RIP CAP
March 16th 2007 13:52
Captain America is dead. He was cut down by a sniper in front of a courthouse.
In a way of looking at it, it is perfectly fitting that he is dead, and that he died the way that he did. Captain America was at first an embodiment of the american dream against facist dictators in world war 2. The first picture the american public had of him was him punching Hitler in the face with a right cross. He was defiant against governments which stole the rights from people, so it was perfect that he would use a right in their defence.
Personally speaking, despite my love of the anti-hero, Captain America was always one of my favourites. Or perhaps, because of my love of the anti-hero, he is one of my favourites. Captain America was an ideal embodiment of the American way. I do not mean a hegemony, I mean a true democracy. I do not mean a policy of self-protection, I mean true justice. He did what he could in order to protect the interests of the government, but never at the expense of the people. He truly was the perfect democrat (I am not speaking about which party he would have voted for) in that his moral code prevented him from killing (from what I have read he has only killed twice). A true democrat, he could not allow himself to deprive even his enemies of life, as this would have unjustly destroyed freedom, a concept he could not raise his hand against.
After a world war (the most brutal we ever faced), actions in the cold war, he was temporarily removed from service until being revived to lead the Avengers. What is interesting (and still extremely in character) is that he was not installed as someone to persecute those within, to watch over the sheep and weed out the members of the flock that didn't line up, but was once more placed in the position of one that guards freedom. He was not a judge, never a jury, only twice an executioner.
As I said at the beginning it is perhaps perfect that he is dead. Where America had before attacked a brutal dictator with a genocidal mania, it has now perhaps become a land that would attack in a mania of paranoia. Where America would call itself the land of the free, it curtails the freedom of those it percieves as a potential threat. The land he fought for had begun as a democracy, and is now an aristocracy of the wealthy and influential, an ogliarchy of families. He had stood for truth and yet his name, his identity was linked to a nation where truth is so readily manipulated. He was an agent of democracy in a land where equal rights for all had been stolen. He was a hero always and completely prepared to confront the enemy on the field of battle, face to face with honour, and has now been cut down without honour or a chance to defend himself.
Via con Dios Cap, go to the undiscovered country. The land which you fought and died for, the land that you adopted as your own no longer wants you, though desperately it needs you.
JZ
In a way of looking at it, it is perfectly fitting that he is dead, and that he died the way that he did. Captain America was at first an embodiment of the american dream against facist dictators in world war 2. The first picture the american public had of him was him punching Hitler in the face with a right cross. He was defiant against governments which stole the rights from people, so it was perfect that he would use a right in their defence.
Personally speaking, despite my love of the anti-hero, Captain America was always one of my favourites. Or perhaps, because of my love of the anti-hero, he is one of my favourites. Captain America was an ideal embodiment of the American way. I do not mean a hegemony, I mean a true democracy. I do not mean a policy of self-protection, I mean true justice. He did what he could in order to protect the interests of the government, but never at the expense of the people. He truly was the perfect democrat (I am not speaking about which party he would have voted for) in that his moral code prevented him from killing (from what I have read he has only killed twice). A true democrat, he could not allow himself to deprive even his enemies of life, as this would have unjustly destroyed freedom, a concept he could not raise his hand against.
After a world war (the most brutal we ever faced), actions in the cold war, he was temporarily removed from service until being revived to lead the Avengers. What is interesting (and still extremely in character) is that he was not installed as someone to persecute those within, to watch over the sheep and weed out the members of the flock that didn't line up, but was once more placed in the position of one that guards freedom. He was not a judge, never a jury, only twice an executioner.
As I said at the beginning it is perhaps perfect that he is dead. Where America had before attacked a brutal dictator with a genocidal mania, it has now perhaps become a land that would attack in a mania of paranoia. Where America would call itself the land of the free, it curtails the freedom of those it percieves as a potential threat. The land he fought for had begun as a democracy, and is now an aristocracy of the wealthy and influential, an ogliarchy of families. He had stood for truth and yet his name, his identity was linked to a nation where truth is so readily manipulated. He was an agent of democracy in a land where equal rights for all had been stolen. He was a hero always and completely prepared to confront the enemy on the field of battle, face to face with honour, and has now been cut down without honour or a chance to defend himself.
Via con Dios Cap, go to the undiscovered country. The land which you fought and died for, the land that you adopted as your own no longer wants you, though desperately it needs you.
JZ
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Justin
Does he somewhat subsume Caps role, or still thereafter wallow in fringe society, forever the ghost of a much better idea and be sidelined to further anonymity with little identifiable history or prefix?
The left-over scraps of similarly thought by-gone days with irrelevant political musings and more evidently just a standard mercenary waving the banner needlessly while their Captain has left the battle of good and for it.
Ode to a US Agent! Necessary, painfully human and enviably common!
Sorry, got really carried away there.
Comment by hewhocutsdown
What I'd like to focus is this; a large portion of Americans would have Cap in Iraq right now, leading troops to victory and laying down the hammer upon terrorism worldwide. Another group would have him depose the domestic despots [and I do not necessarily refer to GWB].
Let us take his death as a metaphor then, for in comics things are never 'done', merely abandoned temporarily. The death of Captain America reveals our antipathy towards working a holistic solution to our troubles. There is nothing new under the sun; World War II was an unjust, needless war to many, but was the flame of freedom to others. That generation found their solution; our generation seems inclined to accept whatever defaults in the face of countless ills; national division, political posturing, financial fraud, corporate cons and traps of terror.
The removal of Captain America forces us to answer our own questions. No one will solve them for us. We must assume responsibility, and grasp our own freedom with both hands.
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
I agree with you. Cap was always a reflection of the better parts of the soul of the nation.
He may have been old, but he was timeless.
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
not a problem. A little bit of drama never hurt anyone except those that were hurt by it.
Oh, bugger.
I don't know much about US Agent, except the fact that he existed.
Not much to say about him really......
Glad you came by though.
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
always great to see you wax lyrically in a philosophical field.
I agree with alot of what you said. Cap's character always gave the moral definition to alot of people not by crushing the enemies of America, but by defeating the true enemies of freedom.
JZ
Comment by Justin
I only know of him cause I got a Mavel card of his when I used to collect in the nineties. He looks identical to Cap save has a dark grey costume and possibly the American flag on his chest. Maybe he was created to give rising B grade baddies someone to beat up on or when Nick Fury enlisted his Beta team to fight code yellow missions..
Sorry, rambling again, but yeah, John summed it up in one sentence.
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
JZ
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Interesting post! It seems we need more people like this around.
hewhocutsdown says:
I wonder about people who are in a situation where that is not possible. Often the world overlooks a lot of problems in a country because there is nothing appealing in that country to warrant helping. In that case the people can fight as much as they like but at the end of the day there is little they can do to get that freedom.
Sadly it does happen... that`s when they need a hero such as this to swoop down and lend a helping hand. Perhaps some laser beam eyes and fireball spewing hands would not be a bad thing too!
ash
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
I remember reading in a letter in the paper somewhere that someone wished that there was oil in Rwanda so that America would so something about how the country is run.
Ash, we definetely need heroes. If only to inspire us, we need them.
JZ
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
very, very true!