Comicsgate

[ProactiveMan]

Originally Posted by Cure

Is punching Hitler really a political thing, though? Like, political statements can be disagreed with. Who doesn't think Hitler should be punched in the face?

As luck would have it he punched himself in the face with a Walther PPK so everyone can relax.

I could put forward a case as to why I disagree with a comic book character punching Hitler, but it wouldn't really be a political thing so much as a question of good taste. Hitler and his cronies caused so much pain and suffering that including him in a cheese-ball superhero comic feels a bit crass to me.

It's also a tiny bit pathetic. It's easy to write 'invulnerable muscle-man punches Hitler', while you’re sitting in a plush chair, drinking coffee, and listening to Spotify. In reality, Hitler jaw was beyond the reach of the average person, and posturing as though you would totally knock him out is a little bit disrespectful to the people who died trying, and the people who died and suffered because they were powerless to do anything. We are powerless to do anything. Hitler died before we were born – we cannot effect the outcome, and dreaming about doing so is just an impotent, self-aggrandising power fantasy.

You could also argue that it is very important to remember history as it actually happened – especially catastrophic events like the world wars. That old line about “Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it” is pertinent here. The problem is that once we start fictionalising history, the facts and the fantasy start to blur together. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from WWII; about failures of politics, economics, communication… and it’s very complex. Nobody’s going to learn anything reducing it down to ‘an evil guy and his minions tried to take over the world and we kicked their asses! Oh and buy the way I heard that he had supernatural powers and invented UFOs!!!’