Hot Take: I Unapologetically Like John Walker, Like, Not Even In A “he Is Morally Gray And Interesting”

Hot take: I unapologetically like John Walker, like, not even in a “he is morally gray and interesting” kind of way. He was brave and had good intentions, he just wasn’t as quick to search for peaceful solutions and had several realistic flaws such as being insecure, ambitious and quick to follow orders for the establishment. Most people (on tumblr) just hate him because he is white so he must be evil or symbolically represent male white priviledge or something, because he didn´t romanticize terrorism as the writers made Sam start doing, and because he “unfairly” got the shield (The shield the dumb ass writers made Sam DECIDE to give up so they could have that sweet drama? THAT shield?). People say that Steve Rogers would have never done what John did, not even after his literal best friend was killed in front of his eyes, ehem… did we even watch the same movies? Did everyone just forget about that scene in Civil War after Tony tried to kill Bucky?

His reasons for murdering that terrorist guy that took part in the killing of his best friend and for wanting to apprehend a potentially dangerous group were waay more understandable than any of Karli’s actions AFTER she started killing innocent people “to send a message” while still claiming to have the moral highground instead of, you know, keep stealing and distributing food and medicines like they were exclusively doing at the beginning or something.

I get that it sucks the writers made the flag smashers the villians (I hate what they did with the good hearted and idealistic Sharon Carter as well), I myself would have prefered if Karli had been writen as an anti-hero or even new hero who teams up with Sam and Bucky, maybe the flag smashers could have been divided into different factions, some more extremist than others, and a government guy could have been the real or worst villain, but that sadly didn’t happen. The moment they wrote her blowing up that building full of unarmed people though, she was a self-righteous murderer just like Zemo, which would have been fine if that was the point of her character.

I was very irritated by the way the show writers, via Sam, tried to minimize her actions and make us feel sorry for her, dehumanizing the people she had killed in the process. We barely ever see her victims, they are mostly faceless entities who don´t matter in comparison to “poor well intentioned baby Karli”.

If the writers wanted to send the audience a message about “doing better” for refugees they could have done so by making the flag smashers the heroes that have been unjustly framed for the terrorist attacks (Which would have been an AMAZING plot twist), or writing them to be more complicated by making most of its members stand against the extemism of certain factions of the group, or by showing the good things they do, making them fight armed guards only. They should NOT have made terrorism seem “cool” and “trendy”, the deaths of civilians “necessary”, and the terrorists the “real” victims of… *gasp* being called… terrorists! The poor babies, noo, so offensive! The correct term is freedom fighters, nooo!

Needless to say, the woobification of the poor baby terrorists didn’t work for me and I wasn’t exactly horrified by Karli´s death or impressed by Sam´s corny victim blaming speech where he doesn´t actually give any practical ideas on how to solve the refugee crisis caused by the snap but sure does love to say the government officials all, indiscriminately (Maybe AOCortez or someone was there? I mean, idk), deserved to feel powerless as hostages because that, apparently, will make them sympathize with the people that made them fear for their lives instead of, I don´t know, seeing them as way too unreasonable to negociate with??

Now, I would have preferred for John Walker´s actor to play Lemar and viceversa, because I get that black characters get killed to motivate white characters far too often, so it would have been nicer to see it done the other way around for once. For John Walker to be the new flawed yet good hearted war veteran who has to redeem himself after making a huge mistake born out of pain for the loss of his friend, someone who has to develop and learn different tactics other than violence in order to defend people, someone who has to learn to question the status quo… and he just happens to be black like Sam. Their rivalry would not be even implicitly about race, but exclusively about differences in methods and about who gets the Captain America legacy. We could still have Bucky hating on him, the funny rivalry moments, no changes.

But sadly the writers needed a character to represent the white that didn’t deserve Sam’s shield but only got it for his race, or for looking similar to Steve, which is an important theme, but one that was perfectly explored already with the plotline about the original black supersoldier who was erased from history, and one that didn´t work for me because they made Sam give up the shield willingly BEFORE it was given to John, a war hero, so all I am getting is that simply being chosen for something important and accepting it because you think you can do the job, wanting justice for a friend, and not trusting terrorists to change their murderous ways is what made John “less than” Sam and Bucky.

I guess what I am trying to say is that John doesn´t deserve half the hate he gets and maybe if the writers had changed his race from the comic books then his character would have suffered less from being placed into a specific “personification of white male priviledge” box here on tumblr. No offence to the actor though, he was great.

Why was Isaiah recognised as a victim, but not Bucky?

(Just to be completely clear this is not me trying to take away any attention or downplaying the horrible and horrific things that was done to Isaiah in any way. Its just me wondering why they recognise Isaiah as a victim, but not Bucky)

Yes Isaiah went through racism as well, which is obviously horrible. But other than Isaiah and Bucky have a lot of parallels.

Had the supersoldier serum forced on them

Imprisoned for decades before managing to escape

Experimented on without their consent during their entire imprisonments

Tortured and abused during their entire imprisonments

Lost almost all of their loved ones because they died during the decades they were imprisoned

Lost everyone and everything they knew before their imprisonments

In tfatws they recognise what was done to Isaiah and that he was a victim as they should, but for Bucky they do the opposite.

