Banner: Support Extra Life @ Dungeon Masters Guild

Comic Book Elections: SDCC diversity trumps RNC divisiveness

San Diego Comic-Con 2016
Pink Tusken Raider and Wookiee

Last Wednesday morning as I was headed from Phoenix to San Diego Comic Con I stopped at the Gila Bend McDonalds to grab some grub for the road. It was about 5 a.m. and on the McTelevision monitor CNN was broadcasting the highlights from the previous evening’s Republican convention, specifically focusing on the controversial Melania Trump speech, where the super model (inadvertently?) plagiarized Michelle Obama. A group of aged rednecks were gathered around the TV when their spokesman decided to let the entire restaurant crowd know that, “Melania can be my ‘First Lady’ anytime! Heh, heh, heh!

For me, as a card-carrying member of the Misanthrope Party, those sexist comments were just another example of how the world is going to Hell in a handbasket. When Gila Bend Boy’s vote for Trump, because he envisions the candidate’s wife in his deranged sexual fantasies, carries the same weight as someone’s well-informed electoral decision … well … let’s just say it highlights the fallacy of democracy – and that’s scary, especially considering the alternatives.

San Diego Comic-Con 2016
Wonder Woman

On the drive back home, after the long weekend at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2016, I had time to reflect over the past week, where I spent my days among the geeks and freaks at the world’s biggest pop culture convention, and evenings listening to the news from the Republican National Committee Convention in Cleveland – two simultaneous events that could not be more different.

Where almost every speaker I heard from the RNC was talking hatred, fear, divisiveness and prejudice, the attendees at the comic convention were actually celebrating the best our society has to offer. At every turn you could see people of every culture, creed, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion joined together in an atmosphere of inclusiveness, love and respect for each other.

As an old, fat, bald, white guy, I was thrilled to sit next to a Muslim woman wearing a hijab at the Wonder Woman 75th anniversary panel. While waiting in line for the Congressman John Lewis panel I made new friends with a young black woman who is beginning her career as a writer for an upcoming Albert Einstein docudrama TV series. I took pictures of a senior Asian woman who had to walk with a cane, but was still having a blast cosplaying as Harley Quinn. I could go on and on.

America is a melting pot and I believe that Comic-Con is a shining example of our diversity at its best, where celebrating fandom joins us all together as one and the only differences we have are our fanciful predilections for pop culture.

Does the comic-book community play better together because we’ve absorbed the many moral lessons from the superhero mythology we love; and does that lead us to living a life more heroic? All I know is that after observing the stark differences between #SDCC2016 and #RNCinCLE I’ve never been more proud to be a member of the nerd community.

Support our work - it's free!

We need our faithful audience to keep Nerdvana going. Won't you subscribe to our email newsletter? It won't cost you a thing!

Newsletters

View previous campaigns.

Powered by MailChimp

Nerdvana Media will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing. Please let us know all the ways you would like to hear from us:

You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at news@nerdvana.co. We will treat your information with respect. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our website. By clicking below, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

About the author

Bob Leeper

Bob Leeper is the co-owner and manager of "Arizona’s Pop Culture and Alternative Art Network," Evermore Nevermore. He is the co-creator of the pop culture events Steampunk Street and ENCREDICON, and is a member of the Phoenix Film Critics Society. He also curates the Facebook fan site The Arizona Cave – AZ Fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and is one of the few brave and bold fans of Jar Jar Binks.