T1000, the Joker, and the Hulk Are All Voting for McCain

Who knew so many comic book and sci-fi nerds were devout Republicans? Or that Catwoman cracks her whip for liberty? All this and more in a Barely Political video from the San Diego Comic-Con.

Brian Doherty on the lasting appeal of super heroes here. My obit for comic book artist Michael Turner here.

Hat tip to Jason at TFS.

Comments

[KidCarnivore]

Darth Nialus and Gomorrean Guard were, apparently, unavailable for comment.

[Brian Defferding]

I always thought the Hulk and Wolverine were Libertarians; seeing they got that government-going-over-militant-and-intrusive and both preferring to be left alone thing.

One could also make a case for Captain America being libertarian-leaning after reading the Civil War storyline.

/is aware of exposing full frontal nerdity

[Matt J]

Gomorrean Guard did comment, but nobody could understand what he was saying through that fucking mask.

[Mike Riggs]

It's Gamorrean, for chrissakes.

[zzerg]

These people are fuckin stupid.

[J sub D]

This is as nerdy as renaissance festivals. IOW, just fun folks having a good time in an affluent, relatively free society. Still, I will likely get political advice elsewhwere.

Thanks Mike, my day has been brightened.

[SugarFree]

I wonder how many are Heinlein-atarians?

(I'm one myself, so I'm not trying to hate, but you can take that way too far.)

[Urkobold?]

THE URKOBOLD WAS NOT AWARE THAT SO MANY BUSTY, ATTRACTIVE WOMEN WERE GEEKY NERD-FIENDS. UNTIL NOW.

[SugarFree]

As for costumes, I imagine that if you have a giant hammer for a hand and are 8 feet tall, you have almost no one else you can dress up as except Plastic Man. Maybe Ralph Dibny. What tragic birth defects. I bet his mom smoked.

[galthran]

Urkobold should realize that this video features all of the busty, attractive women at this enormous flock of nerds. Gaggle of nerds? Pod? Help me out with the counter for nerds please.

[SugarFree]

galthran,

I believe the phrase you are looking for is long-box of nerds.

[Orange Line Special]

Cool!

Say, did you know that when ABC "News" first started promoting BarelyPolitical's ObamaGirl it only had about 700 views? Other MSM 'tards (pardon me) joined in such as JoeKlein, the WaPo, and so on.

Providing entertainment like that helped mask the fact that they weren't doing their job.

Oh, wait...

[Urkobold?]

THE URKOBOLD HAS THE WEIBSKOBOLD DRESS UP AS HILDA FROM HOGAN'S HEROES ON OCCASION.

A GROUP OF NERDS IS CALLED A "TREKKING."

[Elemenope]

It's Gamorrean, for chrissakes.

And Darth Nihilus, not "Nialus".

I wonder how many are Heinlein-atarians?

I'm not sure how coherent a political ideology one can draw from Heinlein. He had tendencies, sure, but never really consistently, except for venerating the thinking, independent person (idealized to allgetout). I'm currently reading Job: A Comedy of Justice (one of the few of his I've missed the first run through), and I'm having trouble with the protagonist being so darned polite and OK with his Norse girlfriend/companion/chick's beliefs. He's so *reasonable*, which while not excluded right-out by his chosen profession and originating reality, should be vanishingly improbable.

[Warren]

OMFNEG!!!

Catwoman I LOVE you.
I want you to have my kittens.

MMMMI-YOWWWW!!

[Episiarch]

Mike Riggs | August 7, 2008, 3:21pm | #

It's Gamorrean, for chrissakes.

And I reiterate my earlier posting about Mike "having" a girlfriend.

A group of nerds is a "Gygax of nerds", or, alternately, a "Roddenberry of nerds".

I don't know about the Urkobold's comment about "so many busty, attractive women". The Farscape con that I attended (NEVER. AGAIN.) was loaded with women, and they were all dumpy, chubby, ugly fangirls.

[SugarFree]

Elemenope,

The key to Job is to read up on his relationship with his wife. The book is largely an allegory of their relationship.

Heinlein is a libertarian gate-way drug, much like Rand, was all I was getting at. I had some trouble distinguishing libertarianism and conservatism early on. Maybe these poor souls never got past it.

[Episiarch]

I'm not sure how coherent a political ideology one can draw from Heinlein

I like the Rational Anarchist philosophy from Professor Bernardo de la Paz in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

If I find a rule tolerable, I follow it. If I find it intolerable, I break it. (There are also the extreme individualist elements of it that I like.)

