A Special Captain America "Public Announcements"

I was a little late in hearing about this, but after reading about this on David Brothers' blog (via Kalinara's and Ragnell's blogs), my blood is boiling so much that I NEED to address this.


*** ATTENTION, WARREN ELLIS, MARVEL COMICS, AND ALL THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH SECRET AVENGERS#21! *** 


 Judging by the scene in last week's Secret Avengers#21......



...and especially this panel....

..it's very clear that you are operating under some serious misconceptions about Captain America, heroes, torture, and, well, a lot of things.


So let me enlighten you:


1. Captain America does not condone torture. Torture is one of the most brutal and barbaric crimes in our society. We're not talking mere "Batman dangling a crook from a roof" interrogation; we're talking actual torture. And there's no way in hell Captain America would just stand by and let it happen, let alone order it.


2. Steve Rogers is STILL Captain America, even without his costume. The most common defense of this scene was that Steve wasn't officially Captain America here. Bullshit. It doesn't matter if he's wearing a SHIELD outfit, or a Punisher costume, or even a goddamn clown suit. Steve IS Captain America.


3. Captain America is supposed to represent what America SHOULD BE, not what America IS.
Yes, I know that torture has been one of our country's dirty little secrets that's just been more exposed in recent years. But that doesn't make it right, or what America should stand for. And the whole idea of Captain America is to represent America's ideals, not its dirty reality.


4. Torture isn't as glamorous or effective as you think. Blame the "24" TV show for this common misconception, with all those scenes of Jack Bauer torturing the bad guys to get the vital info he needs to save L.A. from blowing up, or whatever dire catastrophe it is. That's fiction. The reality is that much of the info gained from torture is bad info. Reports showed that the finding of Osama bin Laden may have actually been delayed because of the garbage information gained from using "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Even James Robinson's awful "Cry For Justice" showed the heroes essentially getting nowhere after torturing bad guys for 3 issues. Torture is much more effective in getting the target to give you bad info that you may want to hear just to fulfill your agenda (i.e. "The Iraquis are enriching Uranium").


4. If you say you don't condone torture and then let someone else torture without lifting a hand to stop them, you're STILL CONDONING TORTURE. You can say you're not condoning it until your voice gives out, but if you're content to sit back and let it happen, even if you leave the room, you're fucking condoning it. It's just that simple.


5. Captain America is NOT a fucking coward. Even if he were resigned to the fact that torture was the only solution, he would NOT leave the room and let others do it in his absence. He would force himself to watch it and oversee it, even if for no other reason than to reinforce that it must not happen again.


He doesn't do this: