Pyro

One of the opening quotes to the film X-Men 2 is, “Sharing the world has not been humanity’s defining attribute.” Racism has been a problem for humanity for as long as anyone can remember. It’s a man-made virus that seems immune from any attack. X-Men 2 does a wonderful job of commenting on racism and different types of “otherness”. Humanity, often portrayed as a white man, represents the self in the ‘self vs. other’ diagram. His black, Asian, and Hispanic brothers and sisters are left to be the ‘other’. In one of the most poignant moments of the film, Striker brings out his mangled son, who is only still living with the help of a machine. When asked what he had done to his son, he responds, “He was already dead.” Striker believes that mutants are sub-human, as good as dead, and that they should just all die. Magneto’s not much better; he’d be just as happy for all the non-mutant people to die. But where would it end for either of them? With the new precedent for killing those who are other, who would next fall prey to the purge?  And Magneto, would he be satisfied once the people were gone, or would he want a class structure determined by who had the best powers? My opinion is obvious biased based on how I wrote these questions, but I truly believe that once you start down this road that it never ends. Destroying the ‘others’ never solves anything because there will always be someone to fill that role. In reality, we will always be different – race, gender, religion, political views, etc. God didn’t create billions of identical children. We must accept each other and become a melting pot, all under the same banner, united in our diverseness.

                Overt racism is easy to see and is exemplified by Striker’s character. He says his son is dead to him; he calls Wolverine an animal and a failed experiment; his offensive comments have no end. It’s important to fight against this offensive language, but it isn’t the entire problem. There is also inferential racism, which is more passive and difficult to pinpoint. Magneto falls prey to this type of racism against his own kind. He wants mutants to be recognized for their powers and the wonderful things they can do. He takes this idea a step too far, which creates problems. He wants mutants to be seen and treated as Gods. Because he believes this, he is willing to kill innocent people and take advantage of them. For him, the end justifies the means. How is this inferential racism, you might ask. Well, he reinforces the preconceived notion that mutants are a dangerous, manipulative, and villainous breed. In any social cause, I am very wary of those who are willing to resort to violence. That violence could end up being called terrorism or freedom fighting in the history books; it just depends who writes them. I believe in standing up for what you believe in, but in much less drastic ways.