Pages

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Another Muslim "comics writer" who wants more Muslim superheroes

Vice's Motherboard section paid lip service to another Islamist who believes there just have to be more Muslim superheroes and such in comic books, while giving ethnicities and nationalities a pass:
When Safiyya Hosein, an avid reader and comics writer, started to get frustrated with how Muslim characters are represented in fictional stories, she decided to help change the narrative.
We've heard that before, even as both Marvel and DC alike already pandered to the demands of whiners like her.
Hosein’s study is mainly centered around depictions of two Marvel Comics heroes: Dust from the X-Men series, who wears a niqab and can turn into living sand, and Ms. Marvel, a Muslim Pakistani-American shapeshifter. She recruited 10 participants between the ages of 18 to 28, mostly around Ryerson’s Toronto campus, through flyers and talks in classes. She showed them a presentation about the two heroes, and interviewed them about their perceptions.
Ah, now on this, there's some very irritating background to Dust's creation. Ethan Van Sciver, the purported conservative, served as the artist on New X-Men #133, where she debuted. An early product of Marvel's own social justice machine, and of leftist Grant Morrison, and decidedly an embarrassment upon Van Sciver's resume. I gotta wonder, does Van Sciver have any regrets about participating in propaganda that's hurtful to victims of Islamofascism, not the least being Muslim women themselves? Interestingly, Dust/Sooraya Qadir hasn't appeared wearing a niqab at all times, and her identity therefore is known, but even so, if anybody involved in that propaganda and SJW mishmash at Marvel was trying to make it seem as though Muslim women haven't ever been oppressed by their own men in any way, then they only made the situation worse.
Hosein said that most of her participants really connected with Ms. Marvel, who is presented as a typical down-to-Earth teenager from New Jersey and addresses themes of identity and religion.
Then how come they're not buying it? My guess is that even Canadians couldn't stomach the political propaganda virtually the entire series is built around, and that's why it ultimately bored so many in slumberland.

That said, it turns out the propagandist in Canada isn't so impressed with Dust, despite how it otherwise does serve a propaganda purpose:
Dust, on the other hand, represents a more tokenized Muslim identity that isn’t well represented, Hosein said—most of her participants didn’t find her relatable either. She thinks her depiction is orientalist, which shows in the fact that her powers are directly related to sand and deserts.

She chose to focus on Muslim women because they’re depicted in a lot of stories as needing to be saved from oppression. In Dust’s comic debut, she is saved from the Taliban by Wolverine while unconscious. “There was always a fascination with Muslim women in popular culture as oppressed,” Hosein told me.

Hosein thinks that when creators aren’t familiar with the community they’re writing about, it’s more likely that that representation will be inaccurate or stereotypical: “There's never been a Muslim that's been [Dust’s] creator, and it shows,” Hosein said.

No, but the creation, such as it was, otherwise excused Islam by depicting Dust as observant and viewing the religion positively, and characterizing her as wearing her niqab because she doesn't want men to see her, and not because the Taliban wanted it. Oh, and this picture demonstrates that they did depict Dust sans niqab, something not all Islamists would appreciate.
Ms. Marvel, on the other hand, is co-created and written by Muslim women, which she said has caused the character to be written in a much more sensitive and realistic way. Still, Hosein points out that though Ms. Marvel’s stories address stereotyping of people of colour in general, they haven’t directly addressed the everyday Islamophobia that American Muslims face. “Ms. Marvel is an American superhero at the end of the day, so why don't we see her address this reality that so many Muslims live with and live in fear of?” she said
That's odd, I thought they did. If anything, in one of the first issues, an "infidel" plays a joke of giving her food to eat or drink mixed with non-halal alcohol, and typical white Americans were portrayed pretty negatively. And the election issue certainly came close to serving the kind of leftist propaganda people like her condone. I guess that basically confirms how SJWs won't be satisfied either way. The propagandist at Vice also points to something she's condoning at DC:
If she had the chance, Hosein would want to further study the representation of Muslim men, who are often depicted as violent and uncivilised—though there are some exceptions, like the Green Lantern Simon Baz. Even in these stories of female Muslims being freed from oppression, the underlying message is that they’re freeing themselves from oppressive men: “When you think about that, what does that say about Muslim men?” she said.
Yep, as I figured, there are Islamists out there who'd consider Simon Baz a character who represents their beliefs in some way or other. But what she misses, deliberately or otherwise, is that in stories like the New X-Men propaganda brewed up by early SJWs, the religion itself isn't actually described negatively. Rather, it follows the narrative compounded by Dubya that a "great religion was hijacked".

And on this note, let me make clear that, while I do think it's regrettable Van Sciver's had problems with SJWs and/or ultra-leftists, I don't think his participation in developing Islamic/leftist propaganda can be excused so easily, unless maybe he's willing to apologize and admit he made a mistake. What his recent run-ins with the left demonstrate is that, no matter how much he may participate in developing propaganda the left upholds, it won't guarantee they'll respect him by any stretch. In fact, save for maybe a few issues he drew of Impulse early in his career, there isn't much else in his resume I find appealing. I certainly have no interest in the Green Lantern books he drew for Geoff Johns, who created the Baz character and laced with leftist propaganda from the get-go. Maybe if Van Sciver would consider taking his talents to a smaller company with more respectable writers involved, and offering his services there, I could consider. But not as things stand now, unfortunately.

No comments:

Post a Comment