For an example, lets look at how they talk about what dr Nagel admitted to. Dr Nagel dehumanised Isaiah and worked on samples from him from around 2014 to 2018 so around 30 years after Isaiah managed to escape, and they recognised the horribleness of that as they should. However he also admitted to working on the winter soldier program (aka the torture, abuse and anything else that went into keeping Bucky as the winter soldier) from around 1992 to 2014. So he was participating in Buckys torture and abuse for over 20 years! But that isnt even mentioned after dr Nagels said it and explained that was the only reason he was hired by the government and was able to experiment with the samples taken from Isaiah in the first place. Dr Nagel literally admitted to being one of Buckys abusers for over two decades, and no one even mentioned it?! No one called him out on what he had done to one of the main characters?! What the hell?!

I mean for all the talk about how Buckys trauma isnt more valid than others, the same isnt said for any of the other characters. All trauma is valid and should be treated like it! And just as Buckys trauma isnt more valid than Isaiahs, it goes the other way too. So why do they validate Isaiahs trauma and victimhood but do the opposite for Buckys? Is it because Isaiahs was racially motivated? I mean obviously that adds another layers, but Buckys trauma also has additional layers (what they did to his mind and being used as a weapon). However I would never invalidate either of them, because I recognise how wrong that is. Unfortunately the writers and creators of tfatws clearly didnt realise that.

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hbleak

1 year ago

Superior Spider-Man And Scarlet Spider In “The Haunting” Mission From Spider-Man Unlimited.

Superior Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider in “The Haunting” mission from Spider-Man Unlimited.

There is 100% less “SpOck and Kaine trying to strangle each other” in this scene than there should be.

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hbleak

3 years ago

No one is fucking talking about it but another black man was killed by the same police department that killed George Floyd they killed him 9 seconds after entering his apartment. No knock warrants are fucking bullshit. He was wrapped in his blanket he was innocent they had the wrong address there is body can cottage you cannot fucking deny this bullshit.

This is being hushed up and covered up and I cannot believe it took me until TODAY, SIX DAYS AFTER IT HAPPENED to find out about it.

Everyone should be talking about this shit.

All the BLM protests and here we are again. We cannot let a single one of these slide because that's how nothing changes and that's how innocent people are being killed at the hands of assholes who are happy to pull the trigger without hesitation. I'm so fucking upset right now and so should you be.

EDIT: THE ORIGINAL POST SAID NINE MINUTES I MEANT TO SAY NINE SECONDS

EDIT: THIS IS GETTING A LOT OF TRACTION PLEASE REBLOG THE VERSION OF THIS POST THAT HAS THE MOST REBLOGS WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

His name was Amir Locke

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hbleak

1 year ago

If one picture defined and personified settler colonialism in occupied Palestine, this would be it. https://t.co/Dxaqc38v5e

— Friendly Neighborhood Comrade (@SpiritofLenin) April 4, 2024

"Elderly Palestinian couple looking at their former home, now occupied by a couple from Brooklyn. 🇵🇸" [@/RamAbdu on X. April 4th, 2024.]

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hbleak

5 months ago

Euromaidan Press

Top-10 Russian genocidal quotes about Ukraine

Vladimir Putin and Russian officials have left no room for ambiguity: they openly aim to erase Ukrainians as…

High-profile Russians have left no doubt in anybody's mind that they are intent on committing genocide in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin and his ethno-nationalist minions are intent on wiping out the concept of Ukraine as a country. That is what genocide is about as defined Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Vladimir Putin, along with other Russian officials and state-controlled media, openly declare their objective: the obliteration of the Ukrainian nation. The machinery of Russian state propaganda promotes a genocidal mindset towards Ukrainians among Russian soldiers today. In Ukraine’s occupied territories, Russian forces are fulfilling their pledges through a series of atrocities, exemplified by the unearthing of mass graves and torture facilities in liberated cities such as Bucha and Izium.

You can see all ten quotes in the main link at the top of this post. But this is one that is particularly odious.

“[Ukrainian children] should have been drowned in the Tysyna [river], right there, where the duckling swims. Just drown those children, drown them right in Tysyna [river]… Whoever says that Russia occupied them, you throw them in the river with a strong undercurrent… Shove them right into those huts and burn them up… [Ukraine] is not supposed to exist at all,” Anton Krasovskyi, former Director of Broadcasting of Russia’s state-funded RT, said on 23 October 2022.

Putin and Company are basically Hamas-on-the-Volga. And we shouldn't be distracted by events elsewhere from the genocidal activities of Putin's Russia.

The Russian military’s aggression against Ukraine has resulted in numerous documented war crimes, as confirmed by international organizations, human rights NGOs, and Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office. The International Criminal Court (ICC) initiated an investigation into the situation in Ukraine on 2 March 2022, encompassing potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Furthermore, on 17 March 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, on suspicion of a specific war crime: the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Russia during the invasion.

Yep, Putin is a wanted war criminal. Despite that, there is a Putin Caucus in the US House of Representatives encouraged by Putin vassal Donald Trump.

If you are in the US, contact your representatives in the US House and urge them to make aid to Ukraine a priority. Any House member of either party is worth a message – though you may wish to skip any Republican with a grade below a C on this list.

For contact information and to find out exactly who represents your district, check out this site. Have your ZIP+4 ready.