Captain America Speech

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is my favorite Captain America speech ever.  This is what it means to be a hero.  It's not about powers or publicity.  It's about integrity.  It's about observing the world until you understand what's wrong with it, figuring out a solution to some part of that, and applying yourself to it.  It's about deciding your own personal code of honor from which you will not deviate no matter what other people do or don't do.  Heroes take responsibility.  An unsullied hero like Cap is just not budgable on this point. 

Conversely, this is my iconic villain speech.  Villains tend to focus on what they can do more than what they should do, and what people will think about them.  They're in it for their own purposes, their own desires, rather than what is good or what is needed.  When things to wrong, they consistently try to lay the blame on someone else, anyone else.

Comments

[gingicat]

Oh, I love that!

And I wrote that villain turning into a good guy for Yuletide. :D (Well, she wasn't a villain so much as not thinking through the consequences of her actions... and it was string theory.)

[johnpalmer]

I do like the villain speech, and it exemplifies one of my principles. Evil is (imho) more in the "I don't care what you want" than in the "I want...". A person who yearned to turn people into dinosaurs but wasn't evil would seek out volunteers. (And might find them!)

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I do like the villain speech, and it exemplifies one of my principles. Evil is (imho) more in the "I don't care what you want" than in the "I want...". <<

That makes sense.

>> A person who yearned to turn people into dinosaurs but wasn't evil would seek out volunteers. (And might find them!) <<

LOL I'm sure you would! I'm equally sure that never occurred to this guy. He wanted to do it so he just did it. That lack of forethought is another common feature of evil.

In Terramagne, there are healers, bodysculptors, and people with various other powers who can make major changes like that. Most of them put it to therapeutic use. Occasionally it happens by accident -- there's a nasty example of that in print already. I haven't seen anyone using malicious transformation yet, but it has probably happened.

[stardreamer]

That speech by Cap is lovely. But there's a catch... anyone can decide that they're in the position he's describing, where the whole country is going in the wrong direction and it's up to them to stand up and say, "No, YOU move." And right now the people who seem to be doing it the loudest are the anti-gay and anti-woman and anti-poor leaders. Every shred of social progress we made in the 20th century (or since) is, to them, an example of the country moving in the wrong direction, and they are fired up to be the person who stands athwart the path of equality and human rights and says, "No, YOU move."

(This is a common problem with that sort of inspirational speech. I can't read any of them without hearing them in the voices of people like James Dobson and Paul Ryan.)

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

The difference I see is that Cap talks about responsibility. Even if you don't already know who he is, it's there in the speech, that willingness to stand up, in public, and take the consequences if you're supporting an unpopular stance.

The zealots, a lot of them work in secret, behind closed doors, in trade deals and laws that nobody gets to read until they're passed. Even the ones who speak openly and make all the noise, they're not keen on responsibility. They always want to weasel out of the consequences. They want to get something for nothing.

Another major difference is integrity. Captain America's ideals and goals and actions and outcomes line up consistently. This is not the case with most zealots. They'll say one thing but do another.

[clockworklady.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was good I never read comic books as a younger girl, because I would have wanted a hero to save me. I want to work with Captain America.

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

People have all different kinds of reactions. Some people want to be rescued. Some people want to become the hero, or work alongside one. Some want to be the trusted scientist or best friend or butler who provides the backup.

I usually wanted to rescue the heroes.

Re: Well...

[polydad.livejournal.com]

Ordinarily I wouldn't nitpick on a word, but words are what you do. Not *the* hero, unless you're talking archetypes. The existing hero gets to keep his job; we're going to become hero/as *too*.

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

We were talking about comic books and self-insertion. So both are actually relevant: people who want to become "the" hero are wishing themselves into that hero's storyline. Cosplayers, for instance. People who want to become "a" hero are looking for the same profession but a different position.

[polydad.livejournal.com]

There's an old parable about the grass bending before the storm, and surviving while the oak tree falls. There's truth in that. But it's also true, that if you *are* an oak, no amount of pretending to be grass is going to be of use.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

One should also remember that a goat's rarely pulled an oak tree out by the roots and munched it down.

Snake had to teach me that one doesn't have to be fast, or mighty, to be astoundingly effective when being one's self.

[paradigmshifty.livejournal.com]

Here's the full quote, as the one in the comic is a paraphrase. (Necessarily so.)

"For in a republic, who is "the Country"? Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. Who, then, is "the Country"? Is it the newspaper? is it the pulpit? Is it the school superintendent? Why, these are mere parts of the country, not the whole of it; they have not command, they have only their little share in the command. They are but one in a thousand; it is in the thousand that command is lodged; they must determine what is right and what is wrong; they must decide who is a patriot and who isn't.

Who are the thousand--that is to say, who are "the Country"? In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide on way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country--hold up your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of." - Mark Twain - "Papers of the Adam Family"

[westrider.livejournal.com]

solarbird has a bit about how her band, Crime and the Forces of Evil (http://crimeandtheforcesofevil.com/), is composed of supervillains. They were superheroes, but then the world changed around them, and standing up for the same things now saw them labeled as villains.

Sam Vimes also has a lot of this brand of heroism in him.

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

That's pretty interesting.