Mat Johnson On Race, The Right Wing & "Right State"

[CBR News]

Writer Mat Johnson spoke to CBR News about his new Vertigo graphic novel, "Right State," about an American militia group's plot to assassinate the second black President.


Full article here.

[Mikey Ramone]

Writer Mat Johnson spoke to CBR News about his new Vertigo graphic novel, "Right State," about an American militia group's plot to assassinate the second black President.


Full article here.

Yeah that's right ALL people who have conservative views are racist! Just like if you disagree with ANYTHING the President says that makes you a racist! Also if you don't like the new Ultimate Spider-man (which I do) that makes you a racist! NO! It actually just means you are someone with a different opinion, God forbid!

[Roland Gunner]

Yeah that's right ALL people who have conservative views are racist! Just like if you disagree with ANYTHING the President says that makes you a racist! Also if you don't like the new Ultimate Spider-man (which I do) that makes you a racist! NO! It actually just means you are someone with a different opinion, God forbid!

If conservatives don't want to be called racists they should stop electing people who try to keep sitting Presidents off election ballots.

[LightningBug]

This was a really good interview. I've never read any of Mat's work before, but I'm definitely going to be checking this out. I really like the way he's pushing it as sort of a modern-day "Day of the Jackal." Also, the idea of the pundit as a protagonist, struggling with the real-world ramifications of incendiary speech is pretty awesome. Glenn Beck as an action hero, learning why you maybe shouldn't encourage certain people. This sounds engaging.

[stewart48]

If conservatives don't want to be called racists they should stop electing people who try to keep sitting Presidents off election ballots.

If occupiers didn't try to blow up a bridge people wouldn't call them terrorist.

If liberals didn't elect a president who raped a woman people wouldn't think they are rapist.

Do you realize how stupid all of the above statements are?

You need to keep what you wrote in your pocket pull it out several times a day, read it, and say I will not contribute to toxic political discourse.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

If conservatives don't want to be called racists they should stop electing people who try to keep sitting Presidents off election ballots.

I to like making wide ranging stereotypes about other people who I have a political disagreement with.

[Lowkey Loki]

And the comic book worlds decent into ignorant left wing propaganda continues...

So sad.

[Roland Gunner]

If occupiers didn't try to blow up a bridge people wouldn't call them terrorist.

If liberals didn't elect a president who raped a woman people wouldn't think they are rapist.

Do you realize how stupid all of the above statements are?

You need to keep what you wrote in your pocket pull it out several times a day, read it, and say I will not contribute to toxic political discourse.

Why is it only liberals who have an obligation to not contribute to toxic political discourse? The person I replied to made the claim that Right Wing argues that "ALL people who have conservative views are racist," when the article clearly states the its about a conservative reporter investigating this militia. Did you call that person out for making a statement that is completely false? Nope, its fine for someone you agree with to be flat wrong but heaven forbid I offend your delicate sensibilities.

The story about Arizona's secretary of state threatening to keep the President off the ballot is a direct manifestation of the fear and paranoia that Johnson's book is about. The fact that an elected official thinks this is okay speaks more to the toxic nature of our politics than anything I could ever say.

[LightningBug]

Why is it only liberals who have an obligation to not contribute to toxic political discourse? The person I replied to made the claim that Right Wing argues that "ALL people who have conservative views are racist," when the article clearly states the its about a conservative reporter investigating this militia. Did you call that person out for making a statement that is completely false? Nope, its fine for someone you agree with to be flat wrong but heaven forbid I offend your delicate sensibilities.

The story about Arizona's secretary of state threatening to keep the President off the ballot is a direct manifestation of the fear and paranoia that Johnson's book is about. The fact that an elected official thinks this is okay speaks more to the toxic nature of our politics than anything I could ever say.

In principle I agree with you. I think this book sounds like it is more about the dangers of extreme political discourse, and the responsibility of people in positions of influence to watch what they say, than about one party being more racist than the other. The author even says that he thinks the extreme political backlash that Obama has experienced would have happened to a white democrat as well. He chose a black president because he likes black presidents in fiction and said it could easily have been Herman Caine. He also said that he had a different title and didn't choose this one.

@the folks mad at Roland: The right and the left both have really big mouths, but the right wing would be wise to read books like this and take a hard look at itself. It would be a false equivalency to suggest that left wing pundits are doing anything nearly as dangerous as their counterparts on the right, when the right actually is inciting militia groups. The story wouldn't work with a left wing militia, because that isn't really a thing. Certain groups hear the incendiary words of people like Beck and Limbaugh (that most conservatives take for what they are... punditry) and it is like throwing fuel on a fire. The problem with extreme political punditry on either side is that it is usually misinformation influenced heavily by emotion. This is dangerous on either end of the political spectrum, but this sort of political militia simply isn't taking shape on the left.

@Roland: A correction or two: The Arizona Secretary of State isn't an elected official. He was appointed by a right wing ideologue who is an elected official, and therefore has a responsibility not to act like a total bigot. Also the book isn't called Right Wing, it's Right State. I don't mean to be a jerk about corrections, but I've seen enough political fights on the internet to know that you'd probably rather be corrected by a fellow left-winger than by a hostile opponent.

[nightwing1982]

After reading the article, I don't give a flying @#$% about Mat's point of view or what he believes in because I can over look that and enjoy this books (with the artists that he works with). I have both of his graphic novels from Vertigo and enjoyed them a lot.

I'm down for this new graphic novel.

Remember people, comic books are pop culture, they reflect our times.

[toddx77]

Yeah that's right ALL people who have conservative views are racist! Just like if you disagree with ANYTHING the President says that makes you a racist! Also if you don't like the new Ultimate Spider-man (which I do) that makes you a racist! NO! It actually just means you are someone with a different opinion, God forbid!

Thats why I quit voting and don't get involved with politics at all anymore. I cannot stand political people and their ways of thinking. I just tell people I'm an anarchist lol.

[carabas]

Thats why I quit voting and don't get involved with politics at all anymore. I cannot stand political people and their ways of thinking. I just tell people I'm an anarchist lol.

Anarchists are very political people.

[toddx77]

Anarchists are very political people.

Well then, I'm a pirate ARRRRRRRR lol The cool kind like the strawhats, not the bad kind lol.

[Xenos]

This sounds interesting, and I will certainly consider getting it. But something really puzzles me. It's stated that the protagonist is a conservative, right-wing pundit, who goes undercover to find out about a plot to kill a black President. Now, I don't know if it's stated whether that President is liberal or conservative, but given the current state of things, I imagine he's on the liberal side. So my question is--why would a conservative care at all about a black, liberal President being assassinated? I imagine that he'd welcome it. It would be a message, wouldn't it, to those Godless, progressive, irreverent, history-hating, tradition-destroying liberals that they can't have their way, and that there is a price to be paid for going against the Right Way.

[TheFinisher4Ever]

This sounds interesting, and I will certainly consider getting it. But something really puzzles me. It's stated that the protagonist is a conservative, right-wing pundit, who goes undercover to find out about a plot to kill a black President. Now, I don't know if it's stated whether that President is liberal or conservative, but given the current state of things, I imagine he's on the liberal side. So my question is--why would a conservative care at all about a black, liberal President being assassinated? I imagine that he'd welcome it. It would be a message, wouldn't it, to those Godless, progressive, irreverent, history-hating, tradition-destroying liberals that they can't have their way, and that there is a price to be paid for going against the Right Way.

Oh yes, because clearly if you are conservative, then you want someone to murder the president. Do you listen to yourself? It must be nice to have convinced yourself how rightous your side is and how utterly evil the other side is. If we had a conservative in office, would you welcome him getting murdered?