I'd say that all humans are basically Rational Anarchists, which makes it a neat little philosophy.

[Urkobold?]

EPISIARCH,

YOU HAVE EYES, BUT YOU DO NOT SEE. THE URKOBOLD HAS TITS-RAY VISION, HOWEVER, SO HE FORGIVES YOU YOUR MERELY HUMAN OVERSIGHT. OR IS THAT UNDERSIGHT?

THE POWER OF GEEKY NERD SEX SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED. THE URKOBOLD USED TO BANG MARY SHELLEY, AND SHE WAS THE QUEEN OF BUSTY NERD-WENCHES.

[Elemenope]

The key to Job is to read up on his relationship with his wife. The book is largely an allegory of their relationship.

Ah. I shall have to look that up. Thanks.

Heinlein is a libertarian gate-way drug, much like Rand, was all I was getting at.

Kinda. But sometimes it's cut with *STARSHIP TROOPERS!!!*, [ahem], that is, militarism. Burns in the throat, if you know what I mean. I thought MHM and Friday were his best stabs at Libertarianism. I especially like his quip in Friday about a person's solemn duty to pollute the data pool so that tracking and control systems become useless.

If I find a rule tolerable, I follow it. If I find it intolerable, I break it. (There are also the extreme individualist elements of it that I like.)

I'd say that all humans are basically Rational Anarchists, which makes it a neat little philosophy.

Yeah...but all humans are basically raging assholes. So, there's that downside.

[SugarFree]

Kinda.

Don't argue with me, boy!

I was voted the number one comment on Pajiba this week!

And I foolishly give it away to you schmucks for free.

[Episiarch]

Yeah...but all humans are basically raging assholes. So, there's that downside.

You're not that bad, dude, don't be so hard on yourself. Now NutraSweet is a different story.

[galthran]

Wow, better nerd counters than I had even hoped for. I thought the first was pure win, then the other two! Well, Roddenberry not so much. But now I have different counters for different flavors of nerd. Blechhh... nerdflavor

I guess I'm the "longbox" type... even though it sounds kind of dirty as I type that.

[SugarFree]

Elemenope,

If you never have... It's fun to read Mistress and then Steel Beach by John Varley. It's basically the liber-Moon 200 years later. And the radical separatists of the novel are called Heinleiners.

Varley is one of a number of writers who have spent most of their careers "dealing" with Heinlein's influence on the genre. John Barnes is another. Even to the extent that both have Future History series and have written juveniles.

[SugarFree]

I guess I'm the "longbox" type... even though it sounds kind of dirty as I type that.

Showers won't help. Trust me.

[Episiarch]

THE POWER OF GEEKY NERD SEX SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED

The Urkobold speaks truth; nerd girls can get pretty crazy. The problem is finding attractive ones, because they usually don't end up as nerd girls or stay one for long.

[Warren]

What are you people prattling on about? Didn't you see CATWOMAN? Didn't you hear her, express her contempt for the state and her love of material wealth. DIDN'T YOU FEEL THE STING OF HER TAIL?

CATWOMAN
WANT!

[the innominate one]

my lord Urkobold:

I daresay the hot, busty nerd-wenches were being paid to be there.

[SuperMike]

sometimes it's cut with *STARSHIP TROOPERS!!!*, [ahem], that is, militarism.

That's the problem with libertarianism these days, there's not enough room for any,"I really hate to have to do this, but it's time to kill the bastards" militarists. As much as I agree with John Derbyshire's isolationist "Libertarianism in one country" idea, when people screw with us in ways that potentially affect our liberty, I don't have much problem with our volunteer army wrecking their stuff to teach them a lesson.

[Elemenope]

I don't have much problem with our volunteer army wrecking their stuff to teach them a lesson.

Oh, I don't either. My thing is that Heinlein's parables' subtlety on that point is lost on those who use it as their gateway drug into right-wing thought. Sure, some of us come out alright, but some take a stupid-turn somewhere and end up shilling for Neo-cons.

It is the only reason I would not recommend Heinlein to a political naif.

[Elemenope]

Varley is one of a number of writers who have spent most of their careers "dealing" with Heinlein's influence on the genre.

Not to speak ill of the master, but Heinlein's influence on the genre (and the expectations of people who consume it) has been, IMO in parts good and in others bad, and I would imagine that "dealing" with it has its Damoclean edges.

The dude can do setting like nobody else, and he was a genius at working in socio-political commentary into those settings, but his characterization leaves a great deal to be desired. The dude cranked out Mary Sues like it was his fucking job. Well, come to think of it, it *was* his fucking job, but that's only because people came to expect it. And since he originated in the juvenile fiction end of things, he was barely if ever able to resist the didactic tendencies that destroy good exposition.

[Sam Grove]

I'm sure some will take issue with this comment, but tits can be too big.

[Hugh Akston]

I have never felt my political views expressed so well by another person until I heard it from Ghost Rider.

[Episiarch]

I'm sure some will take issue with this comment, but tits can be too big.

I'm with you, Sam.

[Warren]

Sam,
That's like saying, you can have too much money.

[The Winter Soldier]

Take, for example, the URKOBOLD.

[Sam Grove]

OTH, Catwoman is very appealing.

That's like saying, you can have too much money.

No, it's not. Remember, the bigger they are, the farther they fall.

[Urkobold?]

THE URKOBOLD LAUGHS AT YOU WEAK, PUNY HUMANS. WHILE HE REJECTS ARTIFICIAL MAMMARIES OF UNUSUAL SIZE, HUGE NATURAL BREASTS ARE A DIVINE GIFT. MOCK THEM AT YOUR OWN PERIL.

COME SATISFY THE URKOBOLD WITH YOUR GRAVITY-DEFYING BOSOMS, WEIBSKOBOLD. AH, YES.

[eCurmudgeon]

Where's Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog when you really need him?

[Syd]

Elemenope | August 7, 2008, 5:22pm | #
And since he originated in the juvenile fiction end of things, he was barely if ever able to resist the didactic tendencies that destroy good exposition.

Actually he originated with straight science fiction. The juveniles started about ten years into his career and include some of his very best novels.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

"I daresay the hot, busty nerd-wenches were being paid to be there."

Not necessarily. Sometimes a fairly hot girl, with nerdy tendencies, can go fairly far in life without knowing she is that hot. Beste by doubts, these kind of girls can show up at a ComicCon and the like looking really hot (though not fully knowing it). These are the kind that should be targeted for sexual conquest (voluntary of course).

[Mr. Nice Guy]

As for Heinlen, I've always thought everything P.K. Dick wrote about him was dead on...

[Elemenope]

Actually he originated with straight science fiction. The juveniles started about ten years into his career and include some of his very best novels.

Actually For Us, the Living,his first significant novel, is barely science fiction at all, and wasn't published during the early period in any case (kept in a drawer or some variation thereof, and a good thing, too). His first *widely-distributed* work was the juveniles, many of which I concur were quite good. But they were still juveniles.

[Mike Laursen]

As for Heinlen, I've always thought everything P.K. Dick wrote about him was dead on...

What'd he say?

[Rick Barton\'s award winning n]

Hay all you libertarians! It's Bob Barr now!

The gals there with libertarian sentiments are definitely the best looking.

(Hey any YouTubers, why is it that the featured vid just starts playing now when you go to the channel? This started happening just last night)

[Rick Barton\'s award winning n]

One of the gals in the vid:

I'd be an anarchist but I like money too muck

Non-sequitur alert!

[Rick Barton\'s award winning n]

If he woulda asked me, my response woulda been:

I'm a Solid Republican so I'm voting for Bob Barr.

[SugarFree]

Elemnope,

Sorry, you're wrong. All of the below came out before Rocket Ship Galileo. RAH was a well-establish and popular author long before the juveniles. The pulp science fiction novel market really didn't get going until after the war because it was difficult to get paper that could be sewn or burst glue bound. Both Sixth Column and Beyond This Horizon were considered novels, even if they had only been serialized in Astounding. From 42-46 he worked as a research engineer in the war effort and wrote most of his early adult novel during that time, to be published later. Rocket wasn't started until after the war.

1939
Life-Line
Misfit

1940
Requiem
"If This Goes On--"
"Let There Be Light"
The Roads Must Roll
Coventry
Blowups Happen
The Devil Makes the Law (Magic, Inc.)

1941
Sixth Column
"And He Built a Crooked House"
Logic of Empire
Beyond Doubt
They
Solution Unsatisfactory
Universe
Methuselah's Children
"--We Also Walk Dogs"
Elsewhere (Elsewhen)
By His Bootstraps
Common Sense
Lost Legion (Lost Legacy)

1942
"My Object All Sublime"
Goldfish Bowl
Pied Piper
Beyond This Horizon
Waldo
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

1947
The Green Hills of Earth
Space Jockey
Columbus Was a Dope
It's Great to Be Back
Jerry Is a Man (Jerry Was a Man)
Water Is for Washing