More Chuck Dixon

Feelings on all sides of the debate have been hurt and tempers have been raised, so I'm pretty sure that posting more stuff is a bad idea, but I made the mistake of reading more comments by Chuck Dixon. There's no point that I can see in addressing these criticisms to him directly, as I would come across as the straw-man 'impassioned liberal' he believes in and a troll, but I needed to respond somewhere. And, hey, look, I have an lj!

For the most part, writing the liberal POV is easy whether you're a liberal or not. Liberals are impassioned and passion is easy to write. Conservatives approach things more practically and seldom speak in slogans or platitudes so they're views are harder to express in bites.
The only exception I've encountered is when I had to write Batman expressing views I don't share. Batman's no knee-jerk and would have come to his opinions after much thought. So, I would need to look at the issue in question and have Batman state his position in way that as convincing, cool and dramatic. (here)

I think it's highly unlikely that all conservatives have reached their value system as a result of careful, thoughful consideration -- many are simply brought up with those beliefs. So are many liberals; on the flipside are many liberals who have reached their opinions through thought and personal deliberation. I find it offensive that Dixon feels that the only liberal that's difficult to write is a smart liberal, because then he has to think about why on earth they'd be liberal. If you don't hold respect for your ideological opponents, or at least acknowledge them as your intellectual equals, how can the debate ever progress?

We needed a scene in which Connor undeniably had sex with a female so we could stop the assumptions that Connor was gay. (here)

Explicit sex in comics is bad! There're no homophobic double standards! oh wait no

Most kids (by sheer weight of probability) will have encountered a pregnant woman in real life long before they see one in a comic. By the reverse, kids who read comics will most likely see gay interaction in their favorite comic book long before they see (if they ever see) romantic interaction between two gay people in real life. (here)

Talk about perpetuating a vicious cycle. I've heard young, queer people express dismay, on numerous occasions, that they can't enjoy the same freedoms of public affection as their heterosexual friends. You basically have to don mental riot gear before you dare hold your girlfriend's hand if you're female, and that's in permissive/meltingpot/sophisticated places -- forget more narrow-viewed locales. If the media stopped treating gay people as weird, creepy, unwholesome, unsuitable for kids, inappropriate for superhero comics, etc, then maybe kids who read comics might see a world that's more willing to express love and affection where the ickle vulnerable children might see.