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The X-Men have been on my mind lately, between making a new vid and remaking an old one (coming along nicely!) and the other week I was talking about Magneto with Selena in someone else's comments, and I got to thinking.
Being on the internet and reading many X-Men related things, I often have to remind myself that when people say 'Magneto was right' they probably mean 'Magneto was right when he decided that minorities have the right to defend themselves and to meet force with force' or 'Magneto was right when he told Charles that the situation was much worse than he wanted to admit' or 'Magneto was right when he said that being nice to people who are oppressing you doesn't make them stop.' All of those are correct statements! Even 'Magneto was right when he decided to go for the red and purple cape and helmet look' is arguable depending on the artist and doesn't make me want to set anything on fire.
Probably random people on the internet do not mean 'Magneto was right when he decided genocide is just fine if the people you're killing are Evil Oppressor Humans, including those Evil Oppressor Humans who are babies.' Or 'Magneto was right when he almost destroyed most of the plants and animals in the world with nuclear weapons even though the sheep and pine trees and lobsters are not oppressing any mutants.' Or 'Magneto was right to to be personally offended by the Golden Gate Bridge and destroy it as often as possible.' (I am worried that a depressing number believe 'Magneto was right when he decided people with cool superpowers were morally superior to those without them', though.)
It's not like people always agree with their favourite characters just because they agree with them some of the time. Hell, I would certainly not going around saying 'Professor X was right when he decided he knew what was best for Raven/Jean/Insert Character Here even though he really, really did not' or 'Professor X was right when he made the worst possible argument on that beach' or 'Professor X was right when he decided to spend a decade day drinking and shooting up because he was sad.' But I will freely admit that in the big picture of Charles vs. Erik, I am shamelessly biased in favour of the one who has NOT ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE.
Don't get me wrong - I love Erik to bits and find him a deeply sympathetic character who is right about lots of things. Just ... not so many things that 'Magneto did nothing wrong!' will ever not make my hackles rise.
In the comics, Magneto has been in every position from 'misunderstood hero' to 'irredeemable villain.' That's is a position he shares with many characters who have existed since 1963, especially the ones that at least started out as bad guys. So whether or not he's actually Right depends entirely on what issue we're in. In the movies, though ...
Never mind Magneto's ill-advised plan to kill most of the world's population or let Apocalypse take it over or whatever bad idea he has for dealing with humans this time around. It's really the way he treats other mutants that rubs me the wrong way. Just ask Raven, especially after X3.
( Quite a lot of specifics below the cut. )
Being on the internet and reading many X-Men related things, I often have to remind myself that when people say 'Magneto was right' they probably mean 'Magneto was right when he decided that minorities have the right to defend themselves and to meet force with force' or 'Magneto was right when he told Charles that the situation was much worse than he wanted to admit' or 'Magneto was right when he said that being nice to people who are oppressing you doesn't make them stop.' All of those are correct statements! Even 'Magneto was right when he decided to go for the red and purple cape and helmet look' is arguable depending on the artist and doesn't make me want to set anything on fire.
Probably random people on the internet do not mean 'Magneto was right when he decided genocide is just fine if the people you're killing are Evil Oppressor Humans, including those Evil Oppressor Humans who are babies.' Or 'Magneto was right when he almost destroyed most of the plants and animals in the world with nuclear weapons even though the sheep and pine trees and lobsters are not oppressing any mutants.' Or 'Magneto was right to to be personally offended by the Golden Gate Bridge and destroy it as often as possible.' (I am worried that a depressing number believe 'Magneto was right when he decided people with cool superpowers were morally superior to those without them', though.)
It's not like people always agree with their favourite characters just because they agree with them some of the time. Hell, I would certainly not going around saying 'Professor X was right when he decided he knew what was best for Raven/Jean/Insert Character Here even though he really, really did not' or 'Professor X was right when he made the worst possible argument on that beach' or 'Professor X was right when he decided to spend a decade day drinking and shooting up because he was sad.' But I will freely admit that in the big picture of Charles vs. Erik, I am shamelessly biased in favour of the one who has NOT ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE.
Don't get me wrong - I love Erik to bits and find him a deeply sympathetic character who is right about lots of things. Just ... not so many things that 'Magneto did nothing wrong!' will ever not make my hackles rise.
In the comics, Magneto has been in every position from 'misunderstood hero' to 'irredeemable villain.' That's is a position he shares with many characters who have existed since 1963, especially the ones that at least started out as bad guys. So whether or not he's actually Right depends entirely on what issue we're in. In the movies, though ...
Never mind Magneto's ill-advised plan to kill most of the world's population or let Apocalypse take it over or whatever bad idea he has for dealing with humans this time around. It's really the way he treats other mutants that rubs me the wrong way. Just ask Raven, especially after X3.
( Quite a lot of specifics below the cut. )