Bryan, Unofficial Holy Man (in training) (czarchasm) wrote,
Bryan, Unofficial Holy Man (in training)
czarchasm

Riot SMASH!

Based on the most recent events in Baltimore, I've been trying to think of a good way to convey my opinion of what's been happening up there, and I think I've found one:

(Disclaimer: This is meant to be a simplistic metaphor, and ignores the nuances of the characters and their fictional universe. Nyah.)

Overall, think of the most visible participants in the riots as versions of The Hulk:

Picture credit: io9

Let's look at each of them:
Green
This is the most classic version of the Hulk: Big, green, angry, SMASH!! Green Hulk appears when Bruce Banner gets too frickin' mad, then he gets muscles, a poor vocabulary, and a lime hue. When Green Hulk appears, he creates wanton destruction for a period of time, then vanishes until Bruce gets too angry again.

Green Hulk is the riot

This has happened multiple times in our history. Haymarket. Watts. Los Angeles. Cincinnati. Ferguson. When a marginalized group gets too fed up with how they are being treated by The Powers That Be, eventually the pressure explodes; riots are just one of the way the pressure is released, but it is the most noticeable way.


Grey
This version appeared in the 80's, and seems to have since gone away. Grey Hulk appeared automatically at night at first, then eventually started to be able to take total control over Bruce Banner. Grey Hulk had its own personality that was corrupt and pretty slimy. Grey Hulk was just awful.

Grey Hulk is most of the media, and/or the media's perception of the rioters.

Ever since the riots started, multiple media outlets and press conferences have been attempting to condemn the rioters, insinuating everything from "outside forces" to wanton destruction. And the ever-present attempt to use the label "thug" rears is ugly head. Similar to Grey Hulk being a horrible re-interpretation of Bruce's struggle with coping with and controlling Green Hulk, these tactics relay a gross distortion of both the actual events occurring within the riot and those actively participating in the rioting. Just like Grey Hulk, these media outlets and the perception they are trying to shill are just awful.

Red
Red Hulk appeared in the past decade, and was a more brutal, strategically superior version of The Hulk that appeared as an entity that was separate to The Hulk. This version also had all the same SMASH powers as Green Hulk. It has been revealed that Red Hulk was originally a U.S. Army general that was obsessed with the destruction and/or removal of Green Hulk, who agreed to become Red Hulk as a means to that end. Red Hulk eventually reformed, more or less, and started to do good works, even becoming enlisted to the Avengers.

Red Hulk is many, many police forces in the United States.

There has been several common elements in the most high-profile police-related deaths in the past few months, aside from the most visual one: A population that is poor and segregated from more affluent groups in the same city. A perception for greater law and order against these groups. A history of repeated abuses of power, paired with a culture within these agencies that protects and implicitly condones these behaviors. Like Red Hulk, these police forces see only what Green Hulk SMASHes, but neither Bruce Banner nor the forces that evoke Green Hulk to appear. The police take the violence seen in Green Hulk, and both mimic that violence and add to it an intelligence that can impose greater harm through improved-if intensely misguided-tactics. Then there is the fact that police forces have become increasingly miliatrized as this century has progressed. Red Hulk using a militarized mindset against Green Hulk.

At the same time, we're also seeing small signs of Red Hulk's reformation. The movement for body cams present and active on police officers is gaining massive steam, as it helps police outcomes. Some localities are increasing community relations training for their officers, and this was one of several recommendations presented to the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing back in January. As a nation, we're still Bad Red Hulk, but there does seem to be a path towards Reformed Red Hulk.

...

Like most civilians I imagine that have to deal with the aftermath of superhero fights in the Marvel Universe, I don't want ANY Hulks in the world. Instead, I just want Bruce Banner (and the people that he is the metaphor for) to thrive and be happy, so Green Hulk doesn't come back. I want Grey Hulk to just go away, as he is always just awful. And while Current Red Hulk is terrifying, I want him to work on reforming himself to a point where he can look at himself in the mirror and see that he wanted the same thing that Bruce Banner wanted all along.
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