Frank Miller is Anti-Occupy
Via: Frank Miller
Well this was certainly a surprise. Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns, 300) apparently doesn't think too highly of the Occupy movement, and he recently voiced this opinion on his website. Let's get to it. Here's the post in its entirety:
Everybody’s been too damn polite about this nonsense:
The “Occupy” movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. “Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.
“Occupy” is nothing short of a clumsy, poorly-expressed attempt at anarchy, to the extent that the “movement” – HAH! Some “movement”, except if the word “bowel” is attached - is anything more than an ugly fashion statement by a bunch of iPhone, iPad wielding spoiled brats who should stop getting in the way of working people and find jobs for themselves.
This is no popular uprising. This is garbage. And goodness knows they’re spewing their garbage – both politically and physically – every which way they can find.
Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy.
Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you’ve been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you’ve heard terms like al-Qaeda and Islamicism.
And this enemy of mine — not of yours, apparently - must be getting a dark chuckle, if not an outright horselaugh - out of your vain, childish, self-destructive spectacle.
In the name of decency, go home to your parents, you losers. Go back to your mommas’ basements and play with your Lords Of Warcraft.
Or better yet, enlist for the real thing. Maybe our military could whip some of you into shape.
They might not let you babies keep your iPhones, though. Try to soldier on.
Schmucks.
FM
Some people are just flat out pissed, one of them remarking "You are now dead to me." There's also a few former fans calling Miller out as he used to be a rather anti-corporate presence in the comic book industry. Regardless, this blog doesn't appear to be very good PR for him, yielding over 5,000 comments (most of them not happy) over the course of a week.
What do you guys think?: Should Miller have kept his mouth shut or do you respect the guy for speaking his mind?
I'm not going to pretend he didn't see this backlash coming, so the post is obviously a pot-stirrer that's going to cost him some fans.
UPDATE: Looks like ole Frankie got his wish. As of 1am this morning, shit has been going down as police attempt to clear Zuccotti Park.
Also, more shameful than the eviction of the protestors is the trashing of the 5,000+ books that made up the "People's Library." I don't mind police handing out a few well needed wood shampoos (have you seen the amount of dreadlocks down there?), but the disposal of perfectly good books is inexcusable.
UPDATE PART II: THE UPDATENING: The books are safe after all. Huzzah! Wood shampoos for everyone!
-Editor
News by Brandon Tietz
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Comments
I'm not entirely unconvinced that this was said purely out of misanthropy.
Rock on, Frank Miller
well, he certainly has been keeping abreast of faux-news spin...
This really isn't a well-written criticism of OWS (although, lol at the people that think that this is just "faux-news spin"). That being said, who cares? You can enjoy his books based on their merit. Don't let the politics of the artist get in the way of enjoying the art. You'll quickly find yourself a very bored person.
I had no idea that I should be opposing Islamicism. I feel so ignorant.
We all wear tinted glasses methinks.
Rose colored, Mirrored, and 3D to mention just a few.
Frank Miller has ascended mightily in my estimation.
I love the variety of opinions on this.
Diversity is good.
I love that no one is calling anyone else who disagrees with them names, and for a comment section that is quite civil.
His Islamophobia is so outright it's hilarious and he's had pretty blatant racist undertones in his stuff for a damn long time. He clearly has different political views than a lot of his audience. Big deal, it happens. If you find it that bad, don't read his stuff anymore. But my suggestion would be to stop reading his stuff because he hasn't done anything worth reading in a hell of a long time, not just because he doesn't agree with a protest.
I have only ever bought a handfulful of graphic novel my entire life. I will be buying more this week just to support this guy.
He must be the 1%. I like Alan Moore better anyway.
I am not in the 1%, but am not in any 99% that the OWS people claim to represent.
Last night on the Daily Show, Leymah Gbowee talked about protesting for real. After hearing her, I think I have to read her book. The extended interview is available on the Daily Show site. It was some good stuff.
Saw that. All those whiny protestors who think they've got it so bad need to take a page from her book, literally. She puts those trust fund hippies to shame.
HAHAHA Dave McKean just got into this on his Twitter
People who get rubbed on by Eva Mendes are not allowed to be unhappy, therefore I disregard everything he said. Let the statement be stricken from the internet.
Miller's racial prejudices are fairly easy to see, but if you strip away his xenophobia and chest-thumping he's pretty spot-on. The Occupy "Movement" is a jumbled mismash of fractured pseudo-political ideologies, spear-headed by a cross section of young, spoiled upper-middle class white suburbanites and equally spoiled intellectuals.
What irritates people like Miller - and people like me - isn't necessary a differing political ideology, but rather that the Occupy movement skirts the law at the expense of those of working our 9-to-5s. Do I think that CEOs getting golden parachutes is fair? No. But I also don't think its fair that I - and other working citizens - have to foot the extra bill for police presence and protection of protesters that are using and abusing freedoms of speech and free assembly while snarkily thumbing their nose at the very people that have afforded them those freedoms.
The second one of these Occupy groups files for a legitimate permit and starts paying the overtime bills for police instead of shifting that burden on to me I'll take them seriously. Until then: they're criminals (loitering, littering, and unlawful assembly) and should be arrested/dispersed.
looks like good old Frank has spent a little too much time in his alternate comic book worlds and as such has developed quite a phobia. Watch out Frank, the bad guys are gonna get you.
He has good timing considering he recently published the worst comic that has ever been created: Holy Terror. Just another reason never to read or watch anything he does ever again. Previous to Holy Terror, his last few projects have been "so bad they're good" and I enjoyed them because of that. But Holy Terror is too dull to be worth reading and his art is a mess.
It's worth noting that Islamicism is not a reference to the religion of Islam. It's a political idealogy, and opposing it is no more a form of racism than opposing the influence of Christianity in the treatment of homosexuals living in Uganda and Nigeria, or opposing politicians and activists who think Christianity should be the foundation of legislation in the United States.
Not that Frank Miller is not an Islamaphobe or a xenophobe. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, I don't know. But opposing Islamicism doesn't make him one.
Re: his post. He seems a little ill-informed about OWS, but he does make some good points. I do think the movement is motivated mainly by hipsters and students who simply like the idea of being activists. Despite this, they too are making good points. Maybe they aren't going about it in the best way, but it's hard to know what else can be done, y/n?
I love how people can paint an entire population of people who have popped up all across the country as layabouts, criminals, etc. Rapists? Jesus. I don't know if this is Frank Miller or Herman Cain. Whether you are out there on the street or not, most people agree with the sentiment behind the movement; that the economic table is titled toward the owners of the largest corporations because they write the legislation and the tax code. All anyone is looking for is a little more fairness, and more opportunity to actually climb the ladder in this country. Without a working class there is no one to hold the ladder, and without the middle class, there is no ladder. In my opinion, the lazy layabouts are the ones who whole-heartedly agree with the sentiment but won't get off their ass to show solidarity (for whatever reason). Frank Miller is just a cartoonist who doodles his pictures. He is absolutely indebted to the people who buy his stuff and while I am not educated enough about FM to know who he is, he seems to be apathetic to people who are not as lucky as him. I mean, his career could have easily have gone the other way. Art is fickle like that.
All I am saying is that before anyone should generalize about a whole population, they might want to find a different perspective, think beyond themselves, and really delve into the issue. To say people would rather sit in poverty in a park in the winter than work a job is ignorant. People want to work, they just don't want for wages to continue their slide until they are just credit slaves. Workers use to have rights, they use to be able to prevent their jobs from being moved overseas too. There are solutions, but if you are totally ambivalent to the problem, you are a part of the problem.
Also, I don't understand the sentiment that the people who are doing the protesting are just hipsters or spoiled white intellectuals. Does the who change what is being protested? Would you say that men couldn't protest for the rights of women, or whites for minorities? Actually, these college hipsters have a horse in this race. They are protesting that even though they go to college, they will spend years and years paying off a college loan that didn't help them get a job that pays enough to support them or their eventual family. They have a right to be angry, others may have more of a right to be angry, but saying that one group of people are totally illegitimate because they are not eating dirt is ignorant.
@Waterhouse - likewise, I don't care what a guy who draws shit that doesn't exist for a living says about people expressing their views through actions rather than issuing unsupported opinions online.
For a guy who spent most of his career telling stories about individuals who fight against corruption and apathy... hell, I saw him give a speech at a Harvey Awards where he tore up a Diamond Distributor catalog, saying it was the source of all evil in the comic book industry (the monopoly of comic book distributors at the time, in bed with the big companies like DC and Marvel), reducing the medium to recycled crap and marketing gimmicks (I'm paraphrasing here).
Maybe his "successes" as a "director" have tainted his perspective a little, and maybe his corporate overlords have brainwashed him... dunno. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I just happen to not agree with his.
On a personal note, I met the man twice, and he was always gracious and kind. He was earthy and funny and took the time to talk to this star-struck fanboy.
I thought 'The Spirit' was an embarrassment. Maybe he's slipping into crotchety cluelessness.
Note to self: don't talk politics with Frank Miller.
It's my understanding that Frank Miller is an objectivist. I know little more about him, so I'm confused why his fans would be the least bit surprised. His statement reads like exactly what you would expect an objectivist to say about occupy wall street.
It does seem like he takes a shot at gamers with the whole basement/warcraft comment. Which, on one hand seems a dick move to alienate a significant part of your fan base, but on the other, seems admirable that he's not pandering at all.