Ted Cruz Criticized for Naming "Watchmen" Character as One of His Favorite Superheroes

[Paradox]

SUPERECWFAN1 could have ended the thread:

"And the American People will say , please don't run for office.....and I'll say ...NO."

Winner, winner...

[Paradox]

When Cruz tells me his fave is Rorschach, it's no different to me than when others of his ilk say their favorite writer is Ayn Rand. Because of COURSE it is.

[worstblogever]

That's kind of redundant.

It really isn't, when you compare John Walker and Steve Rogers.

[Shawn Hopkins]

It really isn't, when you compare John Walker and Steve Rogers.

Steve Rogers is a Social Justice Warrior. There's a great scene in Mark Waid's first run where Sharon Carter gets distracted and turns around to see cap literally breaking chains of oppression and freeing dissidents. Cap is a global view, freedom for all kind of guy. Contrast to Walker's much more narrow nationalism.

[CJStriker]

Observers questioned Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz for saying that "Watchmen" character Rorschach was one of his top five superheroes.


Full article here.

WOW........Really, This is an Issue? We have 1,001 things happening in the world an this is an Issue....Yea No. =/

It equals to this IMO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAA1xgTTw9w


Also, this below sums my opinion on point as well:

The real question is why are people are questioning candidates about their favorite superheroes instead of asking them about actual political issues.

2nd...Check...Co-Sign.

[shgs]

WOW........Really, This is an Issue? We have 1,001 things happening in the world an this is an Issue....Yea No. =/

I wasn't aware there was an upper limit to how many consecutive issues can exist.

[PretenderNX01]

The real question is why are people are questioning candidates about their favorite superheroes instead of asking them about actual political issues.

In a way- it's a Rorschach test

Find out what they admire and see if it says anything about their personality. The funny thing to me about the liberal/conservative aspect of Watchmen is that W Bush would be accused by truthers of doing what Ozymandias did.

[worstblogever]

Steve Rogers is a Social Justice Warrior. There's a great scene in Mark Waid's first run where Sharon Carter gets distracted and turns around to see cap literally breaking chains of oppression and freeing dissidents. Cap is a global view, freedom for all kind of guy. Contrast to Walker's much more narrow nationalism.

Spot on, Shawn.

[Michael P]

This on the tails of Cruz's hilarious "Kirk is a Republican, Picard is a Democrat" bit last week. (That was him, and not one of the other occupants of the clown car, right?)

[worstblogever]

This on the tails of Cruz's hilarious "Kirk is a Republican, Picard is a Democrat" bit last week. (That was him, and not one of the other occupants of the clown car, right?)

No, you're right, that was Cruz. He got smacked down by Shatner for it, too.

[Rene Narciso]

But the implication was that he behaves that way because he's mentally unstable. The narrative wasn't saying "look at this brave man who fights the system", the narrative was saying "look at this nut, he's so dedicated to his mission that he won't even take a bath!"

Actually, I think the narrative is saying more something like "look at how screwed-up this world is, only the nut is capable of fighting for his beliefs". The sane men that are contrasted with Rorschach are tragically inneffective. Nite Owl, who is as much of a common, decent man as a superhero can be, is cast adrift and is unable to cope with the situations presented. Rorschach's therapist is shown up as a smug, hypocritical guy that is shaken by the nut that he had tried to cure (and then died, with all the other ordinary people that died, because none of them had enough agency to influence the big picture).

[Shawn Hopkins]

Actually, I think the narrative is saying more something like "look at how screwed-up this world is, only the nut is capable of fighting for his beliefs". The sane men that are contrasted with Rorschach are tragically inneffective. Nite Owl, who is as much of a common, decent man as a superhero can be, is cast adrift and is unable to cope with the situations presented. Rorschach's therapist is shown up as a smug, hypocritical guy that is shaken by the nut that he had tried to cure (and then died, with all the other ordinary people that died, because none of them had enough agency to influence the big picture).

Ozymandias is shown to be super effective, to borrow a term from Pokemon. None of the superheroes ever had any chance of stopping his scheme, least of all Rorschach.

[Paradox]

Rorschach is no more effective in the story than the others. Nothing he does progresses his delusional black and white view of the world, Ozy handles him physically with an air of disdain, and he's so unable to adapt his views to any kind of reality that he ends up opting for basically suicide because he can't handle that the world isn't cut-and-dried.

At least Dan comes right out and admits "Hell, I dunno, I'm in WAY over my head, here."

[Rene Narciso]

Ozymandias is shown to be super effective, to borrow a term from Pokemon. None of the superheroes ever had any chance of stopping his scheme, least of all Rorschach.

Except for the very last panel, where it really seems like Rorschach's actions may cause Ozymandias's scheme to topple. Or maybe not, since it's unreliable Rorschach's diary being published in a fringe magazine.

But I'm tired of going round and round with you guys. My point is just that Alan Moore's story is complicated, and that may be the same point you guys are making. I don't feel that Rorschach is presented as an unqualified figure of admiration, but I also don't think he is presented as an unqualified figure of derision. The same goes for all the other characters.

As someone aptly said above, the whole thing is a Rorschach's test. People may look at these characters and see what they want to see, and they will not be "wrong". Alan Moore at his best is sneaky like that.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Except for the very last panel, where it really seems like Rorschach's actions may cause Ozymandias's scheme to topple. Or maybe not, since it's unreliable Rorschach's diary being published in a fringe magazine.

I think that might have created a mild "Bush Did 9/11" style conspiracy, not enough to derail the plan.