About three weeks ago now, I wrote an article about how I am an idealist and still believe in heroes. How ironic it is now that the world has done its best to challenge that belief system in me this week.

I’m breaking a couple of my writing rules here. 1. This is going to be a political post, a very political post. 2. It’s probably going to use some R-rated language. If there’s none, then thank my editors for sparing you that. If all of this sounds unappealing to you, I understand, and see you next week.

I understand that many people are probably trying to take refuge from the shitstorm of political conversation that this past Tuesday and Wednesday inspired. For those people, I am sorry. However, I also want to make a point of saying that…well, what did you expect? And trying to tell people that “you don’t want to hear about it” as a means of shutting down their own conversations is an ideological cop out. Yes, it is exhausting to be surrounded by 24/7 political discussion, but people are scared of an increasingly bleak-looking future. They should be allowed to vent those fears.

I want to talk about this here as opposed to my own personal site because this place is not a temple dedicated to comic books. I want to allow my own site to be a safe haven from the bleak ongoing political situation. With that being said, I feel a great need to talk about this, so here we are.

For the last leg of my preamble, I want to say that I’m not sure if I waited too long or just long enough to write this. Yesterday and the day before, I was furious and ready to unload all of the anger and bile that has accumulated due to this orange shit-potato’s election to the office of president of the United States. Now… well, I’m still angry, obviously, but I’m not overflowing with fury like I was. That may be a good thing, so I can try to put together a thoughtful piece.

With that being said, still…fuck this guy.

Needless to say, I voted for the other guy—well, gal in this case. She wasn’t perfect by any stretch, and the party shot themselves in the foot by nominating someone mired in so much controversy. However, she was experienced beyond measure and far, far better than the alternatives. (I’m sorry, I am not a libertarian by any stretch of the imagination.)

I am afraid of what lies ahead. I am more afraid for the people who were marginalized and insulted by this thing that says it’s a human’s rhetoric and proposed policies.

That’s one thing—whatever this guy does next, he has already dealt an enormous amount of damage just by talking. This week’s rash of hate crimes and persecution against women and minorities are very much his fucking fault. Did he commit them himself? No. However, he helped construct the atmosphere where these subhuman shitheads felt comfortable accosting and spewing their backwards devolved opinions towards innocent people who asked for none of this. This is his fault. He made them feel okay doing these fucking putrid acts. That is on him.

That’s already bad enough, and he isn’t even in office yet. It’s also to say nothing of his running mate.

With all of this being said, do I hope he fails? Well, that depends on what he tries to do when he actually gets in office. To be more specific, do I hope he actually helps the people of this nation, all peoples of this nation? Of course. No amount of vindication is worth watching the continued suffering of people. Sure, I hope he actually finds a way to improve things for everybody. I’m just not holding my breath, and I’m still afraid.

This past week has felt somewhat surreal for me, even though it’s gotten painfully real for so many people already. It took a while for it to sink in for me. On Wednesday morning, I jokingly changed my Facebook profile picture to Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull and my banner photo to a Hydra logo from Marvel comics as a means of “blending in” to the new political atmosphere. As the day wore on, I got angrier. Once the news of hate crimes and harassment of minorities and women started coming in, I got fucking incensed.

But I still believe in heroes, and I’m still an idealist.

Now more than ever, we need to be there for each other. We’re all human beings, and we need to show some true camaraderie. Look out for each other, especially those who have been claimed to be less than human by this guy: Muslims, African Americans, Latin Americans, women, LGBTQIA peoples. Everyone. We need to prove that love is stronger than hate and that good will always triumph over evil. We need to be heroes for one another.

Apologies for the Greg Land art here. Also, believe it or not, that is actually Blade in the off-brand Spider-Man costume on the right.

There was a "Might Avengers"comic penned by Al Ewing that sticks in my mind. It was back during the Marvel NOW! push and it starred Luke Cage as the leader of the team. At the end of the first story arc, Luke Cage looks at a crowd of onlookers and proclaims that everyone can be an Avenger, anyone can be a savior to someone else. That stuck with me, and I believe the same. We can all be Avengers, Justice Leaguers, etc. We can stand as one, look the forces of hatred and bigotry in the eyes and say “No.”

I also want to apologize to women and minorities for what my fellow white, heterosexual, cisgender males have done.

On that note, I want to leave you guys with a famous Captain America quote written by the great J. Michael Straczynski that feels relevant now more than ever.