I maintain that "someone will know" in comic books exclusively so that it can be talked about as a means of explanation to the reader.  I also maintain the only reason mutant powers typically "manifest in moments of extreme stress" (I hit wikipedia after I posted   ) is again a move intended to appeal to the original target market:  look at that!  The cool kids are making dun of him!  The bully is beating him up!  The gym teacher wants to make him an extrovert!  Whatever- and just as the HERO can't bear it anymore, he is gifted with just the right superpower to save himself / kick his tormentor's butts up and down South Main.  Typically, he tends to suddenly,realize- against all of human nature and his own life experience to that point- that he _musn't_ get even; that he is too good for such a thing- he is a far, far better person than are his tormentors, and will extricate himself from the situation without so much as cracking one tooth.

 

again:  appeal to the reader's fantasies:  amazing power that would let you thrash your tormentors, but you woukd never do that, because you are so much _better_ than they are.

 

want to add angst?  You realize- because of your moral superiority, naturally, that what you must do is put on a mask and _safeguard_ these horrible pieces of excrement that pantsed you in front of your girlfriend / crush / classroom / Aunt Mary.  But they must never know, of course, and so you take the noble-beyond-all step of returning to your life of torment and misery to protect the secret of your amazing "there is zero reason I would ever, as a rational human being, actually put up with this for ten more seconds" powers.

 

More than one person above has noted that it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  I will go one step further and say that, Just like most insert-yourself-here slash fiction, it's pretty crap writing.

 

I cannot remember who it was nir find his quote, but a few years ago, in the real world, someone did a long comparison / contrast article, then worked out time lines demonstrating a more-that-reasonable likelihood that the bulk of Stan Lee's entire mutant hatred thing wasn't even particular original, but a theme ripped off from Hienlein.  All Stan did was superpowers and costumes and taylor it a tiny bit to appeal to pubescent males. However, I am not personally putting that forward as an argument until I can manage to stumble across that interesting data again.

 

 

 

[Echo3Niner]

5 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

Bit of a nitpick:

 

The Mutant / Jewish analogy doesn't work, either, simply because at the end of the day, no one hates Spiderman or - crap?  I don't know enough about who is what company-- some other non-mutant superhero, and all the criteria being applied to why mutants are scary applies to any other super:  We only hate this group of super-powered individuals, but not _that_ group of super-powered individuals works as a jewish analogy if and only if there is a means to determine who is one.   In reality, most people knew which of their neighbors were Jewish prior to the Nazis, and after it was a simple matter of hunting up birth certificates or relatives.

 

OK, I'll play...  I'll "nitpick" back...  (This is not aimed directly at you Duke, others have said the same, you just happened to have brought it back up.)

 

I didn't only give an example of Jews and Nazis...  I gave several real world analogies; including Northern Ireland and Bosnia - both of which also go against your point.  There doesn't have to be anything obvious for one group to hate another; proven by human history, period.

 

I also don't think that all the points raised above are contradictory to each other...  I agree it was all contrived, and forced to fit a narrative, and was targeted to the sales demographic audience.  Um, these are comic books, not realistic autobiographies; and it's a business.  The whole point is to contrive a narrative, targeted to your audience, that will strike a nerve and sell comics; it just so happened that the idea of writing about a minority hated by the majority worked on many levels, as a parallel of many types of minorities, told over 60 years, changing with the times, as a means of exploring the plight of the situation, even as it changed and morphed with the times.

 

I am not trying to imply the concept is the perfect parable for minority suffering; only that it works - and that's born out by 60 years of high sales and success in many mediums.

 

The point I was making about history, is you cannot simply dismiss it as "unrealistic" just because it isn't obvious that Spidey isn't a Mutant, or that Jean Grey is one.  That is flawed logic, disproven by history.

 

So, if you want to pick it apart, you'll have to find a better angle than "mutants aren't obvious, so it doesn't make sense as an analogy, because all supers aren't hated".

 

As I stated above; by all means, there are ways to pick it apart - the "obvious" angle just isn't one of them.

 

Bottom line, it has been successful, in print, animation and live-action movies - so no matter how many holes you punch in it, debating that it shouldn't be successful, for this or the other reason, simply goes against reality.

 

The original question was, why does it work; ironically, I think the answers given about how it panders to the target audience is one of the reasons it does, even if it has to be stretched and forced to do so.

[assault]

If you ask Incels,they are an oppressed group. Any bunch of self-perceived outsiders works.

[HeroGM]

Mutants are the start - other heroes will fall because they will protect their 'brothers in arms' or the mandate will come for ALL super-powered to be taken down.

[Duke Bushido]

18 hours ago, Echo3Niner said:

 

OK, I'll play...  I'll "nitpick" back...  (This is not aimed directly at you Duke, others have said the same, you just happened to have brought it back up.)

 

Totally understood, and I take no offense. 

 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Echo3Niner said:

 

I didn't only give an example of Jews and Nazis...  I gave several real world analogies; including Northern Ireland and Bosnia - both of which also go against your point.  There doesn't have to be anything obvious for one group to hate another; proven by human history, period.

 

Accents and idioms will give them away, and even if they manage to (forgive this word; I hate it, but I can think of no other-- I am currently suffering from "work brain."  Every had one of those days where every thirty minutes you're another hour behind?) "pass" as one of the local boys, it won't last when the word gets out, via whatever method that might be.

 

Which takes me back to the "what about other supers?" question:

 

Unlike opposite ends of Ireland, where you still totally understand that the guy you hate is a guy just exactly like you, it's not the case with supers.  The thing pointed at when these 'freakish mutants' go by is their amazing powers-- powers that mark them as clearly different from you.  Cue the Flash or some non-mutant superhero to come super-ing by-- not even a _question_ that he might be one of those?

 

I believe our Canadian friend Lord Liaden mentioned physical differences such as fur or coloration or whatever it was (forgive me, both of you, please.  It's been an exhausting day, and as easy as it would be to back up and check, I just don' wanna.    ).  But then that, too, is found in "normal" supers.  The Hulk is green; Vision is, I think, red (his face was red in the movie, unless that's part of his costume.  Most folks here know that I'm not terribly comic book savvy, never having been much of a fan in my youth (I like the Westerns and some of the war ones-- and most of the horror ones, if that counts).)   I know there's an Aquaman knock-off with winged ankles-- little Hermes wings sprouting from his ankles!   Because ankle feathers are... good for... swimming...? [/sarcastic confusion  ]   At any rate, I am sure more savvy folks could quickly knock out a list of a hundred or more non-mutant super people with radical physical alterations.   I, however, would have to spend some time Googling.

 

The point is that the closer someone is in action, appearance, or even sentiment to another group of people, the more likely people are to assume that they are part of or closely-associated with that group.   Yet no one bats an eye hundred-year-old Captain America leaps twenty feet into the air and swats a missile to the ground.  The Hulk seems like someone that everyone should be absolutely terrified of, yet he has, if google has served me well, been in at least three team books.

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Echo3Niner said:

 

I also don't think that all the points raised above are contradictory to each other...  I agree it was all contrived, and forced to fit a narrative, and was targeted to the sales demographic audience.  Um, these are comic books, not realistic autobiographies; and it's a business.  The whole point is to contrive a narrative, targeted to your audience, that will strike a nerve and sell comics; it just so happened that the idea of writing about a minority hated by the majority worked on many levels, as a parallel of many types of minorities, told over 60 years, changing with the times, as a means of exploring the plight of the situation, even as it changed and morphed with the times.

 

I am not trying to imply the concept is the perfect parable for minority suffering; only that it works - and that's born out by 60 years of high sales and success in many mediums.

 

The point I was making about history, is you cannot simply dismiss it as "unrealistic" just because it isn't obvious that Spidey isn't a Mutant, or that Jean Grey is one.  That is flawed logic, disproven by history.

 

 

Forgive the truncation, but the last of it seemed to be rewording and broadening this basic idea, so I felt this was sufficient.  If not; I apologize.  Let me know and I will address the rest on an evening in the future (not tonight, though.  I'm whooped.  I'm only here because I got a notification that I had been quoted, and I was curious.  It seemed rude not to at least offer some conversation, right? 

 

 

At any rate-- 

 

and I don't want to make this political; I am not going to discuss politics,but I am going to use it as an example simply because it's perfect:  it includes millions of laymen, and a privileged few.  Moreover, it's recent! 

 

 

Looking at what's going on today in American political party politics, we can see that when a guy from Party A starts to act like a guy from party B, the laymen all start screaming!  Party A supporters (the everyday laymen-- in this case, that guy on the street corner that every comic book artist ever draws with a line of spittle from his top teeth hanging to his bottom teeth-- shakes his fist in anger and starts screaming "he's clearly been lying!  He's one of those Party B guys!  He's sabotaging the whole Party!"  People on the street seeing someone who merely appears to live differently being accosted and yelled by what have come to be called "Karens."  Party B lampooning and insulting and otherwise deriding anyone who _sounds_ like he might be Party A sympathetic-- he doesn't have to do anything; he just has to sound like he might be one of them.

 

 

We have it right there: hyper-sensitized, real-world us-versus-them dynamics: the way the common man thinks-- even those who think they are above it; they just tend to join the party with the most people who think they're above it.     Then they can all _do_ it as means of demonstrating how above it they are.   

 

 

This is the backbone of the complaint that the mutant hatred reads incredibly forced simply because it isn't misapplied elsewhere with regularity.  It doesn't even reach into other non-mutant titles except as part of a crossover or during a particular swell in the sales of X-books.  As soon as the feedback of "if I wanted that, I would read X-books" comes back in, it's gone again.

 

 

 

 

 

All that being said, I will also say this:

 

It is entirely possible that I have misinterpreted the question.  I had originally read it to mean "why is this a good way to tell a story?", to which I replied "it isn't."   The vagueries of "work" in colloquial use suggest this question could be "why does this resonate with readers" or "why does this sell so well?".  To those questions I stand by the answer that it has just a bit more targeted wish fulfillment for a specific audience.

 

 

 

 

[steriaca]

The saving grace for all other character types for an anti-mutant bigot is that if the bigot is very lucky he too may be graced with a freak accident and develop super powers. Or find amazing weapons. Basiclly he can become a superbeing himself without analyzing himself. Not so if the bigot becomes a mutant himself.  He becomes exactly what he fears and hates. Can his bigotry survive when he is one also?

[Duke Bushido]

45 minutes ago, steriaca said:

 Can his bigotry survive when he is one also?

 

There is a turtle-looking congressman who's about-face on relief funds says "oh yeah; no problem."   

 

 

[Hugh Neilson]

To many of these points, I can only say "When did we conclude that bigotry is rational?"

 

I did like an old Avengers where a cop asked why he should trust the Beast - "is he related to that mutant X-Men Beast